Optimizing Card Mix???????????

Anonymous · ‎10-09-2007

currently:

4 MC - soon to be 2 closing 1 low limit card in Nov and another in Jul)

3 Store cards (2 convertable to co-brand) Target, HD, and JCP

3 gas cards (I drive an SUV and I sell houses so my gas bills can get pretty high at times - it spreads the pain) Exxon, Citgo and Chevron

Next ap will not be until Oct 2008 - a CU Visa.

Other than getting on the car loan (which I am paying) - what should I add or get rid of. Don't qual for AmEx or Discover (yet anyway) - should get a solid jump once the baddies are straightened out and util is in the 1-9% (this month for that) - what should I tweak/re-align over the next year? Other than CLI requests - anything else?

smallfry · ‎10-09-2007

Who really knows for sure what the optimum mix is but I am down to 2 decent sized credit union VISA cards, one decent sized Carnival Sea Miles MC, one small MC with Citi, one small VISA with Chase and a Walmart store card. I think one store card is enough. I don't shop at Nordstroms. Worst case i think they take other charge cards right? Less might just be better I dunno. My utilization in a normal month is just a shade over 1% if I were to PIF. My goal is 760's across the board within 30 months. Hopefully this is a good enuf mix for that.

Anonymous · ‎10-10-2007

Excellent question Scarlet! You beat me to it.

I too, ask that exact same question..at LEAST 3 times per day.

Please don't fall into the same trap I did. Start app'ing hoping & praying, I'd catch a cc with a good cl(I consider a good cl is any card with more than 2K cl on it).

I didn't. Just wound up with several cc's with $300-$500 limits.

But over time, all but the newest, 2 have cli's in excess of $2,000.

I've recently(in the past 3 weeks) applied for and received 3 bank cards(BoA, WaMu, Juniper). NO MORE APP'ING UNTIL SUMMER 2008 for me. Enough is enough.

10/01/07
TU: 676
Exp: 665
EQ: 633

illcrew3 · ‎10-10-2007

I have asked the asked the same question a few times and always get YMMV for an answer.

haulingthescoreup · ‎10-10-2007

I keep reading that the ideal is 3-4 CC's, one store card (not a store-branded CC like Citi Sears/MC), and maybe one gas card. It appears that FICO doesn't care about the type or issuer of your CC, just its payment history and CL. Of course, when you're building or re-building credit with low-limit cards, that might not work, but perhaps it could be a goal.

For me, keeping track of more than 4 or 5 cards causes sleepless nights, so I'm happy!

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007

Anonymous · ‎10-10-2007

I'm guessing the new number is "5 or more". I found it on my magic 8 ball.
http://bankrate.com/brm/fico/calc.asp?lpid=BKRATE29

This link has identified some really powerful information for me. Read the questions and just think about them. Why would they put them there if they were not "part of the factor". Don't take them literal, but they play somewhat of a role. In this case I do believe FICO likes more cards. Most probably because later it brings up average age and keep average up with new accounts. I still haven't hit 850 so I can't say 100%. I have seen people with 30 credit cards get dinged for too many.

Anonymous · ‎10-10-2007

The trick is to get many early on and keep them active. I got many cards over 1 year a long time ago. My average age is up today because of that. I have all I need so time to let them age. Other accounts might fall off but my open credit cards are for ever growing older and older.

Message Edited by ilovepizza on 10-10-2007 03:08 PM