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View Full Version : 2 Crazy Pugs- I have a question for you, please!

tandt
11-30-2005, 12:54 PM
2 Crazy Pug, I saw on another thread that you are a mortgage underwriter and I have a seemingly elementary question that I can't find posted here.

DH and I will be moving soon and I pulled my credit reports to check on them. I have perfect credit (no lates at all, no blemishes at all).

My question is how do I know how many credit cards to keep open (even if they have $0 balance) or close?

I've heard conflicting advice on keeping open to show that you have them versus closing them so you don't use them.

Any advice?

Thanks!
2 Crazy Pugs
11-30-2005, 01:29 PM
T- if you close accounts, it will affect your credit score, so I wouldn't close them until after you buy your house. Leave them open, but at a $0 balance. Credit scores are partly based on available credit vs. outstanding balance, so if you have a $0 balance and a available credit of say $5000, that is good, its a higher percentage, which increases your score.
tandt
11-30-2005, 02:13 PM
2 Crazy Pugs, thank you for your response.

I never looked at it that way-- I thought having open accounts with available credit would negatively affect my score since I COULD use the credit on those.

Thanks again!
kimbyj
11-30-2005, 09:45 PM
No 2 crazy pugs is correct. Check out Suze Orman's website for more info.
kcjules
12-01-2005, 07:38 PM
T- if you close accounts, it will affect your credit score, so I wouldn't close them until after you buy your house. Leave them open, but at a $0 balance. Credit scores are partly based on available credit vs. outstanding balance, so if you have a $0 balance and a available credit of say $5000, that is good, its a higher percentage, which increases your score.

I was told (forget by who) that it looks worse to have a bunch of credit cards with $0 balance because that means you run the risk of running all those cards up.

That's not true?
2 Crazy Pugs
12-02-2005, 07:15 AM
You could run them all up, but we give people the benefit of the doubt, if your credit scores are good, we assume that you are financially responsible, and would not run out and max out all the cards and put yourself in a situation which could end up with your home in foreclosure, if you weren't able to pay your mortgage.