I have 5 credit cards, each with a $0 balance (finally paid them off!). One of them is over 20 years old. Most were opened 5-10 years ago. As far as my credit score is concerned, is it better to have credit cards open with a $0 balance or is it better to close them down completely.

Thanks!

I recently read that it was better to leave them open with a $0 balance. However, too much available credit with low income can bring down your credit score.

If you close them your credit score will go down for 2 reasons:
1. Your oldest accounts will then be closed and a good portion of your credit score is based on the age of your positve credit
2. Your credit utilization will go up. For example if you currently have 5000 balances on 20,000 available and you close 10,000 you will go from 25% utilization to 50% utilization, which can damage your credit quite a bit. Any increase in utilization will decrease your score.

You should not close those accounts, in fact you should use them each at least once per year or they will sometimes clsoe them for non use.