I have almost 30 credit cards, and I'm convinced people seeking a perfect credit score are missing the point. - link to article
Talks about how it doesn't really make sense to take out a secured loan just to build up your score unless absolutely necessary and how some other popular ways to quickly boost your score can blow up in your face. A good read!
AU
EDIT: Looks like @SEAlifer beat me to it in posting the same article, and one of our helpful MODs merged our posts. Well, it is a very good article IMHO
From Business Insider:
I think the author makes some good points: (My comments in italics)
Striving for a perfect score can incentivize bad financial decisions
. . . some people try to improve their credit score by taking out a secured loan. Experian, one of the major credit-reporting agencies, even suggests this as a way to improve your score. Unless your credit history is nonexistent, it's probably not worth the cost for a minor bump in your credit score.
- Yep, paying interest to borrow you own money never seemed like a smart move to me, and Types of Credit/Credit Mix accounts for only 10% of your score. And an installment loan only really boosts you score until you get the balance down to the magical 9% of loan amount, which is very near the end of the loan. I'll pass.
You can get a lot more value from signing up for new credit cards than from having a perfect credit score
It's true that a large number of recent credit inquiries or new accounts can make lenders concerned that you're struggling to pay your bills, but as long as you're paying your bills every month, these new accounts will have a minimal and short-lived effect on your credit score. And in the meantime, you can reap the rewards of credit-card welcome offers, which are generally worth far more than a perfect credit score.
- This a biggy for me, I really like free money - the new CC SUB and the usual intro 0% rate for 12-18 months. I opened 4 new CCs in 2018, and so far 4 new CCs in 2019, and with a 2010 BK7 (medical debt w/ no insurance) still on credit report I have a 731 Fico8 score on TU, and 734 on EQ. EX has taken the hit the most at 708, mostly because almost everyone pulls EX for me - 13 inquiries while only 2-3 on TU & EQ. But my EX was 722 in March before my app spree, I'm pretty confident it will be back in the 720s by year end. And I've earned nearly a thousand bucks in SUBS and several thousands of dollars in 0% interest. Just be smart, don't buy a bunch of stuff you don't need and can't afford, I just put my normal spend on those 0% cards and put the money I don't pay down the CC with in savings, earning interest until it's time to pay off those cards - while carefully watching utilization. But I have 16 cards with combined CLs of $155k, so I have some "padding".
In practice, there's not really a difference between a great score and a perfect one
Lenders don't expect anyone to have a perfect credit score — anything above 740 is considered "very good".
A score in this range tells lenders you have a less than 2% chance of failing to make payments on time. Even a "good" score, between 640 and 739, is a very strong sign to lenders, since only about 8% of people in this score range become late on their payments.
Lenders often don't care about the difference between a very good score and a perfect one, so there's no reason to stress out about it. Just make sure you're doing everything necessary to keep your financial house in order, and spend your time focusing on other things — like how to spend the points you earn from a new credit-card bonus!
- Words to live by! My BK will fall off as early as March next year on TU and gone from all by September. My goal is only a FICO 750-760, much more than that means to me I'm leaving money on the table passing up new CC SUBs and interest free money earning me CC rewards.
Your mileage may vary. 
