is it better to close account or leave open after you pay off a credit card. i am needing?

Question

to raise my score as much as possible. thanks

Answer 1

keep it open but use it - even if you make a ten dollar purchase, make sure you pay it off that month on time. if you don't it actually looks bad on your credit

Answer 2

When it comes to open ended credit (credit cards, lines of credit, etc) you need to be careful. Alot of lending institutions will take a percentage of your open credit your not using and calculate that as part of your debt to income (which most institutions look at 35% or higher being harmful). So if you have 5 credit cards with 1,000 limits each but rarely ever use 4 of them keep 2 of the cards. The first would be for your everyday usage of credit the second card should be for an emergency.

Also, how a credit card helps your credit is if you have a balance and your paying that balance on time. In most cases the dollar amount of the balance makes no difference. A way to keep your credit score up and keep your interest fee low is to keep a balance of $5 on your card or less. When the big 3 pulls your credit for that card it will show you have a balance and you've been paying it on time. The danger with paying it in full is if your balance is $0 when credit is pulled it will look as if it is unused.

Also, never exceed 50% of your available credit if at all possible. This is another danger to open ended credit. It reflects negatively on your credit if your over that limit.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions just ask! :)

Answer 3

Keep it open if you've had it more than a year. It looks better to have a long history of using credit and to show that you've paid it off. It's also better to have more credit and to have a low percentage of debt to credit, like 30% or less, so a paid-off card shows that other people have given you credit. You can also make charges on the card that you pay off immediately, to show that you're using credit responsibly. To raise your credit score, keep making payments on other debts on time every month without missing a payment. Also, get a free copy of your credit report and contest anything on it that's wrong.

Answer 4

Keep it open, even if it has a zero balance, you ma need a clean open tradeline on you credit report for future loans or credit requests