Should I cancel this account? Or does it help my credit score?

DON'T CANCEL IT!!!!!! (Sorry to type in all caps). You've had that account since 2003. That's 4½ years of credit history. If you close it, not only you remove that payment history, but it takes away from your collective available credit, and it shortens the number of open trade lines and the average age of all your accounts. Also it disrupts the mixture of revolving(credit cards) and installment accounts(car loan & student loans). Judging from the sound of things that may be your oldest account. You take that away, it will give the impression that you're just starting to establish credit, instead of establishing it back in 2003. So, my advice would be to start browsing the circulars of that department stores to find something you like and start using the card

the length of your credit history helps to boost your score so keep it open!

When you're trying to build a solid credit score it's important to get a comprehensive view of what is actually effecting it...

Your Credit Score (also known as your MyFico score) is calculated with the following breakdown:

35% - Payment History

30% - Credit to Debt Ratio

15% - Credit History

10% - New Credit

10% - Credit Types in Use

Sounds like you want to get your score up so try some of these tricks I've used myself:

# Know and Track Your Credit Score (be sure to sign up for the free trial of your credit score tracking listed below. It really helped my get my score up.)

# Never Miss a Payment, Starting Today

# Never use more than 20% of your Available Credit

# Keep Credit Cards that Have No Annual Fees Open For as Long as Possible

# Extend Your Credit Limit on Cards You Already Have before You Get New Ones

# Get Credit Cards that Have CashBack Rewards to Contribute to your Balance

# Transfer Your Balance to a Credit Card with a Lower Interest Rate and a Higher Available Credit-

# If You Think You Are Going to be FORCED to Pay a Bill Late Ask for an Extension or Payment Plan

# Take out a Small Personal Loan and Repay it Over a Year

# Ask Someone With Good Credit if They will Account Shadow you

Do not cancel it. What it does is shows that you have that much more available credit. It also reflects as a positive credit rating. Removing a credit card can reduce your credit score by up to 100 pts. Just level it be.

As for the negatives, which have been cleared, contact those vendors and demand that the negative comments be removed. You have paid these accounts in full and closed them; your report should reflect that.

If you aren't going to use it, it is best to close it. My loan officer told me last week to close my unused accounts because she saw it as "money available to me". Even though you don't use it ~ you can if you get tempted to.

It will raise your score slightly, but none the less it will raise it. If you have others, don't close them all at once. For some wierd reason it will hurt your score to close everything together. My loan lady suggested closing them every 4-6 weeks.

Congratulations on paying off your bills. I know it feels great!

If you decide NOT to close it, you should at least use it. Perhaps charge $20 or so to it and pay it off immediately. It is "stale" if the last report was from 2003 and not helping your score unless the company reports recent activity.

I would recommend closing it. There is no sense in keeping it open, other than to tempt you now that you know it exists.

I am a believer in having no debt. Our society believes we need to have debt to survive, but it's not the case. I am working hard to be debt free. It is possible. If you pay off your debts, and only use cash, you have no need for a credit report. For higher purchases, just save the money!

Keep it open! Its a positive trust me. You never know if you will need besides we are in a new millenium which means revolving in a case such as yours is good. You can always request a lower line, but definitely don't close it.

Do not cancel it. The longer you have an account, the bigger the boost it gives to your score.