How high can I score with a small number of tradelines?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know any hard evidence of how high a person can (in practice) score with a small number of tradelines? 

I have three open credit cards (the oldest is 11 years old, the newest is 7 years old) and an open student loan that is 14 years old -- no other open accounts.  All my other factors are great (1 inquiry, perfect payment history, high AAoA, etc.).  My FICO is really high right now, but part of why that is the case is that a have a LOT of closed accounts: three old car loans, an old mortgage, two other student loans, three closed credit cards). In other words, I have many accounts of many types all showing that they were handled well.

In the next five years or so, all of these old closed accounts will drop off (as they exceed ten years since closure) and I will be left with a thinner/leaner credit profile: the three credit cards and the student loan.  Obviously my AAoA and age of oldest account will be great then, but does anyone have any hard evidence for how high one can score with essentially a few credit cards and an installment loan?   I'd prefer not to open extra accounts that I don't really need or want, just for the purpose of keeping FICO's credit mix and depth factors in top scoring condition. 

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

FICO doesn't count closed loans in credit mix.  They do help with AAofA until they fall off at the 10 year mark.  Their payment history doen't matter unless there are lates.

You can have 800 scores with just three cards.  I would be concerned though because with so few cards, should you want to ever add another card or should one of your lenders close your card for some reason, one card will now be 33% of your AAofA.  That would be a huge hit if you ever needed or wanted to open a new account.

I would add a few more cards slowly.  Maybe one a year for 3 years  And just get something like Nordstrom or Macy's or something that you can put a charge on at Christmas and ignore for the next year.  

That's what I would do.

But three cards is plenty for scoring.

[vanillabean]

A card count of three is best; it goes downhill from there in FICO world. When I applied for #2 and #3, my score actually went up!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.  But I am actually looking for, as I say, "hard evidence" -- as in people who have a small number of tradelines but have managed to achieve true FICO scores above (say) "810".  (Or some other high number.)  My current FICOs are in the 830s and I am trying to gauge how far they could conceivably go down when my rich history of past accounts (including a mortgage and many others) drop off.  The only way I can see to do that is to find case histories of people who have really scored very high with few accounts.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

My elderly parents have two credit cards and their FICO score is over 800.  AAofA is 25 years.  Always paid in full except for the current charges of maybe $100.

There aren't case studies to give you definitive answers, at least not on these credit bulletin boards.  

[Anonymous]

Anecdotal evidence of the sort you just gave is fine by me -- because it is rooted in a definite case (two specific people, your parents).  So thanks!  If there is any way you can find out more information, that would be immensely helpful.  Two things in particular would help. 

(1) You mention that they have FICOs of over 800.  Any way you can pin that down a bit more?  If for example, their FICOs are hovering around 805, then that suggest that the practical maximum with only a few credit cards is 805.  (It's hard to imagine what else they could do to improve their score, given an AAoA of 25 years!) 

(2)  Are those FICO scores using an old model?  For example, mortgage pre-approval FICOs often still use FICO 04.  The FICO 04 for Equifax has a top range of 818 -- even if you have a perfect score.  So if they are getting 805 (say) on FICO 04 (Equifax) that's different from from getting an 805 using FICO 8 or FICO 9 (which has a true maximum of 850).

Again, thanks for your help thus far.  Best wishes...

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

Just use the FICO estimator.  With 2 to 4 credit cards and every other answer perfect it says the best you can get is 775 to 825.  

So 825 is the highest you can get.  I'm sure this is FICO 08 since 04 only goes to 818.

This is using 25 years as the oldest account.

http://www.myfico.com/ficocreditscoreestimator/estimator.aspx

The FICO score for my parents was a TU FICO 08.  All I know is it was over 800.  They cosigned a loan for me and the loan officer told me.  My scores were also FICO 08 on the loan app.  I did not qualify on my own so needed a cosigner.

[Anonymous]

Thanks!

[thom02099]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

A card count of three is best; it goes downhill from there in FICO world. When I applied for #2 and #3, my score actually went up!

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Hmmm....guess those of us with more than 3 cards and scores in the 800s are anomalies.   :-/

[Anonymous]

Interesting subject, I am acutally one of those people that dont want alot of credit cards but afraid i need them to raise my score.