How many CCs is considered Optimal for FICO Scoring?

[marty56]

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@Anonymous wrote:

By the way, Anyone and Everyone can get a CAPITAL ONE card and they are too commons.

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LOL I cant, they blacklisted me since I closed my account with them 4 years ago.  I didnt apply, 3 years ago I went to their site to see if I had any pre-approval offers from them.  I also never got anything in the mail from them.

I would say that 3 CC accounts (Visa, store card, gas card) would be minimum since that would allow you to have 1 card reporting a balance and showing the other 2 at 0% util. I have 3 CC cards and if I let 2 of them report a balance, I loose points.

I have not seen anyone in the forum with 1 CC card and their results post as of yet.

[Anonymous]

Ok, reading through this I've seen a lot of comments about having 3+ cards, so I want to ask a question here.

Right now, I have two credit cards and my EQ score is 745. Is it going to be difficult to get my score much higher without more credit cards? I'm only 20, so my total credit history is only two years and my average account age right now is only one year, so if I added another card I have a feeling my score would drop a lot. Other than the credit cards, I have a student loan of about 3500 and that's all of the credit I have right now. 

Any opinions?

I'm not planning on buying a house any time soon, as I couldn't get a loan regardless of my score, since I don't have a full time job (just part time on campus) because of being in college. The main advantage I have about my credit score right now is really cheap car insurance (When I switched from my mom's plan I was paying $120/month, I got the same coverage on my own for $50/month.) I hear car insurance really drops when you hit 800.

Thanks!

Message Edited by jreddick on 03-15-2009 11:01 AM

Message Edited by jreddick on 03-15-2009 11:02 AM

[PayingTheBills]

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@marty56 wrote:

I have not seen anyone in the forum with 1 CC card and their results post as of yet.

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I have one CC, a BoA Worldpoints.  Once my CC balance and SL blances update and 2 very recent collections update (get deleted), I should be sitting around 620-640 depending on which CRA I'm looking at, lol.

I got a pre-approved offer from Cap1 for one of their Credit Steps cards, so I'll be responding to that by the end of the month after my scores bump up.   Then, in 6-9 months, I'll apply for a gas card, and that should be it for me for a while so my accounts can age.

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Ok, reading through this I've seen a lot of comments about having 3+ cards, so I want to ask a question here.

Right now, I have two credit cards and my EQ score is 745. Is it going to be difficult to get my score much higher without more credit cards? I'm only 20, so my total credit history is only two years and my average account age right now is only one year, so if I added another card I have a feeling my score would drop a lot. Other than the credit cards, I have a student loan of about 3500 and that's all of the credit I have right now. 

Any opinions?

I'm not planning on buying a house any time soon, as I couldn't get a loan regardless of my score, since I don't have a full time job (just part time on campus) because of being in college. The main advantage I have about my credit score right now is really cheap car insurance (When I switched from my mom's plan I was paying $120/month, I got the same coverage on my own for $50/month.) I hear car insurance really drops when you hit 800.

Thanks!

Message Edited by jreddick on 03-15-2009 11:01 AM

Message Edited by jreddick on 03-15-2009 11:02 AM

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Assuming your 2 credit cards were opened the same time your total months of average age is 48 divided by 2 or 24 months hence 2 years. If you add another card  now your average total age in months would be 49 months. Divide by three and you can see what kind of hit you will take on your average age.Your score will most certainly go down.

The problem is can you be assured you will see no AA from your current issuers? 2 cards is probably not enough. Don't go app crazy but adding a card now might not be a bad idea. 3 should be enough so long as the available credit along all the lines is sufficient for monthly reportable usage under 9%.. 

Message Edited by smallfry on 03-15-2009 04:11 PM

[Anonymous]

Marty56:

Really you can't get credit card with Capital One..That's strange, I should NOT be the one then. Let me tell you my story, kinda funny but its true. I open a Capital One Visa card in 2003 and two years later in 2005, I filed for bankruptcy (due to the new BK law takes effect in Oct 2005) and was discharged all of the debts, which include $3500 i owed to Capital One and many other Credit Card debts in the past..

Then two years later, i was approved for a $300 CL with Capital One Visa CC again, and then my CLI to $3500 18 months later. Back to ROUND TWO, but this time i voluntary close the account because I get better offer from AMEX and Bank of America. 

Its funny because i filed the bankruptcy on their ass and they still offer me credit card again..Well I guess anyone can get credit card with them or rebuild credit with them.  ITS TRUE STORY FOR ME

Message Edited by CreditCard101 on 03-15-2009 01:38 PM

[Anonymous]

It does not matter how many credit card accounts you have. You have to maintain your debt/balance to a minimum, no late, no overdue, no defaults of any kind. That's a general RULE OF THUMB.However, with that being said having 3-4 accounts is ALL YOU NEED..

[Anonymous]

Marty56:

Well you got a good point but for my case is a bit different I had capital one longest and overall age is 2 years perfect history. However, I dont use the card anymore and why should I keep the card when they still charge me $29 annual fees. I have other accounts with high Credit Limit and about the same age too.

So I ask myself, is it worth it to keep the card longer and not using it to maintain my account average age by paying $29 annual fees. WELL I thought over and over again, its NOT really worth it. They charge me 12.89% APR and 29 Annual Fees..Oh HELL No, as a credit card customer, We're all helping banks generating revenue and they are not doing us any FAVOR at all. WHY BOTHER STAY WITH THEM and Get no BENEFITS..WHY PAY MORE AND GET LESS. Credit Score is just a credit score, if you really need to maintain your high credit score to purchase something big immediately then you need keep it otherwise, its not worth paying something for NOTHING.

[haulingthescoreup]

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CreditCard101 wrote:

It does not matter how many credit card accounts you have. You have to maintain your debt/balance to a minimum, no late, no overdue, no defaults of any kind. That's a general RULE OF THUMB. However, with that being said having 3-4 accounts is ALL YOU NEED..

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In fact, if you have any installment tradelines, you will be penalized if you have few CC's, because you're more apt to get hit with the "too many accounts with balances" ding. So there is sort of a minimum number of CC's to have, if you have an auto loan and mortgage, for instance. Those people with SL's which tend to report as a new TL every single semester are pretty well doomed in this particular area until they can consolidate their loans.

But that's just a scoring issue. Another issue, particularly relevant these days, is that having only one or two cards makes you much more vulnerable to eccentric behavior from your CCC's. I freely acknowledge that right now, I have more CC's than I'd like (10 plus an AU card, three of which are store cards.) I am gently pruning them. But the fact is, I have a lot of redundancy in terms of lenders, and if one or two (or three) go nuts on me, they won't hurt my overall credit picture.

I would really hate to have been riding out the recent credit crunch while holding only an AmEx card and an HSBC card.

[smallfry]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

It does not matter how many credit card accounts you have. You have to maintain your debt/balance to a minimum, no late, no overdue, no defaults of any kind. That's a general RULE OF THUMB. However, with that being said having 3-4 accounts is ALL YOU NEED..

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In fact, if you have any installment tradelines, you will be penalized if you have few CC's, because you're more apt to get hit with the "too many accounts with balances" ding. So there is sort of a minimum number of CC's to have, if you have an auto loan and mortgage, for instance. Those people with SL's which tend to report as a new TL every single semester are pretty well doomed in this particular area until they can consolidate their loans.

But that's just a scoring issue. Another issue, particularly relevant these days, is that having only one or two cards makes you much more vulnerable to eccentric behavior from your CCC's. I freely acknowledge that right now, I have more CC's than I'd like (10 plus an AU card, three of which are store cards.) I am gently pruning them. But the fact is, I have a lot of redundancy in terms of lenders, and if one or two (or three) go nuts on me, they won't hurt my overall credit picture.

I would really hate to have been riding out the recent credit crunch while holding only an AmEx card and an HSBC card.

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Comparative safety in the CU's. Glad I picked up Penfed and NFCU.

[Anonymous]

LOL, if you can handle more debts and have money to spend and charge onto your credit cards, you can have as many accounts as you want. No one is stopping you from having more credit card, everyone financial is different, however, for me I dont want DEBT of any kinds.. ITS SCARY

Message Edited by CreditCard101 on 03-15-2009 06:39 PM