topic Re: How many credits lines at once is too many? in Credit Cards

How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:44:39 GMT

In July of this year. I opened a credit card for 300 dollars through orchard bank unsecured. Everything is in good standing.

But I want to have multiple low UTI cards going so they can see how well I'm managing credit.

I was "pre-approved" for a Capital One card. Is it too soon? Should I let it go - wait a few months then apply for another card?

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:07:48 GMT

Based on your CR, I wouldn't get more than 2.

If you apply for many cards in your case, you will look like a big risk.
Low interest is a feature mostly credit risky people seek, who plan to keep a balance. Banks know this.

In the past they awarded high limits, but the new laws and economic conditioned meant banks had to clean up their books and reduce the risks.

I had only 2 credit cards for over 5 years.

Only got more cause the promotions were really good recently.

Good Luck

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:32:48 GMT

so does it matter how long its been since you applied and received credit on another card?

Will it bring my score down?

23.9 apr on the capital one card which is positively disgraceful compared to my orchard bank 8.9 card... blegh

So i wasnt planning on using it for much, only putting under 9% util on it just to show it as active, open and being managed..

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:35:37 GMT

30 days seems to be the window on inquiries.

I would call the bank and ask how you can improve things and focus on using the cards you have, versus applying for more credit.

Cheers

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:55:27 GMT

When you're rebuilding, all you need are two cards and patience.

You'll find that once your credit has improved, you'll be really irritated at low-limit starter cards that won't grow with you.

Be sure to research here on the forums the quirks of your current cards. Use them, and pay them promptly every month, ideally before they report. Lather, rinse, and repeat, and wait 6 months. Twelve months would be better, but I know how we all are, lol. After 6 months of them reporting, pull your EQ and TU FICO's again, see where you are, and then go for ONE more card, a better one. After 12 months, you will probably be able to get several more good cards from good banks.

But simply acquiring a bunch of cards isn't going to jump-start you past the necessary time it takes to demonstrate good credit management. Good luck!

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:43:31 GMT

On another board im on, i was told FICO likes to see more then 4 cards, but also not too many at once. I know i have too many TL's.....11 of them,

But when I had 1 card, FICO gave me the message that i didnt have enough accounts. Then i got approved for 3 in one day, and then they reported, and FICO said that i had a good amount of credit.

Just having First Premier was not cutting it. I went from a 603 to a 601 at first with the inquiries and credit, and then i got some more cards and it shot up to a 625. Got an account to be marked as paid and now its a 636

TU went from a 601 to a 626 by deleting 2 baddies and new credit

Its up to u.

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:49:42 GMT

I think if your FICO is under 700, its not good to go beyond 2 cards.

It is a risk, getting in the same trouble that got you under 700 in the first place.

I got to 790 with two cards.

Now 783, after two inquiries

Doubt I could have done that if I had 4 cards.

Just me and not you. I do now have 4 cards, but only recently.

Cheers

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:52:23 GMT

Yes, the long-term goal is to have 3-5 good cards.

The problem is that many rebuilders think that they need lots of open credit lines. Yes, it absolutely helps to have new clean credit to drown out the old bad credit, but the cards that most rebuilders can get are very limited in potential growth, and they're often very abusive in terms of fees and restrictions on payments. Anyone who has read exasperated posts by cardholders will realize this.

So my advice is to pick a couple and grit your teeth. Let your scores rise from the usage on these two, and then start acquiring better cards, one every six months or so. That way you can close out the rebuilders without worrying about the long-term damage to your length of history.

It's different if your scores are halfway decent (680's and above, let's say.) That makes you eligible for a different and better range of cards, and a well-planned app spree might very well make sense.

Kinda all depends on where you're starting from!

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:58:41 GMT

uaflyer wrote:

I think if your FICO is under 700, its not good to go beyond 2 cards.
It is a risk, getting in the same trouble that got you under 700 in the first place.

I got to 790 with two cards.
Now 783, after two inquiries

Doubt I could have done that if I had 4 cards.
Just me and not you. I do now have 4 cards, but only recently.

Cheers

uaflyer, if you still have only two open revolving accounts, you have at least one more CC waiting for you without much of a score penalty, unless it would severely drop your AAoA.

Most of us have found that it takes at least 3 cards, preferably from different lenders to avoid their periodic weirdness, to maximize our scores, our rewards, and our financial diversification.

If you're happy with two, great, but you might want to think about whether there's one more area in your finances where you could use a good rewards program.

Congrats on the very nice scores, and thanks for testifying that this can be done with only two open cards!

eta: if you haven't already, check out the FICO High Achievers thread linked in my siggy. We've collected FICO feedback on member's reports and reasoned backwards in an attempt to see which collections of credit behaviors makes FICO happy. And it's interesting to see that it's not just one narrow profile --there are several ways of hitting the high numbers. You've found one.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 09-16-2009 06:58 PM

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:22:12 GMT

In my case what got me into debt was medical bills - not credit cards.

I only have one open credit card for 300 dollars and car loan in perfect standing and a couple medical collections still remain that im trying to work out... but i dont want to apply for and accept this pre-approved cap one card and have hard inquiry on my report that drops my scores and then the open line of credit is "Not good"...

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:34:36 GMT

Well, I do understand that, but sometimes you have to take that risk in order to move forward. If these are literally the only accounts on your credit reports (no closed reports still showing, etc.), you are definitely being hurt.

Every post I've seen about adding new accounts up to a total of three indicate an immediate score boost. I'm guessing that in your case, the benefits of adding two more revolving accounts will more than cancel out any ding for new accounts. At some point, you have to get good, clean credit history going in order to present a respectable credit profile to future lenders (auto loans, mortgages, etc.)

The one big drawback to Cap 1 is that they hard all three reports. Not the end of the world --inqs don't generally hurt that much unless you have long long history, and you're in the 780's range --but it's definitely something to be aware of.

I have found on my own reports that I did not get a ding for the first inq in 12 months, but i got a small ding for the second. Then the 3rd and maybe 4th didn't hurt, but the next one did. And so forth.

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:28:01 GMT

what kind of a point deduction am I looking at? Just trying to understand.

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:37:04 GMT

Well.... wait a minute, if I'm pre-approved for this card already - that means they already did an inquiry, correct?

Currently my FICO Eq says the amount of new credit ive applied for and received is "Not good"... and all i have is this two month old $300 orchard bank unsecured card....and my 10 month old car loan...?

Does this mean I'm safe accepting this offer and paying off the balance every month and keeping it below 9% utilization?

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:10:42 GMT

No, all they've done is "soft" you. If you apply for the card for real, despite any pre-approvals, they will do a hard inquiry. That's part of the requirements for reporting credit --that's how other creditors know if you've been app'ing 38 ways from Sunday.

If you are just getting your credit going, don't worry so much about the new credit ding. You have to start somewhere. It will go away soon enough. Unless you have a time machine out in the garage and you can go back five years and pick up some cards, you're going to be getting new credit.

If you are convinced that this is a good card, one that will benefit you over time, and that you will want to keep for at least several years, I'd advise getting it.

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:40:29 GMT

If you have unresolved baddies on your CBR's be glad for an approval.

The main drawbacks to Cap1 are 1) 3 hard INQ's and 2) probable lack of growth.

You could always approach BofA for a secured card that would convert in the future and continue to grow with you.

Many have found that the "sweet spot" for revolving account is around 5. You don't really want more that 2 until your CBR's are fixed up and your scores up. HTSU's advice is wise. It is a slow process and you must remain patient. Being in a hurry now will saddle you with many marginal CC's which you will not be happy with in a few years. Parcel out your app's and always try for the best products you can qualify for. If that is a quality secured card that will convert in the future so be it.

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:57:18 GMT

Hi,

This is a great discussion thread -- very helpful to read. I see in the thread it's mentioned multiple times that it's best to get a "good" card that will grow with you if possible and not a "rebuilder" card. So, where does one find a "good" card? How would I know if I'm applying for a "good" card or a rebuilder card or a card that will not grow with me? Are the rebuilder cards actually labeled that in their literature or online info, or do you have to decipher that on your own based on certain criteria?

I would like to apply for a "good" card that will grow with me as I improve my credit scores and want to make sure that's what I get.

I just pulled my credit reports/scores in August and was shocked to see that the credit card I had been using a lot and paying on diligently for the past two years didn't show up on my reports. I thought about it and figure it's because it's a business credit card (despite the fact that I'm a sole proprietor and the business is just an LLC and not incorporated.) Because I'm a single member LLC, all of my business income and expense pass through to my personal income tax, but apparently the credit doesn't pass through to my personal reports.

Anyway, the only other credit card I have is an electronics store card that I've used, been making monthly payments on and just paid off this September. This card limit dropped $1,800 in January 2009 and though I had no negatives with them, they said it was due to negatives on my credit report. Then, in March, 2009, my business card limit dropped $1,200, they also claimed it was because of negatives on my credit report. The business card currently has an on-going balance at about 95% of the limit . I know I need to pay that down, but when I made a large payment to them in March 2009, 6 days later is when they dropped my limit so much. I'm sure there's a trigger programmed in to their system to lower my limit whenever my balance is low enough to do so...therefore, I don't want to pay down that card right now because they'll keep dropping my credit limit and it would take a very long time (if ever) to get it back up with them.

Ok, so I've digressed into my whole backstory. Bottom-line is I have 2 negatives (write-offs) on my credit reports and only one open "personal" credit card with a $200 limit and I need to open another card. I want to be sure I get a "good" cad that will grow with me and need to know where to get one of them, or how to distinguish one for the rebuilder/starter/non-growing cards.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

08/31/09: TU=670, EQ=648

Message Edited by ficostuff on 09-24-2009 08:52 AM

Message Edited by ficostuff on 09-24-2009 08:55 AM

Message Edited by ficostuff on 09-24-2009 08:56 AM

Message Edited by ficostuff on 09-24-2009 08:57 AM

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:42:22 GMT

Well I have been reading and learning a lot here for the last maybe four months and have to disagree with this one for someone like myself.

In my case (in mid 50's) I canceled almost all of my cards 10 years ago and had very very good credit. When debit cards came along I used them. When my kids started getting older and could not get anything on their own, I started reading on all the forums and learned hey they need to be AU's on someone else's cards to help them establish beginning credit. So I read and read some more pulled my reports, fixed all the details like name spelling variations simple things and then pulled my scores Well they were EQ 803, TU 736 and not true EX was like 760. SO I learned here about what to apply for and in one month added 10 new accounts! Yes my scores crashed but now 3 months later after adding my kids as AU's and paying for 3 and 4 billing cycles Scores went up again TU is now 790 and EQ is 736 EX non Fico is 760. Now the best part o this is this week I applied (because I was bored and felt compelled to apply for something) a new world elite with a 30k limit and an airline card with a 4.5k limit. They posted 2 days later and score dropped around 15 points to 25 points each.

What I learned is this if I had not been so impatient the 4.5k limit card would have been 5k or more (this makes a huge dif. Because you need at lest 5k limit to get a world elite card (that"s when they give you enough miles for a free ticket) The score was 10 points below threshold for the world card and they do not upgrade cards just limits!

So I think it is all relative on what your short term goals and long term requirements are.

The experts here say remove negative information, pay down debt, and add positive accounts then it just works out.

When my score was in the 800's I just got what ever I applied for no questions, when my EQ slipped to low to mid 700's then I had to explain the whys and what forums of the new accounts and was approved just for lower limits than anticipated. I thank it does make sense, if you apply for a lot of new credit it looks like you will be spending more money in my case I was just replacing credit I had for years and years.

The AU accounts I added my kids to will help them long term and is the main reason I started exploring this had to understand credit world!

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:28:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

    Well I have been reading and learning a lot here for the last maybe four months and have to disagree with this one for someone like myself.
In my case (in mid 50's) I canceled almost all of my cards 10 years ago and had very very good credit. When debit cards came along I used them. When my kids started getting older and could not get anything on their own, I started reading on all the forums and learned hey they need to be AU's on someone else's cards to help them establish beginning credit. So I read and read some more pulled my reports, fixed all the details like name spelling variations simple things and then pulled my scores Well they were EQ 803, TU 736 and not true EX was like 760. SO I learned here about what to apply for and in one month added 10 new accounts! Yes my scores crashed but now 3 months later after adding my kids as AU's and paying for 3 and 4 billing cycles Scores went up again TU is now 790 and EQ is 736 EX non Fico is 760. Now the best part o this is this week I applied (because I was bored and felt compelled to apply for something) a new world elite with a 30k limit and an airline card with a 4.5k limit. They posted 2 days later and score dropped around 15 points to 25 points each.
     What I learned is this if I had not been so impatient the 4.5k limit card would have been 5k or more (this makes a huge dif. Because you need at lest 5k limit to get a world elite card (that"s when they give you enough miles for a free ticket) The score was 10 points below threshold for the world card and they do not upgrade cards just limits!
    So I think it is all relative on what your short term goals and long term requirements are.
The experts here say remove negative information, pay down debt, and add positive accounts then it just works out.
When my score was in the 800's I just got what ever I applied for no questions, when my EQ slipped to low to mid 700's then I had to explain the whys and what forums of the new accounts and was approved just for lower limits than anticipated. I thank it does make sense, if you apply for a lot of new credit it looks like you will be spending more money in my case I was just replacing credit I had for years and years.
The AU accounts I added my kids to will help them long term and is the main reason I started exploring this had to understand credit world!

ken, there is a difference between having many open TL's and app'ing for ten new CC's within a one month period of time. Opening that many new accounts is a red flag to issuers. Those who have issued your cards are constantly softing your CBR's and know what you are up to. Radical changes like ten new accounts in one month can potentially lead to AA from your issuers. Members have even posted here that TL's they had recently been approved for were almost immediately closed when an issuer became aware of the magnitude of their appy spree. You have to wait now until that mass of fresh INQ's and new accounts ages - probably at least one year before you resume app'ing and even then only for what you really want. Hold out for quality. Always app for the best credit products you can at any given time!

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:32:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi,
This is a great discussion thread -- very helpful to read. I see in the thread it's mentioned multiple times that it's best to get a "good" card that will grow with you if possible and not a "rebuilder" card. So, where does one find a "good" card? How would I know if I'm applying for a "good" card or a rebuilder card or a card that will not grow with me? Are the rebuilder cards actually labeled that in their literature or online info, or do you have to decipher that on your own based on certain criteria?

I would like to apply for a "good" card that will grow with me as I improve my credit scores and want to make sure that's what I get.

I just pulled my credit reports/scores in August and was shocked to see that the credit card I had been using a lot and paying on diligently for the past two years didn't show up on my reports. I thought about it and figure it's because it's a business credit card (despite the fact that I'm a sole proprietor and the business is just an LLC and not incorporated.) Because I'm a single member LLC, all of my business income and expense pass through to my personal income tax, but apparently the credit doesn't pass through to my personal reports.

Anyway, the only other credit card I have is an electronics store card that I've used, been making monthly payments on and just paid off this September. This card limit dropped $1,800 in January 2009 and though I had no negatives with them, they said it was due to negatives on my credit report. Then, in March, 2009, my business card limit dropped $1,200, they also claimed it was because of negatives on my credit report. The business card currently has an on-going balance at about 95% of the limit . I know I need to pay that down, but when I made a large payment to them in March 2009, 6 days later is when they dropped my limit so much. I'm sure there's a trigger programmed in to their system to lower my limit whenever my balance is low enough to do so...therefore, I don't want to pay down that card right now because they'll keep dropping my credit limit and it would take a very long time (if ever) to get it back up with them.

Ok, so I've digressed into my whole backstory. Bottom-line is I have 2 negatives (write-offs) on my credit reports and only one open "personal" credit card with a $200 limit and I need to open another card. I want to be sure I get a "good" cad that will grow with me and need to know where to get one of them, or how to distinguish one for the rebuilder/starter/non-growing cards.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

08/31/09: TU=670, EQ=648

Welcome to the forums!

Why don't you open a new thread for yourself and post specific details regarding the TL's on your CBR's and what you would like to achieve. You will get some specifically tailored help regarding how to further improve you CBR's and what type of cards may work well for you. One thing you will get here is plenty of ideas!

Re: How many credits lines at once is too many?

smallfry — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:54:34 GMT

I personally think that 5 revolving credit limits is perfect.