text: does keeping my credit cards balances at zero after shopping with them is good? i mean whenever there is a payment for a shopping or anything, i go ahead and pay that portion, does it help my fico to be looking always as 0 or a balance available should be better,or it doesn't matter? closing out credit card (any revolving charge accounts) will help your fico in the long run.  but short term, one factor that weighs into your fico is the "percentage of revolving usage".  this is the percent of balances to credit limits.  the lower this percentage is, the better.  for instance: you owe $5,000 total on the cards, and have $10,000 credit limits on them.  your usage is 50%.  but if you have $5,000 in balances and $20,000 in limits (i.e. you don't close out the cards you don't use), your usage is 25%.  lower percentage = better credit score.  if you don't carry high balances though, its best just to close them out and be done with them.