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Knowledgebase Home | Favorites | Forum Welcome to our knowledge base. To find what you're after, use the search box below or choose a category to view listed articles. Search the Knowledgebase Browse by Category [Advanced Search] -- Select Category -- Credit MythbustersLoans    - Personal Loans    - Auto Loans    - Home Loans    - Student LoansCredit CardsCredit Reports and ScoresCredit Report CardIdentity TheftDebt HelpConsumer Law Guide    - College Cost Reduction and Access Act    - Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act)     - Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA)    - Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)    - Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)    - Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)    - Fair Debt Collection Practices Act    - Overdraft Rules for Debit and ATM CardsCustomer Support The article has been updated successfully. Knowledgebase Home > Credit Cards Knowledgebase Home > Credit Reports and Scores My lender told me that my FICO score was low because I have too many open credit card accounts. Should I close some of the accounts? Article Details Last Updated 24th of February, 2010 Would you like to... Discuss Print this page Email this page Post a comment Subscribe me Add to favorites Remove Highlighting Edit this Article Quick Edit Export to PDF User Opinions (4 votes) 75% 25% How would you rate this answer? Helpful Not helpful Help us improve. Why was this unhelpful? Thank you for rating this answer. No, it’s never a good idea to take a lender’s advice when it comes to improving your credit scores. Lenders didn’t build the FICO scoring system and don’t understand it well enough to give anyone advice on how to improve his or her scores. Closing accounts can drastically lower your FICO scores for several reasons. Specifically, closing an account will lower your overall credit limit and thereby increase your revolving utilization percentage. Ideally you want this percentage at 10 percent or lower. Also, closing an account, especially a older account, will make your credit age become younger overall, and the older your credit age, the better. Learn about the five criteria that make up your credit scores. Not sure where you stand credit-wise? Check your reports and scores online today! Related Articles Will closing my old credit card accounts help my credit scores? How will the new version of FICO affect how collection accounts appear on credit reports? If I pay off my credit cards will the issuers close them? Can the credit card issuer close my account just because I don't use my credit card very often? What is an open ended account? Continue