Do you have many credit cards? is it better for your credit score to have more than not? I've heard that a credit score is determined by the amout of debt you have? Please answer with your comments/questions/recommendations? And if a mod wants to make changes to this, no problem!

I've recently closed 2 credit cards and now only have a Visa debit card associated with my bank and a credit card (master card) that does have a + $900.00 balance!

You and I know the economy is totally screwed up, so i was just wondering what is the best for a credit score or is a credit score irrelevant these days?

Thankyou

 

What has helped me has been high credit card limits (with very little balance) and a long credit history with various credit cards. I'm under the impression that having a few cards with a low debt-to-credit ratio is good. Its helped me keep my rating up.

Also try Equifax. Its about $8 a month to check your score anytime and anytime it changes up or down they will email you with an alert. This also helps me a lot.

 

I have such **** for credit... My score get this is about 650, I have ABOUT 7 grand in student loans from AGES ago that have never been paid... they're taking my income tax... Get in line, cuz they're not the only ones... I had a B of A credit card that got STOLEN out of my house by one of my ex husbands friends (or my ex himself) and had my signature FORGED on a whole bunch of receipts for **** that I would NEVER in a million years buy, plane tickets etc, I filed a report, etc, B of A said screw you, pay it and I was like SCREW YOU I'm not paying it, I reported it STOLEN that very day, not my fault you didn't shut the card off!

Oddly enough the B of A card doesn't even show up on my report. Just my student loans. I have a visa debit attatched to my checking account (1,000+ balance availabe ) and a mastercard that only has a 350 credit limit, and it = ZERO. However oddly enough I can't get another credit card anywhere else...

Chris they say closing out cards is BAD and it actually HURTS your score, I would have just left it open, it looks better that way... if they were empty, that stands in your favor that you have two accounts in good standing with zero balance...

 

Debit Cards do nothing for your credit score...

Regular credit cards do. What they look at is the number of cards you have, your debit to credit ratio, and you payment history. Some people think it is good to payoff all your credit cards at the end of the month, its NOT. It shows good on your credit report to hold a balance on your credit cards, this shows you can make payments from one month to the next. Do NOT max out, or get close to the max limit on your credit cards, keep the balance below half of what your credit limit is on one particular card.

I have 4 credit cards, 2 Master Cards, 1 Visa, 1 Discover, and of course a Visa debit card (not that the dbit cards does anything for your credit score).

I also have a 5 year loan on my car.

I use all my credit cards on and off, and hold a balance on 1 or 2 of them for a few months, pay it off, have a balance...basically regular use, with good payment history. NEVER pay just the minimum on a credit card, that said, it is ok once in a while, but don't make a habbit of it. It IS ok to pay minimum amounts on loans, such as a car loan.

I ALWAYS pay all my bills on time, and follow the logic I just mentioned. My credit score is very high, close to the best score possible.

 

thanks for the response michael, i thought this thread was lost due to the recent events, again thanks

 

my credit score is f'ed... only thing somwhat helping it right now is my cell bill and yes it does show up on there...

 

I think my credit score is ****, just because funds are low, so i kinda just get by with minimun payments, late payments when i dont have money to pay it off by due dates, *sigh*..i hate it this way, but its going to be like this for another year or so.. day care and car insurance are the two things that take up most of my income. >.>

 

How much doe's a sitter for the Monte run these days? Chris Weve kept several cards open that have NO annual fee Visa/mastercard,cards for the retail stores, gas, hooters! and so on. we don't carry car loans but we do keep a 10k home eqty line open which is used as a emergancy fund(rarley use ,and renew after term to keep it open. at present we have six year left on the house after knocking close to three yrs off with paying xtra princ thru this past few years. Personally don't care what our score is but I do know you can't have credit unless u use credit and the miss-use can totally f u up. Something the moron's in washington as well as most state capitals should learn. The only way to build good or positive credit to raise the score is to use it and pay it. don't run high balance.....

 

I'm keeping it down to one credit card. One's enough for me. They make it too easy to run up your bill.

 

Day car for the Monte is very expensive. hahaha
Someone's gotta change its diaper >.<'