Credit Score: Is there anyway to get rid of credit without negatively affecting your score?

Have a few credit cards with high rates that we no longer use. Is there anyway to get rid of a $10,000 credit limit on a card that has a zero balance without killing our 'excellent' credit scores?





We would like to increase the limit on our lower interest rate credit cards, but have not been allowed to due to outstanding limits on existing credit cards.|||Having a credit card with a $10K limit is not the reason you cannot get the limits increased on your other credit cards. Cancelling this account will not help you get increases on the lower interest rate accounts.





If you are carrying balances on other credit cards, closing this account will lower your overall limit which could cause your debt percentage to increase. Carrying balances of more than 30% hurts your score.





If you are not carrying balance on other accounts, this would not make much difference. But if you are not carrying balances, why do you need the limits raised?





About 14% of your score is based on the length of your credit history. If that $10K limit account is your oldest, closing it would close the history. The account will stay on your credit file for about 10 years but it won't count as much in your score.|||Getting rid of the $10,000 credit limit will lower the total of all your credit limits. If you have a balance on any of your cards that you do use, then lowering the limit on any card, or getting rid of any card, even one that you do not use, will increase the ratio of your debt to the total of all your limits. This may lower your credit score. However, it might remain excellent. It also might increase.





If you wish, you may call the credit card company and ask them to lower your credit limit.|||bdancer222 is the only one giving you accurate advice!





Every line of revolving credit (credit cards and home equity loans) you have weighs the exact same. So a 90 dollar balance on a 100 dollar card is like having a 9k balance on a 10k card. Canceling cards with low balances does not hurt or help. You want to maintain cards with a long length history and cards with low balances. You lose a few points when opening up new accts but it only takes 90 days to regain all of these points.





The lenders do not want to raise your credit limits because having higher balences lowers your overall score and they can then raise your rates to asses the risk. This is the real reason most credit companies have been slashing credit limits. Not to "Free up Capital" as they claim.





Devin@nationalcreditcare.com|||If you cancel the cards, your credit score will drop. Use the high rate cards for small purchases, like gas or a few groceries, and then pay them off at the end of the month. That way, you don't have to worry about running them up high, and your credit score won't be ruined.