Too much cc limit?

[Lindahfx]

I just checked all of my cc credit limits and think I have way too much. I have 7 ccs and the total limit is almost $81K. They are all at $0 balance except for one (I consolidated cards together on a 0% card) which has a balance of over $11K. My husband and I are working to pay this off ASAP.

We also have a large mortgage, student loans and a car loan. Does this cc limit sound too high? Is there a certain % of total debt that is considered optimal? I want to keep my FICO score up (not quite sure what it is) so I don't want to go closing cards all at once. Any suggestions?

[sweeps]

All things being equal, the higher your credit lines, the higher your FICO score will be.

The credit reporting agencies will consider you a higher risk borrower if you start closing cards or reducing credit lines. It's a mad mad mad mad world.

[debtfreeme]

I would nto close any cards until everything is paid off because part of your score is the ratio between how much you use and how much you have total. if you close a card the ratio is smaller and there for you are a higher risk.

Once everything is paid off then only close a card about every 6 months or so.

[PrincessPerky]

My husband and I joke about being able to buy a car (a very fancy car) on one CC. Or combining them all to buy a house (well not one in this neighborhood)

But it all boils down to no big deal..Not even much more of a identity theft risk, if someone got enough of your information to use a card, they will prolly call to raise the limit or get a new card anyway.

[anonymous_saver]

I agree that you should pay off the $11,000 balance before you even think of closing any of the cards. EXCEPT if any of them have annual fees. If they do, just close them now. It's not worth the extra fee.

Once you paid off the $11,000 balance at the very least keep the card that you have had for the longest. Personally, I would also keep the other one that has the best interest rate and/or limit. If you want more open cards than 2, that's fine. I would just suggest getting rid of them one at a time 6 months apart. Yes it would be an immediate drop of your FICO score (a slight drop though). But then it would rise again later. I understand not wanting $81,000 of a credit limit. That does sound shocking.

Good luck on paying your balance as soon as you can. What are you doing to pay it off as soon as possible?

[Lindahfx]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Once you paid off the $11,000 balance at the very least keep the card that you have had for the longest.

So that makes me question something... if you have a card and later upgrade it to let's say a gold card with rewards or something, is the account still considered to have started when the first card was approved? Or based off of the second card's approval?

Good luck on paying your balance as soon as you can. What are you doing to pay it off as soon as possible?

Good question... since May, we have been tracking our expenses and trying to cut down on variable expenses. In particular, eating out for lunches and dinners, using coupons, we gave up my husband's car that was leased and the lease expired while I was on maternity leave... we still haven't bought another car so we only have one - that saves us around $600 a month with the lease amount, gas, insurance, maintenance and parking. My husband buses it to work. We cut down on gifts to each other and I'm trying to curb my spending overall.

[loanstar]

I just checked all of my cc credit limits and think I have way too much. I have 7 ccs and the total limit is almost $81K. They are all at $0 balance except for one (I consolidated cards together on a 0% card) which has a balance of over $11K. My husband and I are working to pay this off ASAP.

We also have a large mortgage, student loans and a car loan. Does this cc limit sound too high? Is there a certain % of total debt that is considered optimal? I want to keep my FICO score up (not quite sure what it is) so I don't want to go closing cards all at once. Any suggestions?

$81k is pretty high and perhaps tempting. but it will be better to close some accounts after you've paid off all your debt..

[disneysteve]

We've got about 100K in available credit between 4 cards. Never bothered me a bit. We pay our bills in full each and every month and have a top tier credit score (about 800), so apparently it doesn't bother anyone else either.

[simpleyme]

personally I see no point in closing accounts or asking for credit decreases since they would just open them back up or raise my limit if I asked

the only accounts I have closed are the ones that have irritated me in some way ;-)

[InDebtInDC]

Having a high credit limit doesn't necessarily affect your credit score negatively. It depends on the creditor. Some don't want you to have too much credit because you can overextend yourself in a short period of time. Some actually like the high limit because it shows your credit worthiness.

With all due respect, anybody who say that any one variable per se can change your credit score doesn't know what they're talking about. It's true that it may affect some people's credit score, but it cannot be generalized to everybody. Your credit score depends on other factors.


As long as you're in control of your finances, a high credit limit may actually be a good thing for when you need emergency money.

[Ima saver]

I personally would just pay off the one card and leave the others alone.