30% of your FICO score is made up of your debt to credit limit ratio, which essentially means how much you owe on all your credit cards in comparison to the credit limit that you have on all your cards. History only accounts for 10% of your FICO score.
So, closing down your credit cards is the worst thing you can possibly do! Once you've paid off a credit card, just cut it up, but don't close it down! This, of course, assumes you're not paying an annual charge for these credit cards. If you are, that's reason enough to close that credit card down. It makes no sense to keep any of your credit cards at department stores open.
Suze Orman is a award winning certified financial planner and author of several books including 'The Road to Wealth'. She went from being a waitress at age 30, making $400 a month, to now having her own TV show and a net worth of $30 million dollars.
