Credit Karma suggests I should have 22 open accounts

[gen-specific]

Credit Karma suggests I should have 22 open accounts or something

Sounds ludicrous

thoughts?

[fused]

The only thing I pay attention to at CK is what's on my TU report. All of the scores and comments at that site are complete rubbish.

[takeshi74]

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@gen-specific wrote:

Credit Karma suggests I should have 22 open accounts or something 

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While one has to take CK with a grain of salt one also has to carefully read what CK states.  CK doesn't say you need to have 22 open accounts.  CK indicates that there is a correlation between those with a higher credit score and a larger number of accounts reporting.  Reporting and open are two entirely different things.  I'm in the 22+ group but I only have 14 open accounts.

Verbatim statement from the site:

Consumers with more credit accounts typically have better credit scores

[gen-specific]

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@takeshi74 wrote:

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@gen-specific wrote:

Credit Karma suggests I should have 22 open accounts or something 

---

While one has to take CK with a grain of salt one also has to carefully read what CK states.  CK doesn't say you need to have 22 open accounts.  CK indicates that there is a correlation between those with a higher credit score and a larger number of accounts reporting.  Reporting and open are two entirely different things.  I'm in the 22+ group but I only have 14 open accounts.

Verbatim statement from the site:

Consumers with more credit accounts typically have better credit scores

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Nope, still not following

Do you mean you have 8+ old closed accounts still reporting?

Do you mean that your 14 open accounts report multiple times?

something else?

[Anonymous]

dont go outthere and start opening accounts your scores will suffer

[gen-specific]

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@Anonymous wrote:

dont go outthere and start opening accounts your scores will suffer

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Don't plan to, just trying to get some questions answered in the face of new information

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I opened 5 accounts over the last few months (when I joined Credit Karma and learned how scores are calculated), and my score went from 749 to 780.
Is that what you call suffering?

Available credit to debt ratio is the biggest part of your score, assuming that you always pay bills on time. The more cards you have, the higher your available credit. As long as you are responsible enough not to use the cards, your score will improve, until you get into the 790+ range, which you should see, provided you have enough accounts, a long history of no late payments, and a utilization of less than 10%.

I do plan on getting an A on my Credit Karma report card, across the board. I've had 4 hard pull inquiries on my report (lowering that score from an A to a C, and eventually to a F), but that had little impact on my score, and hard pulls only stay on there for 2 years. The average age of your credit history will drop as well (Mine was 148 months, and has dropped to 70 months from A to C) but in a few years, it will be back up over 100, and will stay that way forever. I had $20k in available credit and a utilization over 60%. Now I Have 78k in available credit, and utilization under 10%.
Eventually I will have 20+ cards, $200k available credit, >5% utilization, and an 800+ score.

If you lack self control, you'll never have a 760+ score as it requires a low utilization ratio, but if you can get a card and not use it, collect as many no annual fee cards as you can, and watch your score rise.

[fused]

Welcome to the forums konayoda!

I'm not aware of one lender who pulls CK scores. Also, no one needs a bunch of accounts to hit the 800+ FICO club. My wife doesn't have thick files and she's well into the 800+ FICO club. CK, for me, is only useful to monitor my TU report. Otherwise, I have no use for anything else they provide for free.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the welcome fused.

Is it NECESSARY to have 20 cards to have an 800 score? No, but it sure is a lot easier to get a <10% utilization ratio if you have quite a few that you never use. I do advise anyone, with excellent self control, who hasn't already achieved an 800 score, to acculmulate no annual fee cards until they do.
Personally I carry a couple hundred cash on me, but use a cash back rewards card to pay for just about everything, so I'm not likely to ever have a 1% utilization ratio, at least not until I have 200k in available credit.

You have 120k in available credit, hence your 820+ score. Instead of collecting new cards, you get credit increase on cards you already have, but that comes with a 26+ year credit history, something I'm fairly sure the OP doesn't have. Although I will admit that my TransUnion score on Credit Karma was about 10 - 15 points lower than the actual report I got directly from TransUnion.

I do have to bow down in homage to any man who has ever achieved an 850 score. Until reading your stats, I didn't think it was possible unless you were maybe Bill Gates. Nice to see that it can be done, and thanks for the info on the need for the open installment loan to maintain such an amazing score. And on behalf of all those you've helped who've never bothered to say thanks.... THANKS!

[fused]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the welcome fused.

Is it NECESSARY to have 20 cards to have an 800 score? No, but it sure is a lot easier to get a <10% utilization ratio if you have quite a few that you never use. I do advise anyone, with excellent self control, who hasn't already achieved an 800 score, to acculmulate no annual fee cards until they do.
Personally I carry a couple hundred cash on me, but use a cash back rewards card to pay for just about everything, so I'm not likely to ever have a 1% utilization ratio, at least not until I have 200k in available credit.

You have 120k in available credit, hence your 820+ score. Instead of collecting new cards, you get credit increase on cards you already have, but that comes with a 26+ year credit history, something I'm fairly sure the OP doesn't have. Although I will admit that my TransUnion score on Credit Karma was about 10 - 15 points lower than the actual report I got directly from TransUnion.

I do have to bow down in homage to any man who has ever achieved an 850 score. Until reading your stats, I didn't think it was possible unless you were maybe Bill Gates. Nice to see that it can be done, and thanks for the info on the need for the open installment loan to maintain such an amazing score. And on behalf of all those you've helped who've never bothered to say thanks.... THANKS!

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You could easily have FICO scores well over 800 with just 3 or 4 CC's. All you have to do is learn to play the game. Use your CC's (credit cards) and pay them before the statement dates and not the due dates. Util % on CCC's (credit card companies) can then be control by YOU. You save money too by not forking over your hard earned money to the money changers in the form of finance charges. CCC's report your statement balances to the CRA's. So, in essence, by paying before the statement dates, you control what your CCC's are reporting to the credit bureaus.

I haven't had CLI's (credit limit increase) in some time. Again, I control what's reported to the credit bureaus. Forget about Credit Karma scores. Lenders don't use them. Concern yourself with the various FICO score you can access, FICO 04 and FICO 08.

Please, don't make my head swell. Hahaha.

Just curious, do you live in Kona? I'm from Hawaii and I still live there. Aloha!