Question about accounts

[Skye12329]

So I checked CK and it s say the more accounts and CC you have the better, is this true? Wouldn't that be bad?

[chwebb1]

As long as you use them responsibly, i.e. don't run up huge balances and allow them to report, pay on time, etc, then no, it's not bad to have multiple accounts. There are some people on here who have 20 CCs. I'm not one of them. That's way too much for me to even think about right now.

[Gunnar419]

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@Skye12329 wrote:
So I checked CK and it s say the more accounts and CC you have the better, is this true? Wouldn't that be bad?

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CK is just plain WRONG on that recommendation. Pay no attention to it. You can have a great score with as few as three accounts, or even two.

I don't know why CK gives that bogus information, but keep in mind that they finance their website by getting commissions from cc companies and other lenders when you apply through CK, so they definitely have an ulterior motive.

Although there are people here at MyFico who have the number of accounts CK recommends, they're unusual even among credit geeks. Ordinary people sometimes feel overwhelmed handling that many accounts and you're more likely to mess up your payments, be hit with AA, or have other problems.

[takeshi74]

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@Skye12329 wrote:
So I checked CK and it s say the more accounts and CC you have the better, is this true? Wouldn't that be bad?

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There are no simple, direct relationships when it comes to credit.  More accounts can be good or bad.  It all depends on the affiliated details.  If you're rapidly openinng up a bunch of new accounts with increasing/high utilization and other warning signs then, yes, it can be bad,  On the other hand, if you have a number of aged accounts with low utilization it can be an indicator that a number of creditors trust you.

Generally speaking, more accounts and more diversity (revolving, installment, etc) among your credit accounts are good but you don't need a huge number of credit cards for a good credit score.  I think many would say that the line falls around 3 revolving accounts but, again, it's the quality and not just the quantitiy of the accounts that matter.

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@Gunnar419 wrote:

Although there are people here at MyFico who have the number of accounts CK recommends, they're unusual even among credit geeks. Ordinary people sometimes feel overwhelmed handling that many accounts and you're more likely to mess up your payments, be hit with AA, or have other problems.

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One should always stick with what one can manage but I wouldn't go so far as to protray those in CK's upper bracket of number of accounts as unicorns.  I'm in that bracket and have no problems managing my accounts.  It's a subjective matter and with any subjective matter, YMMV.

[drkaje]

A few accounts is fine.

CK gets a little overzealous with advice, especially when it comes to things like mix of credit. CK is the only place I've ever seen recommending store cards. Kind of ironic that they encourage getting store cards as a manner of rebuilding credit but only give an "A" to someone with 0 inquiries.