how many is too many?????

[Anonymous]

i currently have capital one platinum 1000cl, capital one 750cl, best buy hsbc 400cl, dell financial services 3000cl, chase amazon 750cl, chase freedom (300 cash back) 3000cl, discover more 1000cl, amex zync npsl, and citi diamond preffered(got 0% 18 months) with 500cl. Got the citi, amex, freedom and disc more in 2012. Im just curious if i should try to consolidate and get down to just a few. I plan to use the amex for every day purchases. The rest i have either no balance or am going to use for promo rates. Also, which of those cards do you figure was the hardest to qualify for.

[Coldness]

I'd say the Chase Freedom was the hardest to get - although I'm not 100% sure. I'd also be using it as my main card in your situation, but the Zync is still awesome if you're not too concerned about rewards right now. 

Also, unused cards don't really hurt you much - if anything they help to add to your age and total credit limit. I'd close any of them with an annual fee that you don't need (keeping the Zync, of course) and leave the rest that you won't be using at home somewhere safe, throwing a charge or two on them every once and awhile to keep them alive. 

[jamesdwi]

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@Anonymous wrote:

i currently have capital one platinum 1000cl, capital one 750cl, best buy hsbc 400cl, dell financial services 3000cl, chase amazon 750cl, chase freedom (300 cash back) 3000cl, discover more 1000cl, amex zync npsl, and citi diamond preffered(got 0% 18 months) with 500cl. Got the citi, amex, freedom and disc more in 2012. Im just curious if i should try to consolidate and get down to just a few. I plan to use the amex for every day purchases. The rest i have either no balance or am going to use for promo rates. Also, which of those cards do you figure was the hardest to qualify for.

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open credit cards with no negatives and no AF provide no reason to close, they help with UTL, and who knows they may get you CLI's and from time to time have offers that may be of value, its really rare for the reason for denial being too many accounts, and I would bet most of those were borderline cases and the computer picked one out of a its random reasons for the denial letters. Also evenually you may get graduated to a non-rebuilder card with careful care of each card. 

Only reason to close are AF's  especially those combined with low limits. Orchard or First Premie cards are seen as a negative by some creditors but those are usually associated with AF's. 

[clocktick]

If you feel you have too many and want to close some, then by all means, close some.  Some people are more comfortable with fewer cards.  It doesn't matter if there's an annual fee or not.  It's up to you to decided what you'd like to do!

[marty56]

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@clocktick wrote:

If you feel you have too many and want to close some, then by all means, close some.  Some people are more comfortable with fewer cards.  It doesn't matter if there's an annual fee or not.  It's up to you to decided what you'd like to do!

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There is never a good reason to close a CCC that doesn't have an annual fee.  Just use it once every few months to make a small purchase and then PIF.  You can hide the card or just perform a plasectomy on it if it bothers you.  An idle CCC still is helping your score and one that is PIF looks great under an MR.

[drkaje]

IMO, less is more. A few cards to manage would be a ot better for my situation and needs.

There are people who want 20-30 accounts, LOL! There really isn't a right answer.

In rebuilding mode? I'd likely keep them open.

I'm not in rebuilding/repair mode and will be closing at least 4 accounts when it won't affect utilization.

[boomhower]

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@marty56 wrote:

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There is never a good reason to close a CCC that doesn't have an annual fee.  Just use it once every few months to make a small purchase and then PIF.  You can hide the card or just perform a plasectomy on it if it bothers you.  An idle CCC still is helping your score and one that is PIF looks great under an MR.

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Completely agree.

[Anonymous]

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@drkaje wrote:

IMO, less is more. A few cards to manage would be a ot better for my situation and needs.

There are people who want 20-30 accounts, LOL! There really isn't a right answer.

In rebuilding mode? I'd likely keep them open.

I'm not in rebuilding/repair mode and will be closing at least 4 accounts when it won't affect utilization.

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+1  If you have established positive credit, there is no need to keep unused accounts open unless it is essential to your utilization.  There is certainly no harm to leaving free accounts open, and it is probably a good idea to keep a spare or two around, but there is no need to keep every card you've ever opened.

[drkaje]

@ Koop,

With $0 CC debt, I'd close at least three accounts this year. I'd prune down to an Amex, Visa, and MC. In theory, two cards would be doable for my needs.

[Anonymous]

From what I can see, your next "credit" goal would be to get your credit line amounts up.  Personally I would retire some of your cards by sock drawer them vs cancelling.  Also, for max FICO consider having one credit card (not charge card) report a balance but still PIF.  Next I would do research in which cards do CLIs without hard inquiry and start taking advantage of those.  Also, another option is to seek a credit card who is known to be more generous with limits.

I find the best way to do this assuming you are using your AMEX charge card for all your normal needs is to have one very small recurring bill and set up auto payments.  Switch around the bill to the different calls every few months.