It's generally recommended that you have two to three credit card accounts at a time, in addition to other types of credit. Remember that your total available credit and your debt to credit ratio can impact your credit scores. If you have more than three credit cards, it may be hard to keep track of monthly payments.
Although adding extra credit cards to your profile won't directly help your score, it could provide an indirect lift by reducing your credit utilization ratio. Utilization is simply the amount you owe on your cards divided by your available credit.
Low credit utilization ratio: Having more than one credit card can boost your credit score by helping to lower your credit utilization ratio. Your credit utilization ratio is the amount of credit you're using compared to the amount of credit available. Most lenders prefer to see it at 30 percent or lower.
Making Use of Multiple Credit Cards
Generally, as long as you keep credit card balances low and always pay the bills on time, your credit scores will stay strong. You're just as likely to have good credit if you have two cards as if you had five or 10.
Most online merchants won't allow you to split your payment. Internet stores may allow you to combine a gift card with a credit card when you make a purchase, but they rarely let customers use two credit cards, or a credit and debit card mix, to do the same.
A higher credit limit and a lower balance are essential for a good utilization rate. Since having more than one credit card increases the overall credit that you have available, it's important to continue to keep your balances low so that your utilization stays low.
Your Credit Mix May Improve
If you only have installment loans, for example, adding a credit card can boost your scores by adding a revolving account. If you already have other credit card accounts open, adding another one to your report won't improve your credit mix but it won't hurt it either.
If your goal is to get or maintain a good credit score, two to three credit card accounts, in addition to other types of credit, are generally recommended. This combination may help you improve your credit mix. Lenders and creditors like to see a wide variety of credit types on your credit report.
Key Takeaways
Having too many outstanding credit lines, even if not used, can hurt credit scores by making you look more potentially risky to lenders. You can boost your score in some cases by opening new credit cards if the new credit lines lower your overall utilization ratio.
Credit Mix
Although using different types of credit can be a good thing, it may also hurt your score. Credit cards are considered one type of credit, so opening too many of them won't actually increase your credit mix. A variety of credit accounts could be a mix of credit cards, mortgage, student loans and auto loans.
Answer: Adding a 2nd credit card account will substantially improve your score (about 7 to 15 points).
There's no limit to how many credit cards you can apply for in a day, but submitting multiple applications at once isn't necessarily a good idea. Applying for and opening several cards can result in hard inquiries and a lowered average age of accounts that can hurt your credit scores.
Paying bills on time and paying down balances on your credit cards are the most powerful steps you can take to raise your credit. Issuers report your payment behavior to the credit bureaus every 30 days, so positive steps can help your credit quickly.
We recommend having at least two open credit card accounts. It's best for your credit score to keep your oldest account open, and you should be able to get an upgrade for everyday spending after a bit of credit building.
The Takeaway
The 15/3 credit card payment rule is a strategy that involves making two payments each month to your credit card company. You make one payment 15 days before your statement is due and another payment three days before the due date.
Rossman notes that when people open a new credit card, doing so essentially lowers the average age of their credit accounts. “I would say for most people, the total impact is probably not going to be more than 10 to 20 points and probably shouldn't linger more than like three to six months,” says Rossman.
It generally takes three to six months to build credit from nothing, and you can even have a decent score within a year. But getting an excellent credit rating will take at least a few years, and will require you to demonstrate consistently responsible credit card habits.
While it's technically a rule of thumb as opposed to an enforceable decree, the 10/20 rule is a system of budgeting that can work for virtually anyone. The idea is to keep your total debt at or under 20% of your annual income, while maintaining monthly payments at no more than 10% of your monthly net income.
Using a credit card responsibly is one of the best ways to build credit history. You should pay on time, every time, and spend only a small portion of your credit limit. With that routine, you can generate an excellent credit score.
Credit scores factor in the average length of time you've had credit — not the age of your oldest account. Therefore, every new credit card you open decreases the average length of your credit history. While new card accounts often lower your credit score about five points, it typically rebounds in a few months.
Bottom line. Generally, it's a good idea to wait about six months between credit card applications. Since applying for a new credit card will result in a slight reduction to your credit score, multiple inquiries could lead to a significantly decrease.