Credit Myths

[Boswd]

3.  though you are technically right  but just for good financial responsibilty you really shouldn't have more than 2 or 3 CC.    And having too many credit cards, even with a good FICO score, can still be damaging in the eyes of future lenders.    You can be considered too thin and if you have a bunch of cards  lenders can view your credit line as potential debts.   For example if you 8 cc cards each with a $5,000 credit line, that could be considered a potential $45,000 debt and  can still render you risky and may not get the best interest rate.    This is such a thing a too many credit cards and charge cards.

[Anonymous]

Yes you can have too many CCs in the eyes of lenders. But I would wait for them to come along and point this out to you in the course of the mortgage application process. Until it becomes a confirmed issue to them, I wouldn't close any cards.

[Anonymous]

Hear, Hear, TNWM,

If one already has a mortgage, 15 cards with $0 balance and $150K limit ain't an issue. Car loan ain't gonna care. If someone can handle one card with a $1500 limit, they can probably handle 15 with a $150K limit.

If one cannot handle one card with a $1500 limit, then 2 or 3 ain't gonna be any better.

[Anonymous]

Right. I think that any lender is going to look at your utilization first, whether it's on 2 cards or 10 cards. They'd rather give credit to someone with 10% on 6 cards than someone with 90% on 2 cards.

[Tuscani]

And honestly, I would not want to deal with a creditor asinine enough to decline for too much credit.

[Anonymous]

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@Tuscani wrote:

And honestly, I would not want to deal with a creditor asinine enough to decline for too much credit.

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Not like you can't get more cards or have your limits re-upped after the mortgage is signed, sealed and delivered. Mortgages tend to help FICO, so whatever limit you were eligible for before getting the mortgage, you'll be able to have afterwards (provided you stay current with your mortgage payments, of course).