3 Bankcards, 1 Store...would more even do anything?

[Anonymous]

Chase Freedom 6000/7000

Chase Slate 50/1000

B of A  200/3000

Kay    150/7400

AAoA 5 years

Current Student loans and three close paid positively personal loans

Paid off in good standing auto loan

Would adding more bank cards even help my score?

[Anonymous]

No.  When a person has only one credit card, the next two cards does improve his score (in the medium term, though even then he will likely take a hit in the short term).

Once you have 3-4 cards, however, you do not get any more benefit to your score, by adding a fifth card.  Not even in the long term. 

If you think there could be a card or two you might really benefit from, and you are sure that you won't be buying a house in the next two years, feel free to add it. Just don't do it because you think it will cause your score to improve.

Note: if you are interested in getting your score to improve, what you need to do is work on paying off all your credit card debt.  That will improve your score a great deal.  Two goals that would be very good for you would be:

Short term: get your Chase Freedom utilization to below < 49% and your total CC utilization < 29%

Medium term: pay off all your cards and after that be sure to always pay your statements in full (PIF).

Congrats on having a solid mix of credit, incuding several well managed and paid off installment loans, and for resisting the urge to add endless numbers of junk cards to your profile.  As a result you have a healthy AAoA.   In general your profile looks really good right now.  Only thing to work on is moving toward paying all your CCs in full.

[Anonymous]

PS.  After revisiting your original post again, I realize that you are asking not only whether one more card would help your score, but whether it would help for you to have one more major credit card than you do now. 

I think the answer is still no, though if you do decide to add any more cards, I would definitely make them major credit cards rather than store cards.  Some industries (like the auto insurance industry for example) will charge you a higher premium if they pull your report and see multiple store cards on your report.  In your case, however, you have only one store card and 75% of your revoving accounts are major cards, so I am guessing you are in good shape there.

Again, feel free to add one or two more cards if you like.  It's just that you should definitely try to pay down that Chase Freedom first, so that you can qualify a really nice additional card.  And be sure that you first look at whether you might be wanting to buy a house in a year or two.  If so, I'd just focus on paying off debt and not opening any new cards.

[Anonymous]

More cards really doesn't matter IMO. I'm toying with my utilization for interest's sake.

CLI lowered my Utilization from 5% to 2% and EX jumped 3 pts.  However, even though my Utilization went down, one card reported a $27 increase and my EQ dropped 3 points, despite now having a 2% overall Utilization. Inquiry hit on EQ already factored prior to this. $27.00!

4 Major lenders (5th en route), 2 store cards. 11yrs, AAoA 1.4 now TU EQ, 3 yrs on EX.

Auto insurance premium just lowered $200 with new report posting in November.

GREAT Arsenal there. I plan on getting CSP in 2017. 

[Thomas_Thumb]

Yes, 3 major CCs is all you need. However,  5 to 8 cards is optimal, IMO, for flexibility and CL build. [I have 6 total, one being a store card].

You might want to work on CLIs a bit for your existing cards and later add a Discover Card or AMEX credit card. However, new credit can drop your score short term due to inquiries and reduced AAoA. 

Buyaobuyao, FYI - Increase in # cards reporting [over 1] => few point drop in score for many [not all] profiles. It is not a UT% thing, its a card count thing.

[Anonymous]

How do you apply and get approval for 6 CC without getting Hard pulls and w/out getting Credit score hammered?  Which are the best CCs to get for Someone who USES debit Card for everything.  Credit score average is 650.

Thanks

[Thomas_Thumb]

You will get a hard inquiry (HP) when applying for a new card. If you have none on file and go to one HP, it may not affect your Fico 8 score but likely will afftect your mortgage scores.

Inquiries only count against you in Fico scoring models for 12 months from date listed. Its just a hit you have to be prepared to take when building a credit base. Best to do that early on - IMO. That way AAoA is maximized in the long run.

FYI - my youngest credit card is 50 months old so no associated inquiry on file for adding new accounts. However, I did get a HP relating to this same card 17 months ago when I requested a CLI. Increasing credit limits on your existing cards can help keep down your utilization. Many CLIs only require a soft inquiry - best to check and then focus on CLIs with issuers that only SP.

Fit_Fico, Best not to go for 6 cards at once. In your case, I would apply for 2 cards. The MyFico and Credit Karma web sites can help match what you are looking for in a credit card to your score.

Others on MyFico may have some specific recommendations for you.

[Anonymous]

I am with TT on 5-8 being a good target.  I only have 3 cards.  I take a smaller hit on FICO 8 for $0 reporting than I do for 2/3 cards reporting.  I take a good smack for 3/3 reporting.

Based purely on anecdotal evidence provided here, I would suggest that 5 cards is the minimum for optimal revolving utilization scoring and that 8 might provide the most flexibility with the least number of cards.