Will cancelling my credit card improve my credit score?

I have 2 credit cards. And I have student loans from the government, and a student line of credit. I have a poor credit score and I want to improve it. Will cancelling one of my credit cards improve my score (after I have payed off the balance of course) ?

Public Comments

1. no
2. Nope, keep it open.
3. No you cant cancel it till it is paid off
4. NO! In fact it will hurt your credit score. Your credit score is based mostly on: 1. Length of credit history 2. Payment history. 3. Ratio of credit used to available credit. 4. Number of credit inquiries you authorized. If you cancel your card, you'll be hurting your credit ratio. (#3). You want to deliberately keep your oldest credit card open, even if you never use it. You want to always pay the minimums of each loan on time every month. You want to keep your available credit high, but actually only have balances equalinig 25% or less. You want to keep your credit inquiries to a minimum. Try for no more than 3 or 4 per year for any type of loans. You do these things and your credit score will quickly soar into the 700s.
5. I have no idea. I've never done that before.
6. No, Keep your card and keep the balance below 30% and you will notice a big jump in your score!
7. No need to cancel it, just stop adding money to it so you can pay it off.
8. IT depends on your past actions, if you've had a history of debt, even if you've paid it off, I'd have to say no.. but if you aren't really in debt for a logn time, then it might.