Answer: -Yes, there would be a negative impact to your FICO score because one component of it is your debt ratio, meaning the ratio of your outstanding debt to your available credit. That ratio will rise as your available credit falls (when cards are closed). The only way to "get" and keep a FICO score is to go into debt and stay in debt. If you do so on good terms with your lenders, your score will rise.... if not, it falls. If you do neither and don't go into debt, you won't have a FICO score. A better question is to ask how you can become financially secure so that you don't need a FICO score to be successful with money. If you insist on the value of a FICO score (and in reality it is a good thing to have a nice one, of course), it's probably wise to keep at least your oldest revolving credit account open and in good standing. To play their game, perhaps buy some groceries on it every now and then and pay it off. If you must.....I'm afraid Kathy (immediately below) is wrong...maybe that's the way it should be, but it isn't. I believe there's a point where it begins to hurt you, but anything less than 3 or 4 credit cards can only help your score if they're in good standing. PS - your cards won't just expire and go away... you'll get an automatic renewal in the mail - trust me. You'll always have to cancel them if you want them to go away. *** Even if you don't activate the renewal cards, your account will still remain open. You just won't be able to use your card until it's activated. -Actually, if you cancel your cards your FICO score will go down. Best to let them sit, unused, and keep paying your monthly bills on time without error. Home Equity lines, especially smaller lines actually cause huge hits on the FICO score, even if you are opening one up to pay off credit debt. Funny thing is, the larger the loan the less of a hit you will take when opening up an account. A larger loan shows the Credit Agencies that people are willing to take a larger risk with you, and this will eventually improve your credit score even more.