Closing credit card accounts, credit scores

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, so I'm not exactly sure how it works, but here's my question ...

My wife and I recently took out a loan from my credit union in order to consolidate our credit card debt. We've just about finished doing that.

Now, we would like to improve our credit scores (which are not good -- mistakes of youth), in order to one day be in a better position to buy a house. At the moment, we have six active accounts:

Master Card 1 [my card – since 8/06 - zero balance, $750. limit]
Master Card 2 [my card – since 2/06 - $3000. balance, $6000. limit]
Visa 1 [my card – since 5/01 - zero balance, $750. limit]
Discover [my card – 9/95 - zero balance, $3200. limit]

AMEX [wife’s card – since 6/05 - $3000. balance, $7000. limit]
Visa 2 [wife’s card – since 1/02 - zero balance, $250. limit]

I know that it's not wise to close accounts that one has had for a long time, since the length of one's credit history is taken into consideration in determining one's credit score. By the same token, six cards seems too many. So we'd like to keep open as few account as necessary, and use them only in emergencies.

Any advice on how to proceed -- which accounts to close, which to keep open, how to use them, etc., in order to improve our score -- would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I know with my credit union they told me do not close any open accounts you have because it would hurt your score. They also stated that the more credit you have the more they are willing to give. So if you have 5 cards with a high limit but your balance is low or nothing that looks great to them.

Doesn't make sense to me, but I don't have any credit cards so I can't be sure. That is just what the loan officer told my hubby.

So if I were you, keep the cards and pay off the balances, then use them at least once a month(like for gas or something) then pay the balance right away. That should look great to the bank. (just my opinion, as I don't know much about credit repair ...yet)

It will be good for you to close those accounts that have a very short credit history since they are not going to affect your credit potential. You need to work on the accounts whose credit history is long. Start paying the ones that have a minimum balance. Once they are paid off, the creditors will update with the bureaus and your scores will go up. This will be a good start.

Thanks for the advice so far. There seems to be some dispute though as to whether it's better to close the most recently acquired cards, or whether it's better to keep all accounts open.

Hmmmm

The only thing I can see that is hurting you in those cards are the high balances in two of them.Utilization plays a big part in Fico scoring models.Either pay the balance down so it is less than 30% of the limit or get credit limit increases high enough to keep under 30%.There is no reason to close any of them.Place the ones you don't use in a dresser drawer and use it about once every two months to keep them active.When you use it charge something small and pay it in full at the end of month statement.