MDtR-Chicago

There is no known element to the FICO score that factors in number of cards. So if you're asking from only a FICO score perspective, then there is no "too many".

When it really matters is if someone has to do a manual review of your file, such as for a mortgage or lease application. Who knows how an emotional, stressed-out human will react to seeing page after page of cards? Although my suspicion is, if you have an immaculately clean payment history on everything and show up with 760+, that will be so much more solid than anyone else they've seen that week, they'll be able to overlook the length of the report after only a brief conversation and perhaps a voluntary reduction in your exposure by closing a few cards.

However, you did mention that you pay your balance in full each month. That's not good enough, if you want to maximize your score. You should be paying in full BEFORE the statements close. Maximum FICO is associated with ONE credit card showing a balance 1-10% of available credit. Everything else shoud be showing $0 balance on every statement. (But this is only important if you actually do want to maximize the score for some reason.)

That's not how FICO works. You'll likely lose a few points for the application itself, and then a few points because the new tradeline will drop your Average Age of Accounts. But there is no score element that looks at overall credit available, only how much of it you're actually using.

What's more likely is that you are showing a higher utilization these days, because you're not paying in advance of the statement cut.

Closing a credit card that has $0 balance can only lower your FICO score. There's a chance, 10 years down the road when the closed account finally drops from your report, that you could get a slight bump in average age or credit mix - but only after the tradeline drops from your report.

wagon297

you know you have too many when you apply for a card and the bank said: " too many credit request at this time".........hiiii. I have 14 cards open right now and just got approved for one more this morning. My wife has 5 open and banks said she has too many credit open........we both have very much the same income and FICO score around 760.

tjguitar85

I have 17 open cards, 1 will be cancelled or converted as it has an annual fee early next year. 2 others will be cancelled or converted late next year as an annual fee will be due.


How many cards do I actually use? Maybe 3 or 4 at most during a given quarter depending on if I am trying to hit a signup bonus.

dangw20

If you close an account and it drops off your report 10 years later, wouldn't it only bump your average age if your current AAoA is longer than the account that is dropping off?

For example, I open a credit card and close it after 1 year. 10 years later (11 years from account opening) it drops off my report. Wouldn't my AAoA increase ONLY if my AAoA at that time is more than 11 years?

MDtR-Chicago

Yes (roughly, allowing for rounding).

(And allowing for the possibility the issuer might drop it much sooner, which they are allowed to do, and apparently CapitalOne does sometimes.)

PaulMSN

I have 19 cards and try to use all of them at least every few months. I never carry a balance and never buy anything (except cars) that I don't already have the money to pay for. I cancel cards when the annual fee is due unless they offer a bonus to make the card worth keeping. I expect that I will go down below 15 by mid-2014 when all the Citi AA cards have come up for renewal.

I keep a list of cards with balances, close dates and due dates which I refer to almost daily, and I schedule payments ahead of time so that if I forget for a while it won't hurt me. I was already paid up for October, except for one card due near the end of the month, by the end of September.

I've been doing a lot of pre-paying recently because of MS. I don't like to see high balances on my list, so if a card gets up to $2-3000 I'll pay most or all of it off early.

fl9999

Currently I have 9 credit cards ( 5 Personal + 4 Small Business ) with 1.5 yrs old credit history.

Nomoneyinmybank

Have 15 Personal and 1 Ink Plus. However I still don't have United, AA, Southwest, Avios, Marriott, SPG, Priority Club, Ink Bold. Think eventually I will need to cancel some.

dcpilgrim

20 cards open in my name, about half being used actively. Closed five other cards in the last couple years that are still on my credit report.

MrMoonlight

I have 21, 8 of which are business, and plan on getting another 3 by the end of the month. CK FAKO: 791, CS FAKO: 764

Wife has 9

biggestbopper

I've got around twenty right now. Have had up to around forty in the past, back when you could roll the Citi cards over like crazy.

It is pretty much just the opposite of what would happen in a rational system. Under the current, wacky system the more cards you have the better off you are for getting more cards. Insane, yet true.

Dear OP,

You need more cards!

Vanessa Howell

Thanks, this seems like a bit of a hokey way for FICO to work, but I guess they're not all that logical Paying before the statement balance seems more of a hassle than anything else (e.g. what if I use it between pay off and when statement is cut, now I have to pay twice).

Does it hurt to have 2-3 accounts at around 2-5% of utilization for those cards?

Vanessa Howell

I guess a followon question would be - is it worth it to roll your credit cards each year in search of sign-up bonuses?

This seems like a lot of work and hassle for a $500 bonus. Part of my thinking around multiple credit cards is to get cards that help me maximize my rewards for the least amount of work. It's just as easy to pull out my Marriott credit card to pay when I stay at MR as it is any other card. (Likewise for IHG, SPG, ...)

To get paid more for things I would do anyway, in a sense.

What are your thoughts?

MDtR-Chicago

It depends on your score - both what you want to do with it and where you fall in the algorithm.

For example, showing an additional 2 balances might drop your score by 10 points, bringing you from 800 down to 790. That's not an important drop.

However, if it led to a 20 point change, going from 740 to 720, that might be.

It's very situational.

MileLife

I use to have 15+ CCs, but reduced to 4 personal, 2 retail and 2 biz cards.