will this hurt my credit rating?

[whistleclient]

i have 3 credit cards:

1 for daily use
1 as an emergency credit card in case of emergencies
and 1 AMEX.


i don't know why i have the amex. i think i heard they were good at protecting you for online purchases. they've since phased out the "private payment" (single use) --program. the problem is i want a card that does single use #s.

in terms of credit rating, will it hurt me to get another card (MBNA or citibank) for single use #s. i know they don't like it when you have a large # of cards, and they like it when you the cards you have you've had for a long time. should i get rid of the AMEX and get a new one?


thanks for your help...

 

[DaWhim]

just leave it open and let it collect dusts.

your credit score will drop if you close your oldest account.

 

[DanDrop]

credit scores drop when you open credit cards. keep old accounts active and paid off.

 

[ScottFern]

I am in a similar situation, don't mean to hijack your thread. But I have 6 credit cards but I only have 1 physically. I cut up the other 5, now, is it bad for me to have these $0 balance cards open, or should I close them to improve my credit rating?

 

[whistleclient]

(morning bump)

 

[JetsFanatic]

Dude I have about 12 cards and 2 morgages and I got great credit 😀

 

[FortFunFoSho]

depends on your balance history I believe. if you just paid them all off and close them then I htink it looks bad. but one thing that makes up your credit score is credit depth. so it is good to have a couple of cards. But it depends, obviously if you have 3 maxed out and you get another then that will look bad.

Also, it is interesting to know that that the optimal balance on a CC is right around 30% (if you can't completely pay it off).

Also, I just learned that it is better if you have 3 cards with ~30% balance than to consolidate to one card and have a maxed out balance.

just an fyi.