perspective

Illusion that as parallel lines project toward the horizon they move closer and converge at the 'far point,' and objects become progressively smaller and disappear altogether at the 'horizon line.'

Many people are just one more card away from witnessing the tragic death of their wallets. The leather strains and stretches to hold in all that easy credit. It's hard not to have an overstuffed wallet when every retailer you visit now has an in-house credit card they'd be ever-so-happy to sign you up for. While these cards often give bonus points, free merchandise or favorable rates, the bad news is that the more open accounts you have, the lower your credit score will be. From a credit bureau's perspective, the logic behind this is that you could theoretically tap all of these credit sources to the max at one time and rack up a huge amount of debt. In other words, credit agencies and lenders are worried about your potential for taking on high interest debt, as well as the likelihood that you probably maintain small balances on each of those cards. If they don't have an outstanding balance the easiest solution is to simply call and cancel the cards. If you have balances on numerous cards right now, one excellent solution is consolidating your debt. A personal loan at 12% is still better than the 20%+ rates some cards charge. However, if consolidation doesn't sound attractive, consider paying off the debt that has the highest interest rate first, and close out your accounts one by one as you pay them down. The goal should be to reduce your card count to one or two credit cards. It will make reviewing monthly statements and paying your bills much easier. It will provide discipline as your overall credit limit will be lower, and finally it will keep your wallet from exploding in your pocket, which can be very messy.

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