wrote:I agree that their scores are useless, just that they're not "fake" as you stated originally. Yes there are hundreds of posts on here speaking of useless VS 3.0 scores. Forum members here (especially new ones) are always encouraged to ask questions, even if they have been asked thousands of times prior. With the nearly 3.5 million posts on this forum, no doubt a huge portion of those are repeats there were already answered.
I have no doubt that your scores went up 100 points as you said, but I can assure you that going from 1 card to 3 cards made up only a fraction of that amount. You obviously had a lot of other things going on with your profile, which is why your score increased substantially and is also a reason why on your profile it would be nearly impossible to try and quantify the impact of 1 card verses 3.
I had only 1 credit card for 14-15 years. For the majority of that time, my FICO scores were in the 790-800 range. The point is you don't need 3 (or more) credit cards to obtain a top tier score.
I can agree with this sentiment. I too had only 1 card for 5 years before the allure of 5% cash back on Amazon finally enticed me enough to hit the app button. I can also confirm that even with just 1 card, given enough time you can actually get over 800. I topped out at 802 after 4 years and some months.
I'd say only apply for more cards if you can actually take advantage of them (good signup bonus, travel rewards, cash back matches spending pattern etc). But I do think one advantage of applying for several cards early on is they all age together and give you a nice AAoA buffer.
Well I think you'd need at least an installment loan of some kind in order to max out the "credit mix" category.
I suspect I topped out at 802 because I left 20+ points on the table for not having anything else besides that 1 card. Had I known about Alliant's SSL sooner, that would've been the second thing I opened after my first card aged past one year.
Ok that makes a lot more sense, I thought you were talking about having only 1 account in total.
I think people should take comfort in the fact I was able to push past 800 with only 1 account of any kind. Clearly it can be done, just takes lots of time and patience.
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Seeing as your new here .Let us clue you in .Those credit karma scores are fake and mean nothing. Your actual fico scores could be way MORE or way LESS or about the same as what CK has for you .BUT your true Fico score will not fluctuate that much with a little utilization. Also if you've been trying for 2 years to improve your scores then why do you only have 1 open credit card? You need at least 3 more max fico score .fyiWhile your overall thesis is well-taken, two things should be pointed out here. CK (VS 3.0) scores are not "fake." They are simply not useful, as they aren't FICO scores and aren't used by lenders. They are still real scores, just from a scoring model that isn't meaningful. Second, I think it's important to quantify "needing" at least 3 of more credit cards to maximize FICO scores. I started a thread on this recently and the difference in going from 1 card to 3 cards with respect to FICO scores ranged from 4 points to 11 points based on the limited data points provided in the thread. 4 points is incredibly insignificant and even 11 points IMO isn't a reason to go out and app for 2+ more credit cards unless those cards are going to be frequently used and beneficial. IMO, the recommendation to have 3+ cards for optimal scoring purposes is a bit over-rated. I'm perfectly fine though with those that disagree with my stance on it.
Just hold on there! Don't go speading this incorrect information on this site. The difference between having 1 card vs 3 cards is a lot more than 4 to 11 points. And besides that, there are many benefits of building a thick file, with say 5 credit cards vs 1 credit card, look at AAoA when you get 5 years down the road. The person with 5 credit cards that are 5 years old won't be tanking their AAoA when they apply for new credit.
If you tell people that having one credit card is okay, you are doing them a diservice and are giving them bad advice!
BBS was referring to the immediate scoring benefit you receive when a second or third card shows up on your report.
Also I disagree that telling people to just have one credit card is bad advice. There's absolutely no point in running out and getting more cards if your spending pattern does not warrant having more than one card eg if you rarely eat out or travel, a basic gas/groceries cash back card will be good enough.