<prompt> Human: After years of poor decisions and some bad luck I have finally rid myself of all of my credit card debt. I didnt keep the record of exactly how much I started off with but I did track the balance monthly. My utilization was about 75 and I had way over estimated my ability to pay them down quickly. One thing that really helped was a temporary increase in income for a year, but I also got rid of an extra vehicle payment after getting divorced. Having extra money helps, clearly, but I was sure to keep close track of if and pay my bills and debt as soon as I got paid. My next short term goal is paying off my vehicle and an achievable long term goal is to pay off a mortgage in seven years. I mainly wanted to share how happy I am but I was wondering if I should deactivate a card or two? I have a 35k limit but my understanding is a higher limit helps the credit score.Assistant: Having a higher total limit helps score in that the same balance then takes up a lower amount of utilization. For example, if you have a 3,500 balance on 35,000 limits, youre at 10, which is the best utilization tier lower is better. If you have the same 3,500 balance report but you only have 20,000 of credit, youre at 17.5, which would drop your score a few points good tier, which is up to about 30 or so. Utilization over 30 hurts your credit very, very fast, but can be reversed simply by reporting a new, lower balance.Also, old cards contribute to Average Age of Accounts, which is really the hardest thing to build in your credit profile. Closing them means they will stop aging and any new accounts will pull it down.So, if paying down these cards has taught you discipline, you can leave them open. If not, its time to close the youngest any annual fees lowest limits.Human: I see, thank you. Ill look more into cancelling or changing cards after I close on my next house. For the next month I just want to keep everything stabilized.  <response>: Suppose you spend about 2k per month on credit cards and can comfortably pay it off each month. Assuming you want to remain in the 10 range, this implies you need about 20K in limit. If you have a 10K limit, you can still do that, but paying the credit card once you reach about 1K in balance. It requires you to monitor your usage. Similarly, if you have only 5K, you can still do it by monitoring your usage. The important piece is, the balance at the time of reporting to agencies is the most important. However, your credit score is only relevant when you need it for some loan. If you know you are in an underwriting period, just stay on top of it, otherwise dont obsess over a 40 usage.If you feel that having a lower limit will keep you away from debt, that is a much better position to be in my opinion then a few points of higher score.If you monitor credit karma score, you can get an idea of when they typically report a balance and you can further fine tune your payments. 