Cancel That Card!

I went through the roof when I saw the headline, "Don't Cancel That Card!" on the Motley Fool.

The article didn't turn out to be nearly as adamant as the headline, and, buried deep in the article, the truth is there, but almost dismissively.

The fact is, mortgage lenders tend to view open, zero balance credit cards very negatively--they know how many additional expenses you're going to incur during a move--ordering pizza for the gang who helped you move, replacing stuff the gang broke while they moved you, buying new stuff because your old stuff seems out of place in the new place, etc, etc, etc.

Where are you going to put that extra expense? On all those open, zero balance cards. Any home loan officer worth his salt knows that.

There's some good links in the article, but man--those Motley Fool guys can sometimes be more foolish than Foolish. Ever since I got a call the other night offering me a "Motley Fool Credit Card," I knew a little conflict of interest had cropped up that would keep them from dispensing the best possible financial advice.