How many credit cards?

[Anonymous]

I have ten cc's. I just pay them through on line bill pay from my bank account to make sure they are never late. Late payments hurt FICO pretty bad and I can't afford any dings, or hiccups in my score.

[Anonymous]

I read somewhere that AMEX looks at your history with them more so than your credit report.  Is that right?   So if I choose to apply for an AMEX blue card sometime in the future, my excellent account management should help me obtain one?

[Tuscani]

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KDM wrote:

I read somewhere that AMEX looks at your history with them more so than your credit report.  Is that right?   So if I choose to apply for an AMEX blue card sometime in the future, my excellent account management should help me obtain one?

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I am sure it influences their decision.. But I would not rely on history alone of I had several new derogs since my last approval.

[Anonymous]

Hi - you gave us the "perfect" set up for the number and type of credit cards.  While rebuilding my credit I opened a total of six cards in the last several years - partly because I thought I needed a bigger amount of available credit to lower the "hit" if I decided to use one for a purchase.  Since the upper limit is 4, but closing accounts reduces your length of credit history, do you have any suggestions?

Thanks for your time!

Alix

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't even bother applying if I had any new derogatory items.  Mine negs are years old, except for the fact that I recently paid off an old coll account.  

I think I worded my last question poorly.  What I was asking is, are you more likely to be approved if you're already an established customer in good standing with them, or is that not considered?

[Anonymous]

I know a couple of people, including tuscani, that have 20+ credit cards with darn near perfect credit. I am 19 years old and have 4 credit cards. My credit scores are from high 600s to low 700s. I always keep about a 10% balance on all of them, but i do make a few 1k+ purchases and pay them off each month.

[Anonymous]

I have 16 that I can think of right off the top of my head, and my wife has a lot too. My score is about 750, but would probably be over 800 if I wasn't carrying so much 0% debt.