topic Re: How many cards in Credit Cards

How many cards

squirrely2005 — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 03:03:25 GMT

How many cards should I have open? It's sort of a long story as to why I'm asking that I posted in the relationship section. My gf just doesn't like how many credit cards I have. I feel comfortable with them and don't plan on using them much. Anyway do y'all think I should close any? My information is as follows.

Open:

SSFCU 1k CL Opened 9/2009 APR 12%is

NFCU 5kCL Opened this month APR 15%ish

Capitalone Platinum(no rewards) 500CL Opened 06/2011 APR 19%ish

JCrew 930CL Opened 11/2011 APR 24.99%

CareCredit 500CL Opened 10/2011(Parvo sucks) 0 till june '13 on one purchase

Closed:

Citi Forward 500CL Opened 9/2009 and Closed about Oct 2010 by them.

Baddies on my credit:

60 days late and 90 days late from the citi. The 90 was actually from me making a payment but not realizing it wasn't the minimum.

All will be paid off tomorrow except for the NFCU. I know it will really only effect me util wise now.

I couldn't care less about carecredit. Only reason I'd need it is for an emergency and I've never heard of a 500 vet emergency.

I've gotten tired of Jcrew. Too expensive and i guess 25 back for every 500 spent is good but its per season. So I have 3 months to spend 500 for a measly 25 bucks and I don't get much for 500 there. Only thing I like about them is they did auto cli from 500 to 930 about 5 months ago. And the interest is so high so if something happens and I don't pif the 25 back is basically just paying for th interest and not anything extra.

I know it's different for everybody but what is the ideal number of cards to have open? And which one's do y'all think I should close.

Re: How many cards

improvingmycredit — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 03:40:05 GMT

I think you have a nice portfolio of cards there. With the exception of the Cap One that won't grow, I'd keep them if there is no annual fee. If you have a fee, then I'd keep it till the new AF is about to post. Me personally- I'd look to getting possibly one more card that can grow. Maybe an Amex or Chase after gardening 6 mo to a year. Should be able to acquire a nice starting limit then.

Re: How many cards

bichonmom — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 08:36:29 GMT

It's a personal decision. I'd recommend asking for a CLI w/your SSFCU CC. It's been open 3 yrs and you're only at $1k.

You might want to look at adding an Amex. I'm not sure if you'd qualify for a BCE, but it has really good rewards. You might want to start w/Zync for only $25/yr AF. Then in a year, app for BCE. Also, this way all future Amex will be backdated to your first Amex. The benefit of that is that usually when you get a new CC, your AAoA takes a hit. With backdating, your AAoA actually gets a boost, which helps your FICO.

Beyond that, I'd think about what you're looking for in terms of rewards. Navy is actually pretty good, IMO. Some have higher % for certain categories, but I like Navy for my all-purpose card. It's a straight forward 1% cash back and you only need to accumulate $20 in rewards before you can redeem.

You might be able to qualify for Chase Freedom, which has different 5% categories each quarter.

I don't think you have too many cards at all. You might want to close your Cap One at some point if there's an AF, since your CL probably won't ever increase.

Re: How many cards

gettnthere — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:26:10 GMT

If it makes you feel any better, i have 10 cards. I don't think you have too many.

Re: How many cards

kulamrazool82 — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:25:39 GMT

I would close Cap One & J Crew (based on ur usage?). As many suggest go for prime cards Amex Zync or BCE and a Chase card. It will make your portfolio to look more nice.

- Syed

Re: How many cards

Razeus — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:47:57 GMT

Get rid of the toy limits and department store cards. You can manage with:

SSFCU 1k CL

NFCU 5kCL

Hopefully you have $0 balances so it doesn't mess up your utilization. Get yourself a 3rd card, probably a Chase Freedom, Chase Sapphire Preferred, or AMEX BCE/BCP and call it a day.

Re: How many cards

squirrely2005 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 01:53:22 GMT

Thanks for all the input guys. I feel a little better now. Haha. I will close the cap1 probably next year right before the AF comes up.

Razues I'd love to do that. The only thing stopping me is my lates. I do have a balance on NFCU, which really was a balance transfer from jcrew and ssfcu, that I'm paying over the next couple of months. All other cards will not have a balance. The lates would also be at their two year mark at about the time the card will be paid off.

Re: How many cards

Jlu — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 01:57:38 GMT

Answer to your first sentence: as many as you need. There is no magic number or range like there is with utilization. In my line of work I have seen guys with 830 FICOs that have 3 cards and I have seen 830 FICOs with those who have 20 cards.

Re: How many cards

JonStur — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 02:04:22 GMT

You can 180 cards, doesn't matter if you're responsible. I would hold off with the AMEX everyone's recommending, your baddies are still too recent in my opinion.

Re: How many cards

Revelate — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 02:08:50 GMT

JonStur wrote:
You can 180 cards, doesn't matter if you're responsible. I would hold off with the AMEX everyone's recommending, your baddies are still too recent in my opinion.

Not certain on this, we had a report a few months ago about someone with 20ish cards, who closed several, and got a non-trivial FICO boost.

While I can't say this isn't YMMV, I don't think the "have as many cards as you want" is a good plan: I think if you're more than something akin to one standard deviation outside the national averages, expect to have a more significant look taken at your credit report by any lender's underwriting. No different than showing a bureaucrat what they're expecting to see in my opinion.

Re: How many cards

webhopper — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 02:28:04 GMT

Well the answer is; as many as you can responsibly manage. The Citi fiasco is an example of a very costly mistake that one can easily make while juggling many cards. I think you should close cap1 and keep the others. Have you checked with the rebuilding forum and tried to goodwill the lates on the Citi account?

Re: How many cards

squirrely2005 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 05:05:35 GMT

@webhopper I haven't but I think I'll do that now.

@JonStur I think you're right about Amex. If I can get the 90 day late removed I'll apply once my util is at 9%. Probably for Zync.