13% of Americans have 10 or more credit cards? Wow, that sounds serious.
They should probably pass on the Protean Echo purchase, and figure out how to manage their money better.
They should probably pass on the Protean Echo purchase, and figure out how to manage their money better.
Reason is simple - more credit cards - better credit score in the long run (it ruins your credit score in the very beginning tho)
I am using 3-4 daily depending on current rewards and perks and never carry balance (and as a result, never pay interest.) Like I put electronics on my AMEX simply because these purchases are auto-protected from accidents for 90 days. I put gas purchases on card having 5% cash back on gas stations, etc.
As additional bonus - I put not used cards into glovebox of each of my car and in case I forget/loose my wallet, I still have mean of payment with me.
Amex is also exceptionally good when it comes to working with customers on its warranty stuff, mostly no questions asked which means there is almost no hassle compared to some of the other insurance plans offered by other companies.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but clearly it isn't the only way.
Also credit lines could be anything from retail credit, mortgage, car loan etc. All apply.
Compared to paying every month, utilization, past default etc. it's a low factor, but it still is.
Plus it is harder to manage debt, adding risk of defaults and fraud operations.
And yes, hard requests negatively impact your score more than say having 10 lines of credit would positively impact your score. Hard requests do not last as long as credit lines though.
Does this (low impact) factor suggest that you request to get a new card every month? No. I think the top range (for credit lines) is 15-22. Going above that would not affect your score any more positively. I think it's ridiculous but that's what it's become.
The more you borrow (or technically "can borrow") the more lines you'll be able to get.
- offer instant, in-store acceptance
- have no annual fees
- give you discounts when used at the store
So when you checkout at e.g. J.Crew, they might say "hey, if you take 5 minutes and apply for a J.Crew card, we'll knock $50 off your purchase right now."
I have two credit cards, but when I pull my credit report, something like 8 credit cards come up. The other 6 have been closed long ago, and now they're listed as "account closed". But for a long time, they were listed as open accounts even though I no longer even had the cards. I had to call several times to get the account closure properly listed.
I suspect many people, over their lives, change from card to card as new deals are offered (50,000 free miles!), with varying velocity, but most people probably don't bother to call and insist that their credit report get fixed when these old cards aren't officially listed as "account closed".