Couple years out of college, I've only ever had one credit card with my bank. For credit score purposes should I have more than one by now? Thanks for the help.
Is this really Carlos Ruiz? Like the baseball player? Real Carlos or not, welcome to the forum and that's a great question. The number of credit cards you should carry can depend on a few things, namely whether or not you carry a balance and how many other open accounts you have in your name. If you don't carry a balance, extending your total available credit line won't do anything to improve your credit utilization ratio since it will remain at zero (which is a good thing, just saying). However, opening a new credit card account will enhance your overall profile since credit scoring models like FICO take into consideration the number of accounts you have open, the kinds of accounts you have open (credit cards are considered "open" or "revolving" credit and have a more significant impact on your score than, say, a student loan or car loan) and the average age of your accounts. Perhaps the best way in which opening up a new credit card account can improve your overall credit is it gives you another opportunity to make payments on the card each month. Your payment history is the number one factor FICO considers when determining your score, and the more on-time payments you have the better. Adding a new card and making on-time payments every month gives you the opportunity to improve your payment history twice as fast. Anyway, the long and short of it is that I would recommend carrying 2 to 3 cards so long as you're sure you can track and maintain the accounts responsibly. And if you're not sure what kind of card you're interested in let us know and we can help you with suggestions!
I graduated in 2009; I'm lucky enough to carry no student loans and very little debt. I only had one credit card and one car loan in my name, so about 7 months ago I opened up a new Cap One card. I transferred my small balance and started slowly paying it off while making a couple new purchases each month. My score has jumped 45 points since I started paying attention to it, and I think the new card has had a lot to do with that. I guess I would agree with Jason that 2 cards is a good idea for someone your (our) age.
