Any disadvantages to having a lot of credit cards?

[Hauldren Collider]

DaShi:

gaaaaaaaaaaaaay

[Al B. Sure!]

737 is fairly good. Do you have the full report or just the score? Difficult to say what the bureaus are using to pull your score down without seeing the full report. Are your cards new? Short time of the account being active wouldn't help your score. 4 cards by themselves shouldn't be a factor.

Well I just got the score. I could pull the full report that we Americans are entitled to once a year but last time I pulled that, it didn't tell me much meaningful. I never had a late payment, it said, but I already knew that. Still don't have a late payment.

I am taking advantage of 0% APR for 12 months to keep a balance of just under $2000 from my laptop purchase. I could pay it off but I figured I mightaswell take advantage of the no interest. Bad idea or will it not negatively affect anything?

I did have a late payment on my Public Storage account because my credit card expired and I needed to physically go there in person with a new card and did it after they charged me a late fee. But that shouldn't appear on my credit report right? Late payments on a phone plan didn't. Only if I were to go into extended default with them would they contact a debt collector and it would affect me negatively, right?

[Hauldren Collider]

ALBY, JUST GET A ****ING JOB! I WAS ABLE TO GET A JOB AND I'M ****ING 17 YOU CAN DO IT TOO.

[ColdWizard]

Well I just got the score. I could pull the full report that we Americans are entitled to once a year but last time I pulled that, it didn't tell me much meaningful. I never had a late payment, it said, but I already knew that. Still don't have a late payment.

I am taking advantage of 0% APR for 12 months to keep a balance of just under $2000 from my laptop purchase. I could pay it off but I figured I mightaswell take advantage of the no interest. Bad idea or will it not negatively affect anything?

I did have a late payment on my Public Storage account because my credit card expired and I needed to physically go there in person with a new card and did it after they charged me a late fee. But that shouldn't appear on my credit report right? Late payments on a phone plan didn't. Only if I were to go into extended default with them would they contact a debt collector and it would affect me negatively, right?

Public Storage shouldn't show up on your report at all. You don't want to carry too many balances for sure or carry too high a balance. I don't know if two grand would qualify as the latter. I don't think you really need to worry about your score, it's rather good after all. Just don't get any lates, and don't let anyone pull your credit unnecessarily.

https://help.equifax.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/131/related/1/search/1

[Al B. Sure!]

Thanks. This sort of answers the question:

Do Not:

Close unused credit cards as a short-term strategy to try to raise your score.
Open a number of new credit cards, just to increase your available credit. This approach could actually have a negative impact on your score.

I've kind of been opening up new cards just to increase my available credit when my first two cards apparently hit their max credit lines because I couldn't seem to get pre-approved line increases ($11K on the mastercard and a little less on the American Express).

[Asher]

You shouldn't ever max credit cards.

It's the dumbest way to get short-term loans. The interest is insane.

If you have a line of credit already and it's maxed, SPEND LESS.

[Al B. Sure!]

You shouldn't ever max credit cards.

It's the dumbest way to get short-term loans. The interest is insane.

If you have a line of credit already and it's maxed, SPEND LESS.

What do you mean by maxed? I have $0 balances on them... it's just my credit limit/revolving credit line won't go past $11K. I could request more but they ask me to fill out a form with all this information about my income and employer. Before that, it would be automatic increases every few months or so.

[Asher]

Why do you need $11K on your credit card?

My cards have $15K limits but I never use more than ~5K (with big purchases that month), then clear it off right away.

The high limits are to encourage people to carry balances, which makes them tons of money.

[Al B. Sure!]

Why do you need $11K on your credit card?

My cards have $15K limits but I never use more than ~5K (with big purchases that month), then clear it off right away.

The high limits are to encourage people to carry balances, which makes them tons of money.

Well I'm not carrying a balance... I just thought the more credit the better.

[Asher]

Why?

Didn't you study finance?

[ColdWizard]

Only to the point of being able to demonstrate credit worthiness. Use them, pay them, repeat.

[DaShi]

ALBY, JUST GET A ****ING JOB! I WAS ABLE TO GET A JOB AND I'M ****ING 17 YOU CAN DO IT TOO.

I agree. Albert you should drop your college education and just try to get by on your high school diploma.

[C0ckney]

it was a great high school after all.

[Hauldren Collider]

#45 in the country, I hear.

[Flubber]

But why? This is why I ask. I want proof.

I don't know what you want as proof but the more credit you have "available" , the less credit you can get (at least with my bank). They take the view that if they are going to lend to you unsecured they have to assume you could run up all your credit cards to the limit.

I also know in Canada every single credit 'inquiry" hurts your credit score slightly. I learned this when I was in my early 20s and allowed 3 different institutions to do a credit check on me to try to get the best mortage rate. Apparently a number of inquiries looks like "credit seeking " (no sh*t sherlock) which is what someone in financial trouble may do.

Personally I see no advantage to a LOT of credit cards . I take the opposite approach . . I have one personal credit card and one business one and never saw the need for more. I monitor the balances closely and diligently pay them off twice a month (on payday-- avoiding all interest)-- I figure if you have more cards you could easily forget one and more easily be a victim of fraud or end up paying interest

I'll flip the question. Why would you want lots of credit cards?