how many credit cards

[Anonymous]

how many credit cards are to many

i have about 30 with only about 4 with a balance

i understand that cancelling some may hurt my credit score

[cobra19]

Depends on what your plans are. Plan on buying RE? If so, 30 is too many. I had 29 cards in 1998 when I bought my house. Broker told me to close some cards - I wound up having 8 cards. And 8 is how many I have today.

Have no plans to buy a house? 30 is fine. I managed well with 29.

Banks son't like to see you with too many cards - they get jumpy if you have access to too much credit..  

[Anonymous]

How does one actually manage to use 30 cards enough to keep them from being cancelled for inactivity?

And what's the appeal of so many cards?

I'm the opposite, I like to have as few cards as possible given the game-playing needed for FICO.

[Anonymous]

most of them i got through special programs such as free financing for one year

or some free cash if opened an account when buying something on line

some i have never used but still show up on credit report

most are just sit in my safe with zero balances

[MidnightVoice]

Closing them will only hurt your score if it adversley affects your utilization percentage.  And they will stay on your report for 10 more years anyway

Many cards go "inactive" after about 12 months, and some of those will pull an inquiry if you try to reactivate them.

[Anonymous]

The more cards you have, the better it is for your FICO score...up to a point, anyway. That "curve" is pretty healthy on up to 5 or 6 cards, then begins to flatten, and by the time you pass 10 or so there's really no significant benefit to having more.

So I would triage the cards. The older they are, and the higher the CL is, the more valuable they are. The newer they are, and the lower the CL, the less valuable they are. If a card is your oldest reported account, don't close it.