Can having too many credit cards keep you from getting approved for an Auto loan?

[Anonymous]

Hi I'm not new to these forums, I've been reading them for over a year now, but this is the first time that I felt the need to post. I have a very basic question, could having a large number of accounts and available credit keep someone from being approved for an auto loan? For example, I'm a 21 year old college student, I have been working on my credit since I turned 18. I have three newly opened student loans, which I hope to begin repaying here in the next couple months, I have an auto loan that I paid off a year early and I also have 19 credit cards, yes I know this is a lot. My oldest account is over 3 years old and my AAOA is 1 and 2 months. My TU score from walmart is 730 and my other two scores are between 740 and 750, they hover up and down slightly with each month.

That being said, my credit karma score is 690, mostly due to inquires. Long story short, I'm going to be car shopping in a little over a year and now I'm starting to get worried that my credit cards will make me appear to be a high risk, keep in mind that I owe very little credit card debt, 1,500 to my city forward card which has a 4,000 limit. I'm going to have that paid off by the end of the year. 

To sum everything up, I know I have a lot of credit cards and to be honest, I don't need nor use that many. I guess I got somewhat addicted to getting approved, it feels so good to get approved for a hard to get to card or issuer such as AMEX. My income is about 16,000 keep in mind I'm a college student. In addition, I will have my citi forward paid off by the end of the year therefore, this time next year I should have all my accounts in good standing with no debt, expect for student loans. Do you guys think I will have a chance at getting approved for an auto loan? Keep in mind I'll probably buy a used car due to my low income. Sorry for the long post, thanks for any input.

[trumpet-205]

Wrong section.

It is possible, and does happen to those who have too much credit to get denied on more credit. My advice is to close cards you aren't going to use.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry about the wrong section, is there a way for me to move it? Thanks for the info!

[Anonymous]

If among your 19 cards is a credit union, call a loan officer and ask to prearrange your line of credit. Do not wait until you are with a car dealership to arrange terms through them.

[MarineVietVet]

Moved to Auto Loans.

[Anonymous]

If your AAOA is only 1 or 2 months but you have a card that is 3 years old your definatly hurting yourself by having 19 cards. Same breath though closing cards also can hurt your score a bit.

What I would do (and again, this is what I would personally do and it may or may not be best for your)

Keep open:

The oldest (3 year old card)

The citi card you still owe on

the oldest card that has the highest CL witht he lowest balance

a CU cards - a credit union is far better to get a car loan through than a bank/dealership and they will want to see a history with them before accepting you.

Close:

the newest cards that have $0 balance

the cards with higher AFs

If your average age is 2 months that means you've opened ALOT in the past month or 2 to counter balance that 3 year old card. You might take a hit closing cards, but at the same time you'll take a hit by leaving them open with a low AAOA if your going to be applying soon. If you could dwindle just in half getting rid of the most recent ones that have no balance then in the end I think you'll be better off...can always dwindle down from there too after a while but 19 is just an awful lot.

[Walt_K]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If your AAOA is only 1 or 2 months but you have a card that is 3 years old your definatly hurting yourself by having 19 cards. Same breath though closing cards also can hurt your score a bit.

What I would do (and again, this is what I would personally do and it may or may not be best for your)

Keep open:

The oldest (3 year old card)

The citi card you still owe on

the oldest card that has the highest CL witht he lowest balance

a CU cards - a credit union is far better to get a car loan through than a bank/dealership and they will want to see a history with them before accepting you.

Close:

the newest cards that have $0 balance

the cards with higher AFs

If your average age is 2 months that means you've opened ALOT in the past month or 2 to counter balance that 3 year old card. You might take a hit closing cards, but at the same time you'll take a hit by leaving them open with a low AAOA if your going to be applying soon. If you could dwindle just in half getting rid of the most recent ones that have no balance then in the end I think you'll be better off...can always dwindle down from there too after a while but 19 is just an awful lot.

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Sorry, this is wrong.  Closing cards will not improve your AAOA.  Closed and open cards account in your AAOA for FICO.  There's no reason to close any of your accounts unless you have an AF coming up that you want to avoid, or if you simply don't want to manage so many accounts.  But it won't improve things for you to close any cards.

If the lender wants you to close cards to minimize total exposure, you can consider doing that as a condition of getting the loan, but no need to do it prospectively.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If your AAOA is only 1 or 2 months but you have a card that is 3 years old your definatly hurting yourself by having 19 cards. Same breath though closing cards also can hurt your score a bit.

What I would do (and again, this is what I would personally do and it may or may not be best for your)

Keep open:

The oldest (3 year old card)

The citi card you still owe on

the oldest card that has the highest CL witht he lowest balance

a CU cards - a credit union is far better to get a car loan through than a bank/dealership and they will want to see a history with them before accepting you.

Close:

the newest cards that have $0 balance

the cards with higher AFs

If your average age is 2 months that means you've opened ALOT in the past month or 2 to counter balance that 3 year old card. You might take a hit closing cards, but at the same time you'll take a hit by leaving them open with a low AAOA if your going to be applying soon. If you could dwindle just in half getting rid of the most recent ones that have no balance then in the end I think you'll be better off...can always dwindle down from there too after a while but 19 is just an awful lot.

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Thanks for the infomation, My AAOA is 1 year and 2 months not two months.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the helpful information, after retreading over my post I noticed that I made a typo, my AAOA is 1 year and 2 months, sorry about that.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for all the helpful information, after retreading over my post I noticed that I made a typo, my AAOA is 1 year and 2 months, sorry about that.

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If anything just drop the more recent cards that your going to have to pay an AF on...don't drop anything thats old as it will obviously lower that AAOA.