justsqueakingby.com » mastercard http://justsqueakingby.com Practical financial advice to revitalize your wallet. Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:06:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 The Unused Credit Card Dilemma http://justsqueakingby.com/2008/credit-cards/the-unused-credit-card-dilemma/ http://justsqueakingby.com/2008/credit-cards/the-unused-credit-card-dilemma/#comments Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:45:53 +0000 JSB http://justsqueakingby.com/2008/credit-cards/the-unused-credit-card-dilemma/ I was going through the lock box the other day and came across several credit cards that I haven’t used in a while. They’ve just been sitting there collecting dust. Should I close them or just put them back in the box and forget about them? It’s been tough coming up with an answer to that question.

So I turned to a few different personal finance blogs for the answer. After reading what these folks had to say, I’m still up in the air about what I should do. Some say close them and others say leave them open but don’t use them. It seems to be a never-ending debate about the proper way to handle these open lines of credit. I guess I’ll have to sit down and go over my 2008 goals and figure out which path is best for my situation.

I have no intention of using any of these cards so that’s not really an issue. The only consideration I’m taking into account is the effect it will have on my credit score since my wife and I are planning on buying a house within a year.

If you’ve been faced with this decision to make, did you close the cards or keep them open and why?

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