Credit Cards - How many to have?

[Anonymous]

42.

More seriously, the question about your spend refers to the breakdown of your spend. For instance, if you spend less than $250 per month on groceries, Sallie Mae may be a good fit, but if you spend up to $6k, Amex BCP may be better, and above $6k, a third option might be good. If you spend lots on restaurants, the answer might change as well.

Clearly, if you are rotating by month, you aren't trying to optimize rewards. This is fine, just make sure you're aware that there are drawbacks to any plan.

If you're planning on applying for a mortgage in the next two years, I would avoid applying for any further credit cards. Mortgage is usually a manual review and as such all of your inqs within the prior two years show up on the report.

[kdm31091]

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@Anonymous wrote:

42.

More seriously, the question about your spend refers to the breakdown of your spend. For instance, if you spend less than $250 per month on groceries, Sallie Mae may be a good fit, but if you spend up to $6k, Amex BCP may be better, and above $6k, a third option might be good. If you spend lots on restaurants, the answer might change as well.

Clearly, if you are rotating by month, you aren't trying to optimize rewards. This is fine, just make sure you're aware that there are drawbacks to any plan.

If you're planning on applying for a mortgage in the next two years, I would avoid applying for any further credit cards. Mortgage is usually a manual review and as such all of your inqs within the prior two years show up on the report.

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Thank you for posting this fact which some around here gloss over. "Oh the inquiries fade after 6 months"...which is true, to an extent, but if someone wants a mortgage they need to be mindful of manual review -- and the inquiries are there for 2 years. Period.

It may not be as important to wait 2 years between cards but inquiries can always be seen for those 2 years on review.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Currently have 7 personal cards. Working my way up to 9, once Chase meets someone more stubborn than them and Discover offers me a credit line.

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Nine is also my eventual goal. Only one more I want, and that can wait until the existing crop has aged.

[red259]

However many you need. With three cards you will be able to reach your max possible score. You can have more than that if you want, but you don't need to. 

[Anonymous]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

42.

More seriously, the question about your spend refers to the breakdown of your spend. For instance, if you spend less than $250 per month on groceries, Sallie Mae may be a good fit, but if you spend up to $6k, Amex BCP may be better, and above $6k, a third option might be good. If you spend lots on restaurants, the answer might change as well.

Clearly, if you are rotating by month, you aren't trying to optimize rewards. This is fine, just make sure you're aware that there are drawbacks to any plan.

If you're planning on applying for a mortgage in the next two years, I would avoid applying for any further credit cards. Mortgage is usually a manual review and as such all of your inqs within the prior two years show up on the report.

---

Thank you for posting this fact which some around here gloss over. "Oh the inquiries fade after 6 months"...which is true, to an extent, but if someone wants a mortgage they need to be mindful of manual review -- and the inquiries are there for 2 years. Period.

It may not be as important to wait 2 years between cards but inquiries can always be seen for those 2 years on review.

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But that also may not matter.  IME, what mortgage underwriters are most concerned about are recent inquiries that aren't reflected as new accounts yet on the CR.   So a while back I had app'd about 3 weeks before closing, and I was sent a pretty simple form (purpose of app, did it create a new account, amount borrowed or something).

If your scores fall solidly into one of the ranges, it doesn't really matter.   I think the major reason for not apping is because of the impact on your (FICO 04) score, because if that lowers you into another bucket, that can be expensive (or prevent you being approved).   But those impacts do indeed decrease over time.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@kdm31091 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

42.

More seriously, the question about your spend refers to the breakdown of your spend. For instance, if you spend less than $250 per month on groceries, Sallie Mae may be a good fit, but if you spend up to $6k, Amex BCP may be better, and above $6k, a third option might be good. If you spend lots on restaurants, the answer might change as well.

Clearly, if you are rotating by month, you aren't trying to optimize rewards. This is fine, just make sure you're aware that there are drawbacks to any plan.

If you're planning on applying for a mortgage in the next two years, I would avoid applying for any further credit cards. Mortgage is usually a manual review and as such all of your inqs within the prior two years show up on the report.

---

Thank you for posting this fact which some around here gloss over. "Oh the inquiries fade after 6 months"...which is true, to an extent, but if someone wants a mortgage they need to be mindful of manual review -- and the inquiries are there for 2 years. Period.

It may not be as important to wait 2 years between cards but inquiries can always be seen for those 2 years on review.

---

But that also may not matter.  IME, what mortgage underwriters are most concerned about are recent inquiries that aren't reflected as new accounts yet on the CR.   So a while back I had app'd about 3 weeks before closing, and I was sent a pretty simple form (purpose of app, did it create a new account, amount borrowed or something).

If your scores fall solidly into one of the ranges, it doesn't really matter.   I think the major reason for not apping is because of the impact on your (FICO 04) score, because if that lowers you into another bucket, that can be expensive (or prevent you being approved).   But those impacts do indeed decrease over time.

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I'm not sure if it matters, or if it is a small thing, or what not, especially since i haven't applied for a mortgage in 5 years, which was well before I found this site. However, when you're dealing with a multithousand dollar monthly payment, made over 30 years, small interest changes can have big effects. I wouldn't run any sort of risk leading up to a mortgage, because if you're wrong, it will be expensive, and if you're right, the gain isn't that great. 

[Anonymous]

Sorry for off topic, but did you do anything out of the ordinary to get your scores up 100 points in under a year? I am attempting the same thing 

[tufa4311]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Sorry for off topic, but did you do anything out of the ordinary to get your scores up 100 points in under a year? I am attempting the same thing 

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Sure, no problem, I gave FICO a call and offered them money in exchange for a higher score - they said ok (paid them with a credit card)...

Sorry, that was in bad form. Seriously though, I did two things, I got rid of one 30-Day late I had and dropped my UTIL from 20% to 1% and that gave me a 100+ score increase.

Read up:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Capital-One-30-Day-Removal-Request-Update-Success/td-p/3658327

[sunkissed]

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@tufa4311 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Sorry for off topic, but did you do anything out of the ordinary to get your scores up 100 points in under a year? I am attempting the same thing 

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Sure, no problem, I gave FICO a call and offered them money in exchange for a higher score - they said ok (paid them with a credit card)...

Sorry, that was in bad form. Seriously though, I did two things, I got rid on one 30-Day late I had and dropped my UTIL from 20% to 1% and that gave me a 100+ score increase.

Read up:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Capital-One-30-Day-Removal-Request-Update-Success/td-p/3658327

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Cool beans!  Congrats

[tufa4311]

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@sunkissed wrote:

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@tufa4311 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Sorry for off topic, but did you do anything out of the ordinary to get your scores up 100 points in under a year? I am attempting the same thing 

---

Sure, no problem, I gave FICO a call and offered them money in exchange for a higher score - they said ok (paid them with a credit card)...

Sorry, that was in bad form. Seriously though, I did two things, I got rid on one 30-Day late I had and dropped my UTIL from 20% to 1% and that gave me a 100+ score increase.

Read up:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Capital-One-30-Day-Removal-Request-Update-Success/td-p/3658327

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Cool beans!  Congrats

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Over 200K in credit? Cool beans is right!