hit the deer, but not the elk and the moose‏

Every once in awhile my sister in-law, Julie, will send out helpful information that she has learned from her classes. Below are a few of the emails. Hope you don't mind Julie.

this is what i learned in personal finance today:topic: car insurancefact pattern: A deer runs out in front of your vehicle. Do you swerve?answer: NO. Hit the deer. It's better to pay your deductible and have your comprehensive insurance cover the accident instead of swerving, hitting something, and then being liable. Your collision insurance will then apply, and your premium will go up.change the fact pattern: An elk or moose runs out in front of your vehicle.answer: don't hit the elk or moose. people die every year hitting elk and moose.

in my personal finance class we got this convenient link to opt out of credit card offers for five years. https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ this will help protect you from identity theft.

true or false: closing inactive credit card accounts helps your credit score
No, no, no. For the umpteenth time: Closing accounts can never help your credit score, and may hurt it.
Every time I write this, I get more e-mail from people who say their mortgage lenders told them exactly the opposite. It's true that having too many open accounts can hurt your score. But once you've opened the accounts, you've done the damage. You can't repair it by shutting the account, and you may actually make things worse.
The credit score looks at the difference between your available credit and what you're using. Shut down accounts, and your total available credit shrinks, making your balances loom larger, which typically hurts your score.
The score also tracks the length of your credit history. Shutting older accounts can also make your credit history look younger than it actually is, which can hurt your score.
Of course, credit scores aren't the only thing lenders look at when making decisions. They typically consider other factors, such as your income, assets, employment history and credit limits. Mortgage lenders in particular might look at your total available credit and ask you to close a few accounts as a condition for getting a loan.