Do you have too many credit cards? Do you have any credit cards you no longer use? Did you just pay one off? If any of these situations apply to you, you might have considered cancelling or closing a credit card account. But should you?

There are some times when it’s a great idea to close a credit card account, but that isn’t always the case. Let’s look at a few reasons to consider it, and a few times when you might be better off holding onto the account.

When It’s a Good Idea to Cancel Credit Cards

1. Your card is lost or stolen. — In this situation you should absolutely call your credit card company and cancel the card. It prevents a potential thief from being able to make charges to your account. Your account numbers will probably change, but the account itself will remain open.
2. You’ve transferred your balance to another card. — Another time when it might be a good idea to close a credit card account is when you’ve transferred its balance to a balance transfer card like the Virgin Flyer credit card. After all, if the terms were worth holding onto, you probably wouldn’t have done a balance transfer.
3. Too much available credit is hurting your credit history. — Having too much available credit already can make you look like a bigger credit risk to future lenders. That could hurt you if you plan to get a mortgage or car loan. If you have too many cards with balances available, you might be better off closing one.

When You Might Want to Keep a Credit Card Account Open

1. It’s one of your oldest credit card accounts. — Keeping your oldest credit card can show lenders the true length of your credit history, which can make you look better in their eyes. It also shows you can be a loyal customer.
2. The available balance helps your debt-to-credit ratio. — You might have too many cards, but you have high balances on some of them (from financing purchases over time). If you were to close an unused account, you might negatively impact your debt-to-credit ratio (the total amount you owe compared to the total amount of credit available to you). In this case, you might want to keep the card for now.
3. The terms are too good to get rid of. — Just because you aren’t actively using a card right now, it doesn’t mean you should close the account. If the card features great terms that would be hard to beat, it might be worth holding onto for future use. This is especially true if it’s a no annual fee card like the Virgin No Annual Fee credit card, because you aren’t paying a yearly fee just to keep the account available.

As you can see, there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to keeping or cancelling a credit card account. It depends on the specific features of the account, how you use the account, and even how you use other open lines of credit.