<prompt> Human: I have 5 credit cards that I finished paying off about a month ago. 2 are Cap1 each with 500 limits, 2 are Chase with 2500 limits, and 1 is Citizens Bank with a 2500 limit. I also have a PayPal buyer credit account with a 1000 limit and a Kohls card with 1500 limit; Im including these because theyre essentially credit cards as well. These accounts range from about 6-12 years old and have high interest rates. I dont intend to use them to carry debt ever again but I am working towards buying a house as soon as a year from now and I dont want this open credit to affect my ability to do so. Seems I have a couple options:I can use the cards for general expenses and pay them off before interest is accrued each month to keep the accounts active. Im responsible enough to manage this without incurring more debt I was in a really bad place before and made poor decisions but turned around and have no debt, not even a cell phone contract, and am growing my savings. Other option would be to have some or all of the accounts closed. I have read that this can be bad for my credit rating so Im hesitant to do so, but I also think I have too many accounts and I could potentially benefit from closing some. I could also do a combination of both options of course, or perhaps there are some other suggestions. Any advice is truly appreciated.Assistant: Other option would be to have some or all of the accounts closed. I have read that this can be bad for my credit rating so Im hesitant to do so, but I also think I have too many accounts and I could potentially benefit from closing some.Why do you think you could potentially benefit?Human: My assumption was that having too many accounts open could negatively affect my credit. Assistant: Now that you have these cards theyre actually beneficial for you credit for two reasons: They provide more available credit to help keep your percentage of credit utilization lower. They represent a long duration of your credit history.Since you are now in a place financially that you can pay off your balance in full each month there is no reason you need to cancel any of the cards.Edit: Fixed formattingHuman: As a follow up, I noticed Cap1 has offered to increase my limits to 1k for each card if I choose to accept. Could this improve my credit score?  <response>: Yes. Since they offered then there likely wont be a hard credit pull which would ding your credit score, and you get the benefit of lowering your credit utilization.Say you have a monthly balance of 100 with a 500 limit, then your utilization would be 20. Increase the limit without changing the balance and now your credit utilization is only 10. Note that you dont need to carry a balance to impact your utilization.. its still a good idea to pay off the balance in full each month. 