How many cc is OK?

[Anonymous]

Does it matter how many cc a person has?  I'm careful to pay mine off every month and keep my utilization below 10%.  There's another card that's tempting me but don't want to lower my score.

[llecs]

FICO will red-flag you if you have 30 or more accounts reporting, but it is my understanding that the damage is virtually nil. But the red flags do get annoying, I suppose.

[Jazzzy]

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@llecs wrote:
FICO will red-flag you if you have 30 or more accounts reporting, but it is my understanding that the damage is virtually nil. But the red flags do get annoying, I suppose.

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Hi llecs...do these 30 accounts count both open and closed accounts? Not just revolving accounts? Mortgages, etc.? I have student loans that I haven't even started paying off yet, and they just keep transferring them and transferring them. I'm not even out of my grad program yet. Most of the student loans have 2 or 3 different entries, but many of them show closed/transferred. We also have investment property mortgages. I am now up to 29 accounts showing on my EQ (both closed and open).

Just when I think I'm getting to be "the best that I can be..."  Oh well.

[llecs]

Yep, opened and closed. Some actually have the temptation to have old, closed TLs deleted when they see that flag. Unfortunately for most the positive history is removed and they lose points.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't mean anything. All it means it that you have a big fat file!

[marty56]

The answer also depends on how you use them.  back in my subprime days, one was too many.

[Anonymous]

The hit for being flagged is supposedly so minor that you shouldn't really worry about it. If you can handle all your credit cards well and they all are building positive history I say don't worry about it.

That said I only have 3 CC's and I couldn't imagine handling 10-20 open accounts, but many people on here are much more talented than me.

[Anonymous]

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@marty56 wrote:
The answer also depends on how you use them.  back in my subprime days, one was too many.

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Amen, marty!

[jackg]

If you are a follower of Credit Karma you'll get an "A" on your report card for 40+ accts, 40-31 gives you a "B".

FICO on the other hand does not seem to care "how many".

[RobertEG]

If you go back and review the FICO webinars that address this topic, they say it does matter for FICO scoring how many cards you have.  It is how you mangage them.