Credit Cards that Look Better on Your Credit Report

Which Credit Cards Look Better on Your Credit Report?
by Scott Bilker

Scott Bilker is the author of the best-selling book "Credit Card and Debt Management." He is also the Editor and publisher of the FREE DebtSmart® E-mail Newsletter (http://www.debtsmart.com). Sign up today!

Scott,
Let me start off by saying I love this website! I have a couple of questions. I have been told that certain credit cards (e.g. Capital One, Cross Country, and others like those) do not carry a lot of weight on your credit report. I was always under the impression that all credit cards carried the same weight. What is the truth? My next question concerns paying them off. I would like to pay off my credit cards. Should I just pay them off and try not to use them? (I have tried this before and failed). Or should I just go ahead and cancel them. I am really getting sick and tired of credit cards and I want to stop using them because they put too much pressure on me. Please advise.
Thanks,
--Nichole

Nichole,

Thanks for writing!

Great questions! It certainly does make sense that some credit cards will look better on your credit report. However, I would think that it depends on who's looking. I'm sure that each bank has their own criteria for deciding how to "score" your report based on its contents. You can get a copy of your credit report by clicking here.

In fact, my suspicions of this are proved correct after speaking with Norm Magnuson, President of Public Affairs, from the Consumer Data Industries Association.