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Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

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kball64
Frequent Contributor

Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

Hi all.  I am currently trying to rebuild my credit and know that 'having' credit is the best way to do it.  So far I have opened the following:
 
National City Secured - 300 CL
Target Store Card - 200 CL
I have app'd to NFCU and am still being reviewed.
 
With the exception of my auto loan, I am debt free so I don't want to rack up any CC debt.  I just want to use them once a month for a small purchase and PIF immediately.  So how many cards is the right amount to get on the road to improving my FICO?  It seems like many people here are app'ing for a lot of cards and from what I've gathered the consensus seems to be "more is better".  What is the skinny on this?  Am I off to a good start with what I have or should I try to get more?  I don't want to kill my slowly growing FICO with too many inquiries.
 
Thanks!
Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
MidnightVoice
Super Contributor

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

personal opinion:
 
1 gas
1 store
2-4 CCs
The slide from grace is really more like gliding
And I've found the trick is not to stop the sliding
But to find a graceful way of staying slid
Message 2 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

Agreed!
 
Message 3 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

As much as you can get. I have 15 accounts and that not too many.
Message 4 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?



@MidnightVoice wrote:
personal opinion:
1 gas
1 store
2-4 CCs





hi, midnightvoice.....

how is a gas card different from a store card or credit card?

out of curiosity, if you don't mind me asking, what is your current credit score if this is the mix you are using? if you don't want to share this, i would understand.

also, which gas card is bk friendly, if anyone here knows...i once had a texaco card that as settled for less and reports as such in my report, that should fall off in a year or two.

so far, my discharge was 07/2007, i have 3 cc (orchard, WAMU, hooters), a store card (target), macys from an old entry (no actual card but they are reporting as good so i let them stay in my report). as of 02/2008, scores are 648/650/674, all PIF, but will do 5% or less utilization on my cards from now on.....

I was wondering if adding a gas card would help the cause a bit more.
Message 5 of 10
MidnightVoice
Super Contributor

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

I am a minimalist, so I go for a few cards.  I just like a gas and store in the mix, apart from the free gas back.  Smiley Happy  I my case the gas is also a CC, but that is more by accident than design.
 
I have a mortgage and a car loan.  Scores:
 

MidnightVoice wrote:
I decided to bite the bullet and pull all 10 scores.  Unforeseen circumstances aside, this is probably about as low as they are going to be for a while.  I have high util at this point (9% - couldn't pay of the Amex, (1st payment), and CU CC got the prepayment a day late because I miscalculated, all now paid off but not reporting yet), my HELOC (thank you EX Smiley Sad) is as high as it is likely to get (76% util), my car loan is at 100% (first payment not reported); and I have a car loan, an AU and 3 ccs that are 2-10 months old.  I have 2 EXP inqs (1 counts) and 2 EQ inqs (1 counts).
 
From this point on util will go down, total debt will go down (Heloc, mortgage and car) and I am NOT looking for new credit, and age will get better every month.  So they should creep up.  Average age goes up 1 year in August.
 
 
        MyFICO    EXPlus    TCFAKO    CreditKarma
EX      733            742            670
EQ      783            784            741
TU      787            792             734                 817



The slide from grace is really more like gliding
And I've found the trick is not to stop the sliding
But to find a graceful way of staying slid
Message 6 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

whoisjohngault, I took a close look last week at all 3 credit reports I got from MyFiCO.

All 3 of of the CRA's list the store cards as charge cards. The gas card is listed as revolving credit card.

Message Edited by Sylviatob on 03-04-2008 08:27 AM
Message 7 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

 I think you only neeed one good credit card a nationally known like Chase for example, and no more remeber credit cards are set up to suck you into debt and the store junkies will always almost certainly run them up, and the companies incourage you to spend, spend, spend. Its legalized loan sharking, kind of like the check cashing and pay day joints, if you have and use a card you should keep it payed off atleast every two months, without running up the limit, and if you are spending $100's on purchases and are able to pay it off at one time  then why bother using a card, buy a necklace or ring at the jewelry store and do it that way all you need is a payment history, not a trail of payed interest, I just think credit cards can lead to real bad situations take it from me, former bankruptcy victim, which I did to myself...
Message 8 of 10
MarineVietVet
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?


@kball64 wrote:
Hi all.  I am currently trying to rebuild my credit and know that 'having' credit is the best way to do it.  So far I have opened the following:
 
National City Secured - 300 CL
Target Store Card - 200 CL
I have app'd to NFCU and am still being reviewed.
 
With the exception of my auto loan, I am debt free so I don't want to rack up any CC debt.  I just want to use them once a month for a small purchase and PIF immediately.  So how many cards is the right amount to get on the road to improving my FICO?  It seems like many people here are app'ing for a lot of cards and from what I've gathered the consensus seems to be "more is better".  What is the skinny on this?  Am I off to a good start with what I have or should I try to get more?  I don't want to kill my slowly growing FICO with too many inquiries.
 
Thanks!

As you have probably already noticed there are as many opinions about this as there are posters. Get as much input as possible but in the end you have to decide on your own how many is enough.

Message 9 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Rebuilding Credit - How many CC's is enough?

I have been in the process of rebuilding and right now (not counting Chase since I just got approved for $1500) and here's what I have:

 

$400 Indigo * (I'm so ready to close this card.  It might utilize that much on my new Chase card, but it'll be a relief when I don't have to pay $40 a month on this card.)

$250 First Premier * (I'm ready to close this card because I don't like all the fees with this card.)

$200 Credit One  (newest trade card, but I want to keep it for the credit reports and credit limit increases)

$250 Belk * (keep the card, but I want to bring it down. I'll probably pay off $75 out of $150 in cash.  Good rewards program!) 

$200 JCPenney

$600 Sam's Club

$450 Dillard's (nothing utilized on this card-and don't until December when utilization is down on other cards.)

 

*cards I plan on paying off either with my Chase card or by cash.  So right now, I have 7 (fixing to be 5) and I still plan on rebuilding....i'm hoping to bring my utilization on the new Chase card down and the Sam's Club card so I can apply for a BofA card (secured or unsecured) in late December-early January so I can pay Verizon each month with a CC.

 

Come to figure, about a year ago, all I had was the Indigo because of bad mistakes I made in 2001.   

Message 10 of 10
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