Should I close credit card accounts if I have too many?

Don't close credit cards accounts at all, if possible. If you feel you have too many accounts, then simply stop using all of the accounts. Let some of them become unrated. You will lose points in two factors when you close a credit card account, both in the Amounts Owed Factor (30%) where you will lose available limit, and in the Length of Credit History Factor (15%). These two factors combine to make up nearly half of your credit scores, so pay attention. A common misconception by consumers is that when you close a credit card account, any bad history on that account goes away. This is not the case. That history stays with you.

The only time closing a credit card account should be considered is in the instance of divorce, identity theft, or removing your name from an authorized user account that has incurred negative history or has high balance-to-limit ratios.