Healthy Dose of CC

[Anonymous]

In the past I've had between 3-5 retail or major credit cards opened b/c I thought it was building my credit. Seems at the time having no debt was worse than a little debt. The problem came when I used a card once for about $15 and it's such a low usage that I forget a payment. Over time I have canx all but two cards and I only deem them as "emergency use only". So what's a solid limit  to have on a card? What's the max amount of cards to keep or just don't fool with them at all? I'm in great standing and don't want to dig myself into a hole. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

If you want to build credit use your card as much as possible and then pay it off every month.

Keep the balance below 30% of the limit and ALWAYS pay more than the minimum payment regardless.

I used to have the worst credit rating known to man but in two short years it was in the excellent range solely using credit cards.

I buy/pay EVERYTHING during the month with my cards then pay off the entire balance at the end of the month.

If you dont use your credit its not likely to go much higher than it is.

The wife and I have 13 cards total with a overall limit of ~$48000. We use them for every purchase other than rent and pay the balances off every month. Her score is generally about 2-5 points higher than mine because she has a savings account that is older than God, which I think is factoring in considerably at this point.

Id say that if you have one card somewhere around 3000-5000 limit would be good. That way if your using it a lot you can still keep below the 30% mark.