Are two credit cards "enough"?

[KilliNate]

I currently have a Capital One CC/800 CL and a Kohls CC/500 CL. After Christmas, I will request a CLI on my Kohls store card; I'm pretty confident I'll get it as I've had the account for two years without incident and without requesting one yet. My question is, are these two cards adequate for building credit, or should I try to get another one? I was thinking of either a gas card or a Wal-Mart card seeing as how I do regular visits there for small/minor items.

Any advice on the best move? Should I add a card or just stick with the two I have?

[Exonumist]

Two cards is plenty to start building. If you just hold on to those and don't go crazy applying you should be able to get better cards then Walmart. Give it a year or so and then you can think about cards like the Chase Freedom, Discover it, maybe even an Amex. It's more about how you handle your tradelines then having a ton of them. Keep your utilization in check and don't do any HP unless you really need it.

[coldnmn]

Two are plenty. If you have a use for a Walmart card there are benefits such as TU credit score and zero financing offers from time to time. I wouldn't apply until you ask and have your CLI reporting giving you a chance for the Walmart Discover.

[jamesdwi]

Yes two is enough, the other question that pops into my head, depending on your income and spending habbits, is  $800 on a major credit card enough to cover your monthly spending. If you are constantly fighting keeping the card paid off, after 6 months from your last new TL it may be time to add a second  major card, depending on baddies, and your income and if you score is north of 650 or not, you may want to think about getting an AMEX charge card. Its a quick way to speed up your repair, 6 months prior history, and 6 months with the charge card with no major baddies you can think about Chase freedom or Discover IT.

[Smug]

When I was rebuilding I had 30 cards now Down to 11.

[armbenderc]

Got 16 right now. Looking to combine and close some.

[Themanwhocan]

I had 1 card for a year (2012) and in 2013 have applied for all the cards in my signature. So unless there are baddies on your credit reports that you haven't mentioned, I would say you should already be set to apply for a few good cash back cards.

Discover IT, and Sallie Mae Rewards Mastercard are fairly easy to qualify for. Chase Freedom has a good $200 bonus offer right now. Etc.

[bigblue7722]

Honestly I would say get more than two cards. Get cards that you need but having more will help you get better cards in the future. Think like an underwriter would you rather approve someone who has used two cards or 4 or 5 cards correctly of course. Credit is about building relationships too you can start with a cap one plantuim card but you could end up getting a much better chance of approval with a venture card down the road.

[KilliNate]

Yeah, I don't use my credit cards much. Currently (just checked credit karma) my utilization is 16%. I rarely use the kohls card and, when I do, it's small/minor items. There's only been a few times where I went "big" on my capital one card - big for me is over 30% in a given month. Still, I pay off both balances before the end of the month.

I thank everyone for their input. I actually went ahead and applied - and received - a Walmart card (700 CL) and an Amazon card (900 CL) last night before receiving any responses. For me, that's enough. I'm not big on credit cards and use them chiefly for the goal of building credit so I don't need anymore. I'll sit on these cards for years and let them accrue credit history, using 3 of the 4 (Amazon/Walmart/Kohls, around 0-10%) sparingly and my Capital One a bit more frequently (10-20%).

[Revelate]

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@Smug wrote:
When I was rebuilding I had 30 cards now Down to 11.

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You were something of an outlier Smug . 

@OP: Two is indeed "enough" FICO-wise but from the underwriting perspective someone mentioned, you want to thicken your file to I would recommend 4 tradelines, but personally I wouldn't rush out to go do it.  I'm not a big fan of junk tradelines, I don't think they show the underwriter what the consumer wants them to see frankly.

How long ago did you get your two current cards?  It's a big difference in what you may want to do if you're talking 1 month, vs 5 months ago, vs 10 months ago.

Also when we're talking pure FICO building, take a look in to something like a secured installment loan from a CU or similar, something like:

https://www.dcu.org/loans/credit-builder.html

It's a cheap way to put an installment tradeline on your report and unlike some random store or gas card, isn't a junk tradeline while still building additional payment history.