What is better 2 improve credit score? Few credit accounts or many accounts with 0 balance & available credit?

I recently came into some money which allowed me to pay off my credit cards and store cards etc. So now I have lots of cards with zero balances and lots of available credit. Is this going to improve my credit rating or would it improve quicker if I close all of my accounts? Thanks!|||You can use this credit monitoring service to pre-estimate future scores for different scenarios of such payments - buildcredit.ifastnet.com|||Uk answer: The credit score/rating is not so cut and dry - it varies from bank to bank as they all have different models for assessing credit, based on a combination of the information you give them as part of your application, any information they have on the conduct of your accounts with them (and this can go back far further!) and factual information on your other accounts from a credit reference agency. One piece of information that a bank will use is any savings balances - but as these are not recorded against your credit file (because they are not credit, of course) only the bank with which you have the savings relationship can see this information. What I am saying is that if you're looking to keep your credit as clean as possible because you want to get a mortgage in the future with say, The Halifax, then you might want to think about opening a decent savings account with them first, to cement your relationship with that bank and give them more to go on. If you have a regular income from work, and are good at conducting your current account, move your current account to your target mortgage bank, too.





Information from the credit reference agency can be interpreted in different ways. An active account that is paid off monthly is generally accepted to be the most positive indicator.





Store cards these days generally offer very few benefits other than when you open them, so you're probably as well closing them down. There's little point in having a lot of "dormant" zero-balance accounts - especially as more and more financial service and credit card companies start to levy dormancy fees for non-use of their card products.





You can look at the factual account information that is recorded against you on a monthly basis by getting your credit report free from Experian via http://redo.me.uk/freecreditreport|||Yea close the accounts you are not using, and keep up to scratch on Credit Card repayments that you are utilising. A credit file will show how much available credit available to you at any point in time, therefore may jeopardise your chances if applying for credit in future (i.e.Being over committed).|||credit score is made of several things. you want to pay all bills on time. its also measured by available credit . so dont close all the accounts. but there is a difference in accounts. you want to keep major credit accounts through banks . store accounts dont do much. i would drop them unless they bring some value. like rewards or discounts. i did the same thing once i got an inheritance. i used one for all purchases and paid it off every month.|||Close the store accounts. Lenders look at not just your debt but how much your credit limit is. The reasoning is if a credit card allows a 20k max you get charge 19k in goods tomorrow|||Keep a couple of your cards - from bank for example %26amp; storecard which gives points/vouchers. Use them %26amp; pay them off each month.