Paid off oldest CC keep it open or close it?
Close the account.  The age doesn't outweigh the fact that you have to pay for the card.  It would be one thing if the credit line was a couple thousand but showing the credit bureaus that you are staying away from the $425.00 doesn't really make them think you are any more trustworthy with your available credit.  Utilization matters when you are staying away from much larger chunks of your available credit (across all cards). First off, congratulations on taking care of your finances and paying off your cards!  Takes a lot of discipline.   If your next oldest card is just a year apart, you can safely close this card.
The other responses are correct in that financially, you should pay off the highest-interest-rate debt first, while paying the minimum on any lower-interest-rate debt to avoid any fees or penalties. However, there is one more trick you might consider: Unless you have the $20k available to pay the Discover debt immediately (and you say you have $9.5k so far), you could roll over your private debt over to a new card with a lower interest rate. It's pretty common to find balance transfers deals that charge a 3% transfer fee to have 0% APY for 1 year.  If you are an organized person and are sure you won't forget to balance transfer again in the future, this would bring your private debt down to ~3%/year, and make your highest effective interest rate the $7.5k debt at 6%, and you could pay that down first. That's the extreme version, and requires you to set a calendar alert 10-11 months in the future.  A less-extreme tactic would be to try to switch your private debt once to a lower rate - you probably could find a card with 0% APY for 1 year and then 7-8% afterwards, without continuing to balance transfer in the future.  Then it would be closer to negligible which debt you chose to pay down first (between private and Perkins), and in that case I'd advocate finishing off the smaller debt entirely (because it would be the highest rate at that moment, and to feel good about knocking one off, and to reduce the number of fees and credit score hits if you ever took a vacation and was late on a monthly payment). "Bank of America has been selling off their local branches to smaller banks in recent years.  Here are a few news stories related to this: Along with the branch buildings, the local customers' savings and checking accounts are sold to the new bank.  It is interesting that you were told that your savings account is being sold, but that your checking account will remain with BofA.  I guess it depends on the terms of the particular sale. Here are your options, as I see it: Let the savings account move to the new bank, and see what the new terms are like.  You might actually like the new bank.  If you don't, you can shop around and close your account at the new bank after it has been created. Close your account now, before the move.  If you have a different bank you'd like to move to, there is no need to wait. Since your checking account is apparently staying with BofA, you could move all your money from your savings account to your checking account, closing your savings account.  Then after ""mid August"" when the local branch switches to the new bank and everyone else's savings account has moved, you can call up BofA and tell them you want to move some of the money from your checking account into a new savings account. If you really have your heart set on staying with BofA, option 3 looks like a good, easy choice. To address your other concerns: Bank of America is a big credit card company, so I doubt that your credit card is being sold off.  Your credit card account should stay as-is.  Even if your savings account and checking account are at a different bank, there is no need to switch credit cards. Your savings and checking accounts have nothing to do with your credit report or score, so there is no concern there.  If you end up wanting to switch to a new credit card with a different bank, there are minor hits to your credit score involved with applying for a new card and closing your current card, but if I were you I would not worry about your credit score in this.  Switch credit cards if you want a change, and keep your credit card if you don't." I am super sorry about your divorce and nod to you for taking care of your kids and spouse.  This may sound super snarky, although not my intention, but you have an income problem.  Despite making almost double the national average, you are supporting two households, and live in a high cost of living area.  (BTW been there, done that and also in IT.) The best way to avoid paying CC interest is to pay them off, and cut them up.  Some might poo-poo the idea as you can earn some $ by getting CC rebates, but you are not in that mode right now.  Consolidations, and balance transfers are a losing game as you can probably feel the November deadline looming.      If I was you, I would get a second job, even if it was something like pumping gas.  Making an extra $500/month increases your balance reduction by 650%.  Sell stuff.  Recently an older version of Visual Studio, that was sitting unused on my shelf, went for $400 on Ebay.   The best way to solve this problem is through sweat equity.  There are no easy answers.  It sucks, but putting your big boy pants on and being prepared to work 20 hours of the day is the easiest way out of this.   If you do this you will learn a lesson about CC utilization that most don't learn. Take the consolidation loan and pay it off. Don't close the card. Opening a new account will have no bearing on your mortgage a year or two down the road. Keep paying on time -- that will make a big difference! JohnFX's suggestion to open a new card and do a transfer is  a great idea if you have good credit. Just read the fine print -- most cards charge a 3-5% transfer fee and some cards accrue interest if you don't pay within the promotional period. "Pay cash.  You have the cash to pay for it now, but God forbid something happen to you or your wife that requires you to dip into that cash in the future. In such an event, you could end up paying a lot more for your home theater than you planned. The best way to keep your consumer credit card debt at zero (and protect your already-excellent credit) is to not add to the number of credit cards you already have.   At least in the U.S., interest rates on saving accounts of any sort are so low, I don't think it's worthwhile to include as a deciding factor in whether not you ""borrow"" at 0% instead of buying in cash." I'm going to give the succinct, plain language version of the answers:  1.    Your oldest active credit agreement is not very old You don't have much experience or history for me to base my analysis on -- how do I know I can trust you to pay back the money? 2.    You have no active credit card accounts Other people haven't trusted you with credit or you haven't trusted yourself with credit and there's no active good behavior of paying credit cards on time -- you want me to be the first one to go out on a limb and loan you money? How do I know I can trust you to pay back the money? I feel this is best. Credit card is an immediate debt and you has the finds to wipe it out. the Student loans are a longer term debt and you have the money to pay it all off. So yes, pay cc, and keep loan on scheduled payments. Plus it helps your credit "Not only does the interest get charged from Day 1 on new purchases as long as you have a revolving balance, but the credit card agreement often says something to the effect that any partial payment is applied first to the  interest to date, and then transfer balances on which no interest is being charged and so the bank is losing money on it, then to other transfer  balances and cash advances (and no refund of that 3% fee that was  collected up front on the cash advance) and finally to the purchases starting from the most recent back to the oldest one. Even the FAQ on my card site says in simple language  ""We apply payments and credits at our discretion, including in a manner most favorable or convenient for us."" (see mhoran_psprep's answer). The moral is indeed what Dheer has already told you: do not carry a revolving balance on a credit card and if you have a revolving balance, pay it off as soon as possible,  Do not wait for the end of the grace period; if possible, pay it off the day the statement is  issued, or if you can make only a partial payment, make it as soon as possible.  Make multiple partial payments each month if you have cash flow problems, or improve your cash flow by forgoing one or more of the many Grande Vente Mocharino Espresso Lattes you consume each day.  Credit card debt is close to the worst kind of debt that you can have, and it is best to get out from under as soon as possible. Remember, there is effectively no grace period as long as you have a revolving balance on your credit card.  You are paying interest for every one of those days." If you hadn't done it already cut up the cards. Don't close the accounts because it could hurt your credit score even more. Switching some or all of the CC debt onto low rate cards, or a debt consolidation loan is a way that some people use to reduce their credit card payments.  The biggest risk is that you become less aggressive with the loan payback. If you were planning on paying $800 in minimum payments,plus $200 extra each month; then still pay $1000 with the new loan and remaining credit cards.  Another risk is that you start overusing the credit card again, because you have available credit on the card that was paid off with the loan. The third risk, which you haven't proposed, occurs when people switch unsecured credit card dept, to a secured 2nd mortgage debt. This then puts the family home at risk. "This answer is an attempt to answer the actual question posed. Please keep in mind that this applies specifically to the Equifax credit model that Mint uses as mentioned in the accepted answer, and that different models may react in different ways (or not at all). As mentioned in the comments, the number of total accounts you have does not have much bearing on your overall credit score. If you click on Mint's ""About Total Accounts"" link, you get the following statement: Total Accounts has a low impact on your score. Second, the way the Total Accounts score is represented is misleading. This is not a count of the total number of accounts you have open, but rather how many accounts you have in your total history. Mint's header under this metric is flat out wrong: Try to have a good mix of credit lines open. To back up the assertion that this is looking at total accounts in your credit history rather than just those that are open, my Mint report shows 2 open accounts and 7 closed accounts, for a total of 9. Under the Total Accounts metric, I am plotted smack dab in the middle of the ""Not Bad"" range, right where people with 9 would be plotted. So the proper advice here is to just let it be and only open new accounts as you need them. As you amass credit history, this metric will continue to grow naturally - it should never decrease. You may ask, then, why did your overall score decrease when you paid off your student loans? Most likely because your average age of credit dropped when you closed your loan account. If you're like most people I know, your student loan is one of your oldest accounts, so closing that account will hurt your score - credit age is measured only on your open accounts." Your credit score is definitely affected by the age of your credit accounts, so if you frequently close one card and open another new one, you're adversely affecting the overall average age of accounts.  This is something to consider and whether it is worth what you're trying to achieve. Sometimes, if you're a good customer and are insistent enough, you can simply call your credit card company and use the threat of closing your account in favor of another card that offers something attractive to get your current bank to sweeten its incentives to keep your business.  I know many people who've done this with real success, and they spare themselves the hassle of obtaining a new card and suffering the short term consequences on their credit report.  This might be an avenue worth trying before you just close the account and move on. I hope this helps. Good luck! You want to have 2-4 credit cards, with a credit utilization ratio below 30%.  If you only have 2 cards, closing 1 would reduce your credit diversity and thus lower your credit score.  You also want at least 2 years credit history, so closing an older credit card may shorten your credit history, again lowering your credit score.  You want to keep around at least 1-2 older cards, even if they are not the best. You have 4 cards: But having 2-4 cards (you have 4) means you can add a 5th, and then cancel one down to 4, or cancel one down to 3 and then add a 4th, for little net effect.  Still, there will be effect, as you have decreased the age of your credit, and you have opened new credit (always a ding to your score). Do you have installment loans (cars), you mention a new mortgage, so you need to wait about 3 months after the most recent credit activity to let the effects of that change settle. You want both spouses to have separate credit cards, and that will increase the total available to 4-8.  That would allow you to increase the number of benefits available. I used a large portion of my 401k to pay off my credit card.  My intentions were to then use my extra cash flow to build up the 401k again.  Unfortunately I didn't learn my lesson and now I'm back to where I started, minus my 401k savings.  If I could do it again, I would have cut up the card, kept the 401k and pay it down slowly.  Good luck to you.  I hope you do better than I did. "Several events will always result in a reduction of your score, including: These will show up in the short term, but I don't think it's worth $40 per year in perpetuity to avoid this. These aren't serious ""black marks"" in the same category as missing payments, carrying too much debt, or foreclosures/evictions, etc. These effects are designed to signal issuers when someone acquires a large amount of credit in a very short period of time, which may indicate a greater risk. If your credit is good and you are using your other cards responsibly, closing the card (given the annual fee) would not cause me great concern if it were me. Since you are so much better of a risk than you likely were in college, you can also call Capital One, ask to speak with a supervisor, and ask them to drop the fee and increase your credit limit. They should be able to easily verify that you meet the requirements for other types of preferred cards they offer, and they should be willing to offer you improved terms rather than losing your business. It is very possible they simply haven't re-evaluated your risk since you initially applied. Also, remember that these types of effects determine only a portion of your overall score. Activity is also a major component. Rather than leaving an unused card open for history and debt-to-limit purposes only, I would also recommend having some minimum level of activity, such as an automatic bill payment, on each card you carry. The effect of using your cards over time will have a significant positive effect on your score. Best of luck!" "Whoops, responded to the wrong person. Reposting for you in case you didn't see it.       Here's a source for the $3.7 trillion number.      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-08/u-s-municipal-bond-market-28-larger-than-estimated-federal-reserve-says.html    It's not 'incorrect data'.        EDIT:  Furthermore, in order to know the ""extent"" of the crime (your own admission) we NEED to know the size of the entire market otherwise you can't have any perspective or determine extent.  So there's no reason it shouldn't be mentioned in the article."