I see some people saying that unused credit is good for your score, but would having too much credit already make banks reluctant to give you another card?

Right now I have a basic no-fee nothing-back card I've used for 12 years. It has a $18K cap on it. Now that I've started applying for FF cards, I've thought about closing that since there's no reason for me to use a card which gives me nothing back. I'm reluctant to do so because I'm afraid it's going to hurt my credit to close an old card with a higher limit to switch to a brand new card with a lower limit.

I guess I'll have to go to that credit forum and read about this in detail.

edit: I carry no balance and pay everything off every month.

Depends on how often you apply, and your history of payments, debt ratios, etc.

But I know a woman who had 97 credit cards, and never missed a payment :)

So I guess the question is: do the CC companies actually think of the inquiries as contributing to credit risk, or is this just some kind of arbitrary rule? I.e., can you call the credit department and just say "I've applied to six cards to get sign up bonuses...I always pay on time and never carry a balance" and they'll reevaluate your credit risk? It seems there's two sides to this equation, one being credit risk (of which a creditor to me would have almost none) and the other being "reward" risk, such as churning or applying just for the bonus. If they actually care about the second then I can understand the denial, but if not then there's no reason a person with outstanding credit shouldn't be able to get a card.

If you close it, it only stays on your report for, I think, 4 years. Better to have the credit limit lowered if you don't need it and are worried about it impacting future cards.