ideal number of revolving tl's?

[Anonymous]

hi everyone.  i am curious if anyone has a feel for the ideal number of revolving tradelines, or is utilization the only/most important factor? my utilization is below 10%, and i have a feeling that i shouldnt open any more accounts, but what do you guys think?

i have had the following for some time:

best buy reward zone mc:  300 cl

orchard bank :                     800 cl

credit one bank visa:           600 cl

capital one:                          500 cl

and added the following within the week:

cit/dell:                               2000 cl

amex delta platinum:         2000 cl

amex hilton honors:           ????? (app "in progress" according to amex website)

[Anonymous]

I usually recommend a minimum of 6. After that your golden. Adding more so far has not boosted my score. But I love my credit cards. The inquiries will sink you however. Try not to have more than 3 per credit report per year. On the other hand I apply like crazy and wait out a year for them to fall off so I don't have to apply later.

[Anonymous]

Where you are right now, I'd work on increasing credit lines before applying for new cards.

[MidnightVoice]

ilovepizza wrote:

I usually recommend a minimum of 6. .

I usually recommend a maximun of 6

[fused]

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dog wrote:

hi everyone.  i am curious if anyone has a feel for the ideal number of revolving tradelines, or is utilization the only/most important factor? my utilization is below 10%, and i have a feeling that i shouldnt open any more accounts, but what do you guys think?

i have had the following for some time:

best buy reward zone mc:  300 cl

orchard bank :                     800 cl

credit one bank visa:           600 cl

capital one:                          500 cl

and added the following within the week:

cit/dell:                               2000 cl

amex delta platinum:         2000 cl

amex hilton honors:           ????? (app "in progress" according to amex website)

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Not sure there is a magic number.  You might get a lot of different answers to your question.  I have 5 cards and its perfect for me.  I can easily manage them.  Could never understand how someone can have more than 20 cards, whew that's a lot work.  You have 6 and have an app in for the Amex Delta card.  I think the question is do you need more credit?  I think you are off to a good start, raising the cl's should be your goal.

Message Edited by fused111 on 06-15-2007 01:10 PM

[Tuscani]

The magic number is.............

Ready?

Here it comes..............

Can't wait...............

42 Cards!

JK.

The truth is there is no magic number. The real magic is keeping util low and paying on time.

[Anonymous]

While many of us have different opinions on the magic number I think we all agree using more than 4 at a time will lower your score. While you might have many, limit use to 4 or less when pulling your credit scores.

Too many cards with balances (CODE 05). That was always a neg on my scores until I reduced the number of cards with balances. I moved the balances to limit how many were in use. Negative message disappeared and was replaced with Length of time.... not long enough.

That and the FICO calculator on bankrate.com also shows fewer balances help.
link http://www.bankrate.com/brm/fico/calc.asp?lpid=BKRATE29

Message Edited by ilovepizza on 06-15-2007 10:58 PM

[Tuscani]

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ilovepizza wrote:
While many of us have different opinions on the magic number I think we all agree using more than 4 at a time will lower your score. While you might have many, limit use to 4 or less when pulling your credit scores.

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I woulnd't agree with that. What leaves you to believe this is true?

[fused]

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ilovepizza wrote:
While many of us have different opinions on the magic number I think we all agree using more than 4 at a time will lower your score. While you might have many, limit use to 4 or less when pulling your credit scores.

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How did you arrive to this conclusion?

[MidnightVoice]

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@fused111 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
While many of us have different opinions on the magic number I think we all agree using more than 4 at a time will lower your score. While you might have many, limit use to 4 or less when pulling your credit scores.

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How did you arrive to this conclusion?

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Because it is the only way to deal with 42 cards?