Help on what the best course of action is

[Resro]

I'm a college student and back home making money right now. I've got an AMEX Blue with 2000 on it (8000 limit) and Chase Freedom with 1200 on it (7500 limit). Both are out of their introductory 0% for a year time limits and I'm now paying interest. I've got an old Citi MTVu Card with no balance and 5000 dollar limit.

I'm thinking of looking for another card that I can transfer these two balances to and hopefully phase out the Chase Freedom. I will keep my MTVu, because I've had it open for 3 years and I love Amex's customer service, so that leaves the Chase either in the sock drawer or closed (any opinions?).

My credit score from equifax (freecreditreport.com) tonight was 747. I figure that's good for a college student with not a lot of history.

Any thoughts, suggestions. I'm charging about 1000 a month on each and paying 1200-1300 (2000 spent - 2400-2600 paid).

[chanson]

well you dont need that many so if you can you should close them and keep only one. Your credit score will remain high as long as you keep making those payments and keep your balance down on the last card. Also keep in mind your credit score will start to go down on equifax once your card is at 80% of your max limit so until then your safe.

747 is a really good score and you will get pretty much anything you want from a bank(given a few other variables of course). So close the rest before you get yourself into trouble off an impulse and keep one for emergencies and small purchases you plan to payoff in 30 days! ALSO KUDOS to you on a good job, I have seen hundreds of credit reports and 95% below 550 because of ignorance at a yougn age!

[Heath Sanchez]

Here's an idea:

Consolidate all of the debt onto the card with the lowest interest rate.

THEN call each of the other banks and tell the you'd like to cancel your account.

They'll ask why!?

To this you say because I can get a cheaper interest rate with 'Bank X'.

About 80% of the time, they'll offer you an interest rate drop, just to keep you!

Then you can either move the balance on to that card, or just enjoy a lower interest rate.

[JohnnyBudZ]

Having too many cards could hurt your credit score, I believe...

[pboychuk]

Having too many cards could hurt your credit score, I believe...

So could having too few cards, If you open too any cards in a short period yes it will hurt your score, however, if you have extra cards, its raises your unused balance, which makes your debt ratio lower. Or something like that. I found this out because I had one card for about 2 years, I always payed the full balance, and then i check my credit score and they tell me something like the balance on my accounts is too high.. I figured out it was because i only had one card with a 3000 limit and was charging 2000 a month. so i guess 2/3 of my credit was used up.

[jecky125]

747 is a pretty good credit score - so obviously carrying 3 credit cards has helped you establish a decent credit history. Even though it could be higher, you have a good chance of getting approved for most standard credit card offers. The fact that you've already been approved for 2 non-student credit cards is a good sign that most issuers would approve you for an additional card. At this point, it's probably not necessary to cancel any of your existing credit cards since you only have three. Unless you're uncomfortable with having 4 credit cards, I would leave the other ones open and find a new 0% APR offer. If you still want to cancel one, choose the highest interest rate offer (probably the Chase Freedom).

[Warranties-For-Less]

Interesting,

As crazy as the FICO scoring is, the worst advice is to cancel or close older accounts, keep them open, for they increase your score over the long term. Applying for several cards in a few months works against your score. I take new offers and transfer old balances to new cards with the 0% deals all the time, but I don't cancel any of the older cards. Aged accounts do the most for your score. Of course, with $100K plus is potential credit available, it can be tempting to use more than you should, so don't fall into trap credit card companies just love to exploit, carrying balances hoping for lost checks in the mail so they can rip us off for $39. late fees.

Good luck, Mike