Diane GardnerFounder, Adept Business Solutions · Profit First Professional

Money Answers Part 7 - Q&A Cancel or keep credit cards? #money #shorts #creditcards

27 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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In this short Q&A segment, the speaker challenges the common advice to cancel credit cards when in debt. Instead, they argue that the priority should be gaining behavioral control over money before worrying about credit scores. They suggest practical steps: when reducing debt, lower the credit limit on cards to keep spending in check; assign specific cards to dedicated purposes—such as a “subscription card” used only for recurring services—to increase clarity and control. The overall message is to keep credit cards but use them more wisely, focusing first on disciplined money management and then, once habits are solid, on credit‑score optimization.

Chapters

Everyone says to cancel your credit cards if you're in debt. You've said not to cancel credit cards. I'm confused. Yeah, I'm not saying cancel your credit cards. That's true, because the potential rebound and retaliatory effect. What I am suggesting is we need to get our credit cards in control. There's a few ways to do it. One way is when you start reducing debt, to actually lower your credit limit. No, this is not a way to optimize your credit score and all that junk. The most important thing is you controlling your money. That's why I call financial independence not money controlling you, you control your money. Once you assert control of your money and you're consistently doing it well and your behavioral aspect has kind of been wired appropriately, then we can do things to improve your credit score. The other thing you can do with a credit card is you start allocating to purposes. So I have a subscription credit card and only subscriptions go on there. So I have absolute clarity every time one of those bills come in from that credit card company, I know what category it's in. And it gives me more control and authority over it. So I don't ditch credit cards, I use them more wisely.