3 Cards Are Good, Are 7 Cards better?

[gibeon]

tl:dr - My thinking on this is that all the positive payments will help counterbalance my old derogatories - 7 on-time, way-more-than-minimum, payments is more helpful than 3 payments every month.

The Specifics - I have read that a minimum of 3 Revolving Bank Cards are needed to help build a score faster (and that an additional installment loan will help even more). I am wondering if having more cards will help build my score faster - assuming 1-9% utilization on one card, and others reporting $0 balance. I'm only using the cards for regular expenses, reimbursable expenses, and for vacation epenses that I can pay off in two months or less.

I currently have 5 Bank Cards, and I want to get a Discover (approved for Secured card, but haven't pulled the trigger yet), and I also want a Citi Secured as well (to help start that relationship with Citi - the Double Cash WILL be mine some day). One of my secured cards is the Cap 1, and I will probably terminate that one when my QS1 limits are bumped enough to match. I also have a crap-ton of student loans and an auto loan, so installments are going to be reporting for at least the next 10 years.

Thanks,

Gib

[TRC_WA]

The short answer... not really.

7 cards or 70 cards...  opening new accounts to try to counterbalance derogatories will do more harm than good for a while.

[Anonymous]

I just started building/re-building in November.  I have never been one to use credit cards but I want to buy a house so I have to start.   I have one 9 year old closed account on my report and one small medical collection from 2010.   To start building credit, I got  2 bank cards, 2 store cards and a revolving loan.  If I apply for anything else, it will kill what little AAoA I have.  At this point, most cards will get me a very small starting limit because my credit is new.  I don't like the idea of spinning wheels for larger limits because I was too aggressive to start.  I will let these report and show credit responsibility.  I let one card report no more than $100.  The other cards, I PIF weekly.

Every 6 months, I plan to add 1 or 2 cards.  No more than that for 2 years.  My thoughts are that I am not sending out red flags by adding too many accounts, I am letting my credit scores build while showing responsible on time payments.  

Patience is the key for the first 2 years.  It isn't easy.  I would love to apply for several cards but don't "need" them.  I have enough starting credit to last a while.  Others will say, get them all now then garden so your cards build together.  I, personally, don't see the benefit to that.