conversation: User (redheadmommyMFP): "I  have a bunch of credit cards that I am not actively using and I am wondering if I should close some of them or that is actually bad for my credit history?\n\nA bit of background: \nMy husband and I immigrated to Canada 10+ yrs ago with zero credit history, which made it hard to get any good credit cards. Because of this we ended up signing up some of the bad /useless  ones, like Sears store credit card  or  secure Visa where the bank asked for a deposit for the entire credit limit.  Over the years as we were building our credit , we got better and better cards.  Now we have great credit score  and can get any card we want.  I have no idea about the exact credit score , but we are constantly getting credit card offers and companies automatically offering credit limit increase on our cards etc. We always pay out all of the balances in full in each month.  \n\nMy husband carries one Visa and one Mastercard with him  , which have no yearly fees and no perks, but he hates shopping and literally only shops for his hobby and  birthday and christmas present for me.  \n\nI carry one Visa, one Mastercard and one AMEX in my wallet. My Visa has a yearly fee, but collects Aeroplan point and since I use it a lot , the points worth the yearly fee multiple times. My mastercard has no yearly fee and no perks, and I use it very little. The AMEX card has yearly fee and collects Aeroplan points. The reason I have it because Costco only accepts Amex. \n\nWell yesterday the cashier at Costco told me that  as of december 31st, they will no longer accept AMEX, but they will accept Mastercard from that point on.  This makes my AMEX card not suitable for me anymore, so I am going to close it, because it has a yearly fee. \n\nAs I looked into our safety box today and I have realized there is like a dozen non-used credit card in it. They have zero yearly fees, so they do not cost anything , but maybe it is time go get rid of some of them as well? We have not closed done credit cards before, so I am not sure what are the consequences. Would it hurt our credit? \n\nAlso we have multiple Master cards, but none of them have any perks, so maybe I should get one with some perks, because I regularly shop at Costco.  Will I able to get a new card if I close a bunch of other ones prior?\n"
  Self: "If you want to close those cards, you can. Keep in mind closing them would decrease the overall available credit limit you have and affect your credit score. Since utilization plays a semimajor role in your credit score, it could be harder to be approved for cards after the immediate drop. A "good" utilization is under 30% of your overall limit."
  jbiciestuff (jbiciestuff): "&gt; A "good" utilization is under 30% of your overall limit\n\nIs 20% better than 30% utilization? \nand is 0% better than 20%?"
  loginfliggle (loginfliggle): "1-20% is ideal. 0% indicates little use of credit which can be hurt your score. "
  User (redheadmommyMFP): "Does it means that having a bunch of unused card actually hurting our credit ? "
  loginfliggle (loginfliggle): "Not necessarily hurting your score, no. They aren't helping as much as they could though. I recommend setting up a recurring subscription (ala Netflix) and auto-pay balance in full. This keeps the cards active, you pay no interest, and more payment history helps."
  User (redheadmommyMFP): "I just do not like to scatter bills all over the place. I have all our  bills tied to one of my card, which makes budgeting and keeping track of things so much easier. I like to download cc transaction into a budget program, and having fewer place to log in download  and whatnot makes things more organized. "
  