@Revelate wrote:
@techcrium wrote:
The point is that once you turn 18, you should apply to as many credit cards as you possibly can because by the time you are 25-26 and ready for a car loan/mortgage, you will have 10 cards with a solid history.
And all those early credit hits would be wiped out by then.
This is assuming you are responsible with paying off all credit card bills.
While I agree with your premise, in practice it's not necessary: 10 cards when just starting out, unless you can qualify for a few of the reasonable student cards, is 10 junk cards... and by the time 7-8 years have past, it would be virtually no different than my starting out with 3, going to 7 at the one year mark, and 10 at the 2 year mark (though I closed one, irrelevant to AAOA in the timeframe we're talking about) given how the FICO algorithm works with massive diminishing returns especially with AAOA north of 5 years or so.
Also anyone in that age bracket is going to have vastly different expenses post graduation and with real income, than they would at 18 and they really should upgrade their credit portfolio at some point. Also things like buying a car are likely going to happen before that point too in many markets, as are financing things like a bed if htey can't outright pay cash for it, and all of those are going to drag on one's AAOA anyway.
Now if I were building credit for a kid of mine, I'd have the majority of accounts opened within a year and that would likely cover them for the majority of those 8 years, but out in normal consumer land, people aren't likely to be smart about their credit card portfolio building and as such likely won't be as precise as people armed with information from this forum tend to be
I agree with everything you said. Even though, his point can be applied to a less extreme extent, like you pointed out. Anybody that starts building credit and is able to handle multiple accounts shoule open as many credit cards as he/she is comfortable with in the first year. That what I advise people I know, but usually 1 credit card is about as many as they feel comfortable handling....
