Here's a good one (actually two good ones)

[Andyt293]

Had a bit of a financial windfall back in November so I used it to pay as much on my CC's as possible.

Had two CC's with small limits ($800) that were maxed out - Lowes/GE Capital and Providian. I paid the complete balance on both of them in November. Used the Providian card to buy some Christmas gifts while planning to pay the new balance $309) this week.

Went to use the Lowes Card and found out that my CL had been reduced to $100 and while making an online payment on my Providian card found out that the CL had been reduced to $316.

My concern is that my CR is going to reflect a high balance of roughly $800 and CL's of $100 and $316 reflectively. So much for lowering my utilization ratios. In the meantime, I've cancelled the Lowe's card (Ironically, I received the letter explaining the lower limit the same day I received the cancellation acknowledgement letter) and am considering doing the same with the Providian card. The reasons given for the lower limit are collection accounts (which are rapidly going away due to the DV process) and high balances on my other cards.

So, my question regards my credit score. Will the high balances of $800 versus the lowered CL's hurt my credit score? I'd dispute the lowered CL's with the CRA's but am afraid of losing otherwise good tradelines.

Any ideas?

[Guest jeeptravel]

As long as you are current on your payments, I'd keep the accts. open. Keep your payments up and keep applying for credit increases. Closing accounts is hardly ever a winner uness you want to save on the annual fees.

jt