What is the ideal number of credit cards for optimal thickness?

[Subexistence]

Thank you everyone for answering my question. I will probably be doing as CGID suggested. Do you guys have a section in the forums dedicated to research? Also what other credit cards do you guys suggest I get?

[Anonymous]

Best of luck, SubE. 

You ask if there is a section in the forums dedicated to research.  Can you help us understand a bit better what you have in mind?  For example, do you mean: a place I can go to research all the credit cards out there and decide which would the best fit for me?  Or do you have some other kind of research in mind?

[Subexistence]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Best of luck, SubE. 

You ask if there is a section in the forums dedicated to research.  Can you help us understand a bit better what you have in mind?  For example, do you mean: a place I can go to research all the credit cards out there and decide which would the best fit for me?  Or do you have some other kind of research in mind?

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I mean I occasionally find threads where you guys are gathering data on a subject(ex how long it takes for cards to close due to inactivity). Whatever those threads are, they seem to provide newer information not available elsewhere. For deciding which credit cards I should get, I might end up making a thread asking about it.

[Anonymous]

Hi SubE.  Here is the beginning of a tentative plan that would work well for you:

Where you are right now:

      * You have a Discover card that you really like

      * You have another credit card that you don't like, don't trust the issuer, and wish to see cancelled at some point.

      * You have no other accounts

      * Your oldest account is < six months old, so you do not not yet have a FICO score.

Step 1: while your oldest account is < 7 months old:...

      * Keep learning about how credit works, and what cards you might want some day.

      * Keep the Discover card always showing a small balance

      * Stop using the card you do not like (you probably stopped a while ago).

Step 2: at month 7 (or month 6.1 if you want):

      * Obtain your true FICO scores through the $1 free trial at Credit Check Total

      * Implement the Share Secure loan technique at Alliant:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...

      * Once the technique is fully implemented (should take a month or two) add your next card.

      * Use the cards you like for small purchases, but still make sure that exactly one card reports a positive balance and all other cards report $0

      * Do this for a few months

Step 3: at month 11

       * Add a third card (four if you count the CC you do not like)

       * Always use a new card once within 60 days of obtaining it. 

       * Keep most of your cards reporting $0, and always one reporting a small positive value.

Then add more cards over time as you deem appropriate.  Consider cancelling the card you dislike at month 11 if you still genuinely feel that issuer is risky and you just plain don't like it.  You will already have three open cards that you do like at this point.

Eventual goal will be six accounts total.  One of the six can be the closed card you dislike.  Of the six you should have at least three credit cards you do like and one SS loan.

[Anonymous]

Feel free to hang out in the sub-forum specifically devoted to Credit Cards, if you want to talk about all the possible CCs out there.

Because you are a giuy who (like me) really likes watching every penny, my personal advice is to make your card choices in part based on finding no annual fee cards that are offering really good promotions (signup bonuses).  I'd also eventually consider (once you have a least two no-AF cards you really like) whether you might want to open an annual fee card that waives the fee for the first year but gives you a huge signup bonus.  When you do that, the best plan is to either cancel the card at month 11 or downgrade it to a non annual fee card made by the same issuer.

Research into the general theory of FICO models is often published in the sub-forum we are in right now.

But as far as a practical matter, that stuff is very arcane and unnecessary.  All you really need to know is that you eventaully want six accounts, of which three should be CCs you like and one should be the Alliant SS loan.  Keep one card showing a small balance.  Boom.  That's it.

[Subexistence]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi SubE.  Here is the beginning of a tentative plan that would work well for you:

Where you are right now:

      * You have a Discover card that you really like

      * You have another credit card that you don't like, don't trust the issuer, and wish to see cancelled at some point.

      * You have no other accounts

      * Your oldest account is < six months old, so you do not not yet have a FICO score.

Step 1: while your oldest account is < 7 months old:...

      * Keep learning about how credit works, and what cards you might want some day.

      * Keep the Discover card always showing a small balance

      * Stop using the card you do not like (you probably stopped a while ago).

Step 2: at month 7 (or month 6.1 if you want):

      * Obtain your true FICO scores through the $1 free trial at Credit Check Total

      * Implement the Share Secure loan technique at Alliant:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secure-technique/m-p/4506756

      * Once the technique is fully implemented (should take a month or two) add your next card.

      * Use the cards you like for small purchases, but still make sure that exactly one card reports a positive balance and all other cards report $0

      * Do this for a few months

Step 3: at month 11

       * Add a third card (four if you count the CC you do not like)

       * Always use a new card once within 60 days of obtaining it. 

       * Keep most of your cards reporting $0, and always one reporting a small positive value.

Then add more cards over time as you deem appropriate.  Consider cancelling the card you dislike at month 11 if you still genuinely feel that issuer is risky and you just plain don't like it.  You will already have three open cards that you do like at this point.

Eventual goal will be six accounts total.  One of the six can be the closed card you dislike.  Of the six you should have at least three credit cards you do like and one SS loan.

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Oh yeah I forgot about the line of credit I have at $500 which may or may not count as an installment loan. Secu also duplicated my secu card by reporting one closed secu card and another identical card open.

Step 1 being done

Step 2 I might get citi preferred ot citi student preferred for sign up bonus before pc to DC

Step 3 Is there any particular reason you chose 11 months? I wasn't sure if there was some FICO scoring reason that makes 11 months optimal.

[Anonymous]

I chose 11 months because, by month 11, you should definitely have the SS loan in place and fully paid down, and also will have had the card you added at month 7 appearing on your credit reports.  If all the happens by month 10 you could take your step 3 then.  Or you can delay step 3 until month 13 or 14, if a slower timeline feels better.

For example, at month 11, you might see that there just aren't any awesome CC promotions being run that fit your style.  So you might decide to wait for a few months and wait for a particularly nice one to come along.  That's just one example of why you might decide to hold off on a CC application.

If you think that it is possible that over any 24 month period, you might have a total of five new cards, then you should tend to place any Chase applications a bit earlier in your queue.  You can learn more about this by googling CHASE 5/24 RULE.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

(2)  It is very hard to obtain a charge card that has no annual fee.

If a charge card were known to give significant help, and there was one with no AF, I would be interested in getting one too.  As I say, curious to hear whether TT knows of any.

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Perhaps this is a very dumb question, but it's one I don't know the answer to as I've never had a charge card or looked into getting one...

But what's the advantage of a charge card over a credit card?  All I know of charge cards is that you have to pay them off completely every month.  So, if you're a Transactor already doing that with a CC with no AF, why would one take on a charge card that likely has an AF to achieve the same thing?

Are there certain perks or something that can come with a charge card that aren't available with a comparable CC?

[Subexistence]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

(2)  It is very hard to obtain a charge card that has no annual fee.

If a charge card were known to give significant help, and there was one with no AF, I would be interested in getting one too.  As I say, curious to hear whether TT knows of any.

---

Perhaps this is a very dumb question, but it's one I don't know the answer to as I've never had a charge card or looked into getting one...

But what's the advantage of a charge card over a credit card?  All I know of charge cards is that you have to pay them off completely every month.  So, if you're a Transactor already doing that with a CC with no AF, why would one take on a charge card that likely has an AF to achieve the same thing?

Are there certain perks or something that can come with a charge card that aren't available with a comparable CC?

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Maybe CC are hard to get approved for or people dont want debt. Same reason people get debit cards.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi SubE.  Here is the beginning of a tentative plan that would work well for you:

Where you are right now:

      * You have a Discover card that you really like

      * You have another credit card that you don't like, don't trust the issuer, and wish to see cancelled at some point.

      * You have no other accounts

      * Your oldest account is < six months old, so you do not not yet have a FICO score.

Step 1: while your oldest account is < 7 months old:...

      * Keep learning about how credit works, and what cards you might want some day.

      * Keep the Discover card always showing a small balance

      * Stop using the card you do not like (you probably stopped a while ago).

Step 2: at month 7 (or month 6.1 if you want):

      * Obtain your true FICO scores through the $1 free trial at Credit Check Total

      * Implement the Share Secure loan technique at Alliant:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secure-technique/m-p/4506756

      * Once the technique is fully implemented (should take a month or two) add your next card.

      * Use the cards you like for small purchases, but still make sure that exactly one card reports a positive balance and all other cards report $0

      * Do this for a few months

Step 3: at month 11

       * Add a third card (four if you count the CC you do not like)

       * Always use a new card once within 60 days of obtaining it. 

       * Keep most of your cards reporting $0, and always one reporting a small positive value.

Then add more cards over time as you deem appropriate.  Consider cancelling the card you dislike at month 11 if you still genuinely feel that issuer is risky and you just plain don't like it.  You will already have three open cards that you do like at this point.

Eventual goal will be six accounts total.  One of the six can be the closed card you dislike.  Of the six you should have at least three credit cards you do like and one SS loan.

---

I have to thank you for this post as I have been wondering when it would be ideal for me to add the installment loan and I'm glad you confirmed that I should wait until after my FICO scores report.  I'm in my 4th month of credit with two credit cards that I really like.  I've been eyeballing NFCU and one of their cards, but I was thinking about trying to get the CF, CFU and CSP trifecta and if I am going to do that without much waiting I am going to need to hold off on any more card applications.  Of course, there's a chance I'm going to need to wait 2 years to qualify for any of those anyway.