I've got a friend who wanted me to ask some advice of this board. He has similar cards to me, and was wondering if he had too many credit cards. Sears-$700 limit Target-$500 limit Capital One Unsecured Visa Classic-$500 limit NextCard Visa-$2000 limit Direct Merchants Bank Mastercard-$3500 limit GetSmart Visa-$1000 limit There are also two cards issued from separate Credit Unions. Iowa Community Credit Union Visa-$300 limit Cedar Falls Community Credit Union Visa-$500 limit He says he always pays them off each month (haha, don't know if that's true, but that's what he says). He wanted to know if that is too many accounts, and if so, which ones to close out. Thanks. -Matt
I think that if he chooses to close anything out he should consider how long each account has been open. I would think if some of the low-limit cards are fairly new he might consider closing them. I think there are some posts here about a "good mix of credit" that may be helpful to you.
I have six cards and it doesn't appear to be a negative for me. However, the perfect FICO score is supposed to be a result of 4-5 cards with one being a department store card. I think he should definitely keep the Sears card. It is really hard to say which of the other cards (maybe 2) he should close. It would be very helpful if we had the dates when he opened the accounts. The ones with the longest history should definitely remain open. Hope this helps some.
I've got the open dates too. Here they are. Sears- 6/01 Target- 7/01 Capital One-9/01 Nextcard-6/01 GetSmart-6/01 Direct Merchants Bank-6/01 Iowa Community Visa-7/00 Cedar Falls Community Visa-01/01
Has your friend gotten his scores after those inquiries have been added? That might provide some additional insight.
All three bureaus were in the low to mid 600's, with all the inquiries, but not all the new accounts posted yet. Direct Merchants Bank and GetSmart have not yet posted, all other new ones have.
