Q. I have several credit cards with low lines of credit ($200-$400) I have recently been approved for credit card that has a higher line of credit. Will closing my other cards negatively affect my score?

A. About 30% of your FICO score -- the most widely used credit score, calculated using a formula created by Fair Isaac Corp. -- depends on how much of your available credit you've used. (For example, if you have a credit limit of $400 on a card and you have a balance of $200, you have used 50% of your credit limit.) When you close an account, you reduce your total available credit.

But your credit limits are so small that closing those accounts are unlikely to hurt your credit score very much.

We assume the cards you want to close have no balances on them. If they do, pay them off as soon as possible. We also suspect, due to the low credit limits on your cards, that you've had credit problems and are probably paying annual fees on each of those cards. That's money you don't need to spend.

It would certainly make sense to close each card before the next annual fee is due. If you don't know when that is, check on your back statements. It will be shown as a charge. Or call customer service and ask. A couple of months before the fee is due, get the paperwork in motion so your card is closed prior to your fee due date. Follow this procedure with each of the cards.

Go to Interest.com's worksheet on "4 steps to cancel a credit card" at: for information and a sample letter.

You have to be sure when you close a card that you do it properly, or you could end up with "closed by creditor" on your credit report, which would be a definite black mark. You need to see "closed by request of cardholder."