# of accounts

[hedgeclipper2]

I checked my FICO score today here, and it added my new Discover account, so now i have 30 total accounts, and it has a flag next to it saying its hurting my score.  Why is this?  I thought more accounts showed responsibility, etc.  I am confused.

[laz98]

did it say number of accounts, or number of accounts with balances?  i get flagged for the too many balances thing; i have several student loans.

[hedgeclipper2]

it says:

Total number of:

Accounts - 30 (RED FLAG)

Accounts with balances - 10 (RED FLAG)

Accounts opened in the past year - 13 (RED FLAG)

Recent Inquires - 2

etc...

[haulingthescoreup]

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@jthedges wrote:

I checked my FICO score today here, and it added my new Discover account, so now i have 30 total accounts, and it has a flag next to it saying its hurting my score.  Why is this?  I thought more accounts showed responsibility, etc.  I am confused.

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I'm starting to see that, too, and on mine, it's including open and closed.

I don't think it means anything. Did a new negative appear on screen two on the left? I put a lot more faith in screen two than in the little flags on screen four. The negatives on screen two are the actual negative factors on the full reports, although as your scores go higher, fewer negatives are displayed. They're there, they just aren't displayed.

[fused]

jthedges,

Here is a thread to help you post an image.

Picture/Image Upload

[haulingthescoreup]

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@jthedges wrote:

it says:

Total number of:

Accounts - 30 (RED FLAG)

Accounts with balances - 10 (RED FLAG)

Accounts opened in the past year - 13 (RED FLAG)

Recent Inquires - 2

etc...

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OK, now those are the real red flags!

I wouldn't pay attention to the first one, though. We see posts about that all the time, and we've never seen a strong correlation with scores.

But it's definitely time to cool your jets! You don't need a gi-normous number of tradelines to have good credit.

eta: Unless a lot of those open lines, especially the ones "with balances", are unconsolidated student loans, and you're trying to get enough revolving accounts to outweigh them.

[hedgeclipper2]

On my "Understand your score page"

I have: NEGATIVE

You have a short credit history.

AAoA - 2 years

You have multiple accounts showing missed payments or derogatory descriptions.

2 accounts with late payments 2.5 years old - one account was 30 days, the other was 30 as well

You have not established a long revolving credit history.

Oldest account - 5.5 years old

You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit.

23% utilized

I have: POSITIVE

There is no evidence of a serious delinquency (60 days past due or greater) or derogatory description on your credit report.

You're not actively looking for credit.

[hedgeclipper2]

Yeah, i know I've opened alot of accounts this year.  My mortgage company made me close ALL of my credit cards except for one, so I had to call to have them all reopened, most of which went without a hitch, but everyone just opened new accounts with new account numbers.  Plus I applied at RBFCU just to get a checking account, and ended up walking out of there with two different mastercards, a new car, and an LOC on my credit report.  HAHA.  Yeah, I know its time to calm down.

Also, the majority of the accounts with balances are student loans, I have 5 seperate ones, unfortunately.

[haulingthescoreup]

That's actually not a bad list of negatives.

Keep paying down your balances, getting only one or two CC's reporting a balance at any given time, and let time add age and weaken the impact of the negatives.

If there's any way that you can get one (or both) of those GW'd off, that will help too. Having only one account with a late or other derog helps.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@jthedges wrote:

Yeah, i know I've opened alot of accounts this year.  My mortgage company made me close ALL of my credit cards except for one, so I had to call to have them all reopened, most of which went without a hitch, but everyone just opened new accounts with new account numbers.  Plus I applied at RBFCU just to get a checking account, and ended up walking out of there with two different mastercards, a new car, and an LOC on my credit report.  HAHA.  Yeah, I know its time to calm down.

Also, the majority of the accounts with balances are student loans, I have 5 seperate ones, unfortunately.

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lol, I keep crossing posts with you.

I edited my earlier post (probably after you read it) guessing that you had SL's.

Time will fix all this. You're actually in pretty good shape. Welcome to credit gardening!