Answer: One of the many persistent myths about credit is that having too many cards is bad for your credit scores. In reality, the leading credit scoring formula, the FICO, doesn’t punish you for having “too much” available credit. You can, however, hurt your credit scores by closing accounts.

If you’re not going to be in the market for a new loan any time soon, you can certainly close a few retail cards if you no longer use them and don’t want the hassle of keeping track of those accounts. But you’ll probably want to keep open your major credit card accounts (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express) unless there’s a compelling reason to close them, such as an annual fee you don’t want to pay.

Answer: Unless your credit scores are excellent (typically FICO credit scores of 740 or above), these days you probably shouldn’t waste your time trying to negotiate a lower rate with your current issuers.

People with great credit have some leverage, because they can easily transfer their balances to competitors offering low rates. People with only “decent” credit usually can’t qualify for those offers.

You may be able to get a better deal by transferring your balance to a three-year, fixed-rate personal loan. Check with your local credit union first, as these member-owned organizations often have better rates and terms.

Answer: Congratulations on your progress paying off your debt. Erasing your debt on those two cards is doubtless already helping your scores. You can continue to improve your numbers by using the cards lightly but regularly, paying the balances in full each month.

Credit scoring formulas want to see you actively, and responsibly, using credit. Shutting the cards in a drawer won’t demonstrate that you can do that. You’re also running the risk that a card issuer will shut down your account because of inactivity.

If you discover you can’t use the cards responsibly, however, then locking them in that drawer (or freezing them in ice) is better than running up credit card debt again.

Answer: If your FICO scores are close to 800, they’re more than OK — they’re excellent. And once scores are that high, the reasons the credit bureaus give you for why they’re not higher are pretty much irrelevant. Even if you could fix the purported problem, it probably wouldn’t affect your numbers that much.

But you should consider adding another credit card once your refinance closes. A second card could serve as a backup if your primary card ever gets temporarily shut because of fraud. A second card also gives you somewhere to go if your issuer raises your rate, cuts your credit limit or starts imposing unreasonable fees. It’s not smart in today’s financial environment to be beholden to a single credit card issuer.

Answer: If you have good credit scores now, it could take up to three years to restore them after you’ve failed to pay a bill. The negative marks themselves will remain on your credit reports for seven years, but their effect on your scores diminishes over time if you make no other credit mistakes.

Clearly, the best solution is to pay at least the minimums on your cards until your windfall comes through and you can pay off the debt entirely. Going forward, you should avoid carrying credit card debt. The only smart way to use plastic is as a convenience, not as a way to live beyond your means.

If you’re not able to pay the minimums, you can talk to your issuers to see if they have a temporary hardship plan that will allow you to reduce the amount you pay. Ask about the hardship plans’ effect on your credit, though, since these arrangements also may hurt your scores, depending on how they’re reported to credit bureaus.

Answer: You have far more faith in television advertisers than you should. Just about anyone can buy advertising time, including scam artists, as long as their check to the station or channel doesn’t bounce.

Call your credit card company and let it know you’ve been scammed. Then create a paper trail: Follow up with a written letter asking that the charges be removed, your account closed and a new account opened with different numbers, since the scammer may try charging you again.

In the future, you should regard all advertisers, whatever the medium, with skepticism. If you’re purchasing from a company for the first time, at a minimum you should research its return policy and make sure it has multiple ways to be contacted in case there’s a problem. An Internet search that combines the company’s name with the word “scam” also can be illuminating.

Answer: There is. Bankruptcies have to be removed from your credit reports after 10 years.

Individual lenders, though, are allowed to have much longer memories. And some have opted not to forget. If you ever file a bankruptcy that wipes out debt on one of the accounts they issue, they may never again approve you for credit. That’s perfectly legal.

Not all lenders are so unforgiving, of course, and those who don’t know about your bankruptcy likely will be perfectly willing to extend you credit as long as your credit scores are good. But you’re probably wasting your time trying to induce this once-spurned lender to change its mind.

Answer: Don’t use retirement funds to pay off credit cards. Period.

If it pains you to think about the interest you’re paying, good. That may keep you from running up more debt.

But you’ll pay a lot more in the long run by raiding your retirement fund. First, you’ll lose one-third or more of your savings ($8,000 or more) to taxes and penalties. Then you’ll lose all the future, tax-deferred returns your 401(k) could have earned. You can figure that the $24,000 will easily cost you more than $100,000 in lost future retirement income.

A better approach is to cut your expenses so you can put more money toward paying off your debt. An extra $500 a month could shave a year or more off the time you’re in debt and save you a considerable amount in interest.

Answer: Closing accounts can’t help your credit scores and may hurt them. But if both of you have good scores (FICOs of 740 or above) and other open credit accounts, then canceling this account shouldn’t have disastrous effects on your scores.

Answer: It’s not entirely clear why you care what the interest rate on the card is, if you’re not carrying a balance. Whether the card charges 18.24% or 1.824% makes no difference to your bottom line.

If you’re objecting on principle, you should know that credit card companies can charge pretty much any interest rate they want. The good news is that you have plenty of options if you want a card with a better rate. The average credit card interest rate is somewhere around 16%. Many issuers offer single-digit teaser rates to people like yourself who have high credit scores. You can check out sites such as CardRatings.com CreditCards.com and NerdWallet.com to find lower-rate cards.

Since your issuer refused to lower your rate when asked, it either doesn’t think you’ll bolt to another credit card company or doesn’t care if you do.