If you have bad credit, some people will tell you that the best credit cards you can have are none at all. Eliminating the source of your financial struggles sounds like a good idea, especially if you are in alot of debt. But that is not always the most wise course of action. Especially for consumers wanting to improve credit scores troubles
Even if you do cut up your cards, the bills still keep coming in! Some people do not realize this and think that if they cancel the card with the company, they will not have to pay. This is about as far from the truth as you could get. You will still have to keep making your monthly payments. If you cancel your account that just makes it un useable to you.
On the other hand, it is not factual that canceling every single one of credit card accounts is the most effective thing to do if you are experiencing difficulty making the minimum payment. From the point of view of your credit history, it is a smart move to keep some of them open and active. As long as they are open and active feel free to use your cards, just pay off your new purchases each month and try to pay extra to reduce the balance on your card as well.
You probably are having a hard time figuring out which of your credit cards you should keep open? The answer is the ones that you have had the longest. Even if you have a rocky past with your long term creditors, it usually looks better to stay with a creditor that you have a long relationship with, instead of constantly signing up for new cards and transferring balances. Banks know that people who always hop from card to card are a risk and every finance company is aware of this.
The next best credit cards are the accounts that have the smallest lending rate. Bear in mind, make sure you do not focus on just the minimum payment the card requires, instead look at the interest rate you are being charged. this is easy to find on your credit card statement, so you can simply compare these across all your credit card accounts.It could be likely that you could find that the accounts you have had open for the longest amount of time are not the credit accounts with the cheapest interest rates. If you find this to be true what should you do?
The fastest and easiest way to get this done is to pick up your phone then contact the lenders. Start the conversation by letting them know you are a long term customer. To make this a definite point request the phone representative check the amount of time you have held your account. Then you can explain that you have too many credit cards and you are going to close some of the accounts. Tell them you would like to keep your account with them open and that you appreciate the good service they offer. But you should also make them aware that the interest rate on the account is much to high. You can give them all the details here and of course, be truthful.
While this is not 100% most lenders will agree to it and if they don't thank them for their time and move onto the next lender. You can then carry those credit cards and keep on using them but at a better borrowing rate, while cutting up the newer ones. Using this approach you can keep your best charge accounts even while you are paying towards your credit card debt and this will really help with your credit repair attempts.
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