Don't cancel cards, pay off and hold with zero balance---all affects credit rating, canceling actually damages fico score. Then use them once in a while, as long as you pay entire bal at eom.I now only use cards for convenience, never buy anything you dont have the cash on hand to pay off at eom, as others pointed out before. BTW, I used to work in the CC/Mortgage industry for 15+ yrs, know it can be difficult to get out of debt, but have some discipline and you WILL be successful.
If your worried about your credit rating your already in trouble.....get rid of the cards that were part of the problem.
There are 2 schools on paying down credit card debt.
The mathmatical formula calls for paying off the largest debt at the highest rate first.
The other school of thought says to pay off the smallest debt no matter the interest so that when you get it paid off you have a sense of accomplishment that you actually are getting somewhere, instead of paying off the biggest which might take years to pay off and you get discouraged.
