Credit now!

I paid off my credit card should I close it out? "NO", surprised? One of the more important items contributing to your score is total debt vs. available debt (as far as credit cards go). So if you have two credit cards and you have a $10,000 limit on each. You owe $5000 on one and none on the other. Your ratio is 25% ( 5,000/$20000). Anything below 35% is optimal. So now you pay off the zero balance one and you only have one card with a $5000 balance and $10,000 limit. Now your ratio goes to 50%! (5000/10000), "Not Good"!
Obviously making your payments on time and not having other bad info like a Foreclosure , Judgement or Bankruptcy is also very important. Also if you know someone who has done the BK thing, tell them to go out and get a couple of "secured" cards. (Secured means you deposit money with a credit card and they issue you a card with that limit!) After a BK you not only have to keep your existing credit "good" , you have to "re-establish" new, good credit history! The scores will come up sooner!