Is it a bad idea to cancel my store credit cards...?

Question

If I pay all my cc's in full? I'd like to buy a house in the next year or two.

Answer 1

Keep one or two that you use regularly. Then search for a major cc that offers a much lower interest rate than store cards, and preferably that also offers rewards points since you are buying stuff and paying it off anyway, along with a comprehensive insurance plan for travel and car rentals. Compare annual fees if any. Tell them you want to apply for their card and cancel other cards that are seldom used, if necessary transferring the balances to the new card.
You would be very wise to keep one Visa and one Mastercard, in the event you lose one of them, or are travelling and need one or the other. Also, depending on where you live, you might also be able to get a "line of credit" credit card, with no fees and very low interest rate for large purchases that you want to finance over time.
Getting rid of excess cards will help your credit rating for your home purchase, due to lender's consideration of income/expense ratio. The more cc's you have, the higher the perceived risk to lenders.

Answer 2

cancel most of them. too many cards can hurt your credit. when you get a loan the bank looks at how many open accounts you have. if you have 10 cards with a limit of $5000.00 apiece thats $50000.00 available right now credit. So, keep a one or two and get rid of the rest.

Answer 3

no! cancel them. if you have another major cradit card (visa, MC, AMEX) pay down the balance, but keep it open. lenders look for credit history, so if you don't have a mjor credit card keep one card open. best idea is the one that you have not had any negative payment history on, or the one you have had the longest.

Answer 4

you should pay them off and stick them in a drawer. canceling a card causes you a negative on your credit report

Answer 5

Not as long as they are paid off.