Actually, cancelling cards and lowering credit limits will lower your credit score. One of the big components of the score is your debt to available credit ratio. Cancelled cards and declining limits is a big red flag and a big score buster. Also important is how long your accounts have been active. Start cancelling ones you have had open a long time and your score goes down.
Have to disagree. Hubby and I have near-perfect credit scores (824 & 832 out of 840, respectively, and have for years. When we refinanced our house a few years ago, our mortgage lender recommended we cut back our credit limits to decrease our liability. It's dependent upon your credit to debt ratio.