Questions about the System

[Skye12329]

I have a couple questions about how the scoring affects this part of someones score. 

1. If i have more credit cards, will my score go up faster, i understand the more accounts the better your score improves. I currently have 5 and am thinking about getting a prime card and closing out the others.

2. Is credit utilization based on all my cards combined or seperatly? E.g if i use card 1, less than 10% and dont use the rest of my cards will my score improve or hurt, because the utilization wasnt on all the cards?

3. Inquiries, how many inquiries are too many to have when applying for a prime card, i was thinking maybe Discover or Chase. 

4. Is asking for a credit increase a soft or hard inquiry?

[guiness56]

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@Skye12329 wrote:

I have a couple questions about how the scoring affects this part of someones score. 

1. If i have more credit cards, will my score go up faster, i understand the more accounts the better your score improves. I currently have 5 and am thinking about getting a prime card and closing out the others.  No, the number of cards doesn't really matter, it is how you manage them.

2. Is credit utilization based on all my cards combined or seperatly? E.g if i use card 1, less than 10% and dont use the rest of my cards will my score improve or hurt, because the utilization wasnt on all the cards?  Both individual and overall utilization is used.  Let all but one of your cards report a 0 balance and the other at 9% or below for optimal FICO scoring.  Never let all report 0, FICO doesn't like that.

3. Inquiries, how many inquiries are too many to have when applying for a prime card, i was thinking maybe Discover or Chase. That would be up to the creditor. 

4. Is asking for a credit increase a soft or hard inquiry?  Usually a HP.

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[09Lexie]

1. No, increasing your cc's will affect your AAOA negatively. Your AAOA Is 10% of your CS
2. Credit util is the total of all your cc's however if you max out 1 cc it will also affect your CS. For instance your overall util isv39% but you have 1 cc at 80%
3. Inq's are tied to your cr profile. A thin file will be more susceptible to a decline with excessive inq's. +/- 4 on a thin file might be considered excessive
4. Different lenders will grant CLI's on SP's . Others HP's only. It really depends on the lender.

[guiness56]

AAoA is 15% of your score.

FICO looks at both individual and overall utilization. 

Closing the credit cards will not hurt your AAoA.  But if you have balances on them I would not close them until paid off.  If you apply for too many new lines of credit (10%) that can hurt your score.

[thom02099]

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@Skye12329 wrote:

I have a couple questions about how the scoring affects this part of someones score. 

1. If i have more credit cards, will my score go up faster, i understand the more accounts the better your score improves. I currently have 5 and am thinking about getting a prime card and closing out the others.

2. Is credit utilization based on all my cards combined or seperatly? E.g if i use card 1, less than 10% and dont use the rest of my cards will my score improve or hurt, because the utilization wasnt on all the cards?

3. Inquiries, how many inquiries are too many to have when applying for a prime card, i was thinking maybe Discover or Chase. 

4. Is asking for a credit increase a soft or hard inquiry?

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Conventional wisdom is that one should not close out cards unless there's an AF that you can't justify.  Just SD the one(s) you don't use, and perhaps use them once in a while for a small purchase (and immediately pay it off) to keep the card active.