How many cards?

[Anonymous]

Is there any real benefit to having as many cards as you can get even if you just use one or two frequently and the rest here and there. Assuming there is no annual fee.

[killer_queen229]

I think having multiple lines looks better if you take care of them. Creditors like to see a mix of different kinds of credit and different providers.

[Anonymous]

I have more because I don't have my cl's up quite where I want them to be.  I will weed through my cards when I do.  But in all honesty, will probably get some others I'm really wanting.  So I will probably be at the same amount of 18.  Not too hard to use.  I rotate them.  Get my hubby to charge his lunches, coffee, motorcycle thingys on them for a month.  PIF, then give him another.  Yeah, he probably thinks I'm a bit bananas! 

[amakol]

No probably not. I tell myself having 8 lines age at once will minimize any AAOA hits from new accounts in the future but

A. How many cards past 8 am I going to manage?

B. Didn't seem like AAOA was a huge limitation in getting these accounts to begin with.

So it's just for comfort really. Keep at least 3, and then the max is however many you can handle without ever missing a payment.

[Stralem]

It helps to have multiple cards so that when you max one out on Chinese takeout and weed, you can continue to pay child support with another.

[Anonymous]

No sense in having cards just to have them.  Find a mix of 5-10 cards that work best for you and stick with them.  Frequently opening accounts will only hurt your AAoA and drag down your scores.

[jamesdwi]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Is there any real benefit to having as many cards as you can get even if you just use one or two frequently and the rest here and there. Assuming there is no annual fee.

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if you are just starting out rebuliding/building adding cards has very small impact on AAoA, yes it hurts some to add cards, but adding them early on in the rebuilding cycle makes your AAoA more bullet proof later on. It may slow down your progress for 6 months to a year to slowly add new cards early on, but later when you add 2-4 cards a year you will not feel the sting.

If you have 3 cards all about 3 years old, and add 3 more cards your AAoA will go from 3 years to 6 months, now that is some pain... 

but if you started out with 12 cards and an AAoA of 2 years (probably took 3 years to an AAoA of 2yrs as we  slowly added cards),  and add 3 more cards,  it only goes down to 1.5 years AAoA. 

Personally I took this a bit farther, I now have over 31 cards and an AAoA of 3 years and 10 months, and expect a month or so drop in AAoA when the two cards I was just approved for get added onto my report.