Why having more cc's is better than not

[Anonymous]

But I thought managing a lot of credit built scores when used conservatively and wisely ie. % of usage to available credit. It shows restraint. I can see I have this wrong.

[Anonymous]

Wow, 5k and 820? That does contradict everything I know about building credit. It's awesome!

My identity was stolen via an Internet merchant. Unbeknownst to me, the crooks got more than 5k in computer purchases. They also got personal info off my cards including my home address, etc. Before I knew what happened, a plethora of auto loans, Internet purchases, numerous credit cards issued 100% electronically, and more hit almost my entire financial profile. Luckily, because I quickly notified Apple and the police of the computer purchases, the police guided me to quick action, so we were able to stop the financial assault before my credit was completely destroyed. The truly alarming part of the entire event was, somehow they hacked my voicemail twice, preventing financial institutions from reaching me to verify -huge- charges. The conclusion was, they had a network of crooks strategically placed to facilitate maximum financial theft. Their location remained a mystery to law enforcement.  I also had to be investigated to ensure I was not part of the fraud. Luckily, it was more of a formality than anything, but still truly alarming 

Today, I use my phone to pay for everything offline. My social and credit files are frozen. I use only one cc to pay for things electronically and I'm alerted immediately to any and all purchases. -I- have a tough time accessing my money now:-)

[Anonymous]

@Birdman7 wrote:
I’m going to go against the conventional wisdom here just a little bit. Everyone says three cards is optimal. I think that statement is one of those generalities that can’t be thrown around, as BBS would say.

It might be true for FICO 8, but that’s not necessarily true for other algorithms such as the mortgage scores. I think when we recommend three cards as being optimal we have to qualify that as being optimal only for FICO 8.

3 cards and a loan can only produce 33% of revolvers at least and 25% of all accounts even at AZ. I don’t think that’s optimal for any of the mortgage scores to be quite honest is it? Its not for TU4 or EQ5.

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Well, I am embarrassingly inept at understanding the different facets that make up a complete credit profile.  TU4? EQ5? FICO 8?   What is AZ?  

It appears cc's are only one component of a healthy credit profile. It was recommended that I get a personal credit builder loan from a credit union to add dimension to my credit profile.  I'm looking at buying a van so, rather than pay for it up front, I guess I should finance a small portion of it for 3 months before paying it off.  Would that help with mortgage qualification?

[Revelate]

Actually finance the whole darned van (or as much as possible) and then make a regular payment of call it 95% of it in one shot and just leave a little left over.

If it pushes your next payment out to like 2023 or whatever, just baby it along a FICO win on FICO 8.  Reindeer games to be sure, but it's a useful trick and if it doesn't work, namely you're still paid off in the original timeline anyway.

[Anonymous]

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@Revelate wrote:

Actually finance the whole darned van (or as much as possible) and then make a regular payment of call it 95% of it in one shot and just leave a little left over.

If it pushes your next payment out to like 2023 or whatever, just baby it along a FICO win on FICO 8.  Reindeer games to be sure, but it's a useful trick and if it doesn't work, namely you're still paid off in the original timeline anyway.

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I am so clueless about financing a car. If I finance it for 3 years, then pay off 95% of it in the first payment, what happens to the monthly payment amounts over the next 3 years?  You said the next payment might not be for almost 3 years. Is that because, in the eyes of the finance company, I've paid, let's say, 33 payments in advance?  Sorry, but I've never financed a car. Too cheap to pay the fees & interest:-)

[Anonymous]

Posted twice by mistake. Weird system error.

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[Anonymous]

@mocean As you said, you are new, and you are not going to learn everything in one day and one thread. First,go check out "Frequently Requested Threads," which are there for you to learn the basics.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Frequently-Requested-Threads/td-p/19320/

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Helpful-Threads/td-p/10675/

Those will answer most of your questions, so we can try not to repeat ourselves and so we can attempt to keep threads on topic.

TU4, EQ5, and EX2 are the "mortgage scores." AZ is all zero and means having all CCs report at 0.

Welcome, btw.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@mocean As you said, you are new, and you are not going to learn everything in one day and one thread. First,go check out "Frequently Requested Threads," which are there for you to learn the basics.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Frequently-Requested-Threads/td-p/19320/

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Helpful-Threads/td-p/10675/

Those will answer most of your questions...

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So sorry for any redundancy. I should have known better. I will do some studying.  My credit score had never been an issue for me until my ID theft, so having to dig into all this is new to me. 

Thanks for your patience.:-)

[Anonymous]

We are here to help, but we can help the maximum number of ppl by collecting general knowledge in one place for you. But, if you do not understand something or need clarification, do not hesitate to ask, that's why we are here, to help.

[Revelate]

1) do a 5 year term

2) there are no fees for financing a car except buy here pay here spots which are to be avoided anyway.

3) they may move it out 58 payments or they might only move it out a few payments; just see what your new due date is after the fact.