How Many Credit Cards Are Too Much?

I recently spoke with a lady who had 26 credit cards! Incredible. Why you ask? She enjoyed collecting them. And, about half had a balance of between $25-$500! The other half had zero balances, but had available credit up to $12,000. She thought that by having so many cards she was showing how much credit worthiness she had.

When you are trying to buy a home, the exact opposite is true. That hurts you because in the banks eyes, they see the amount of open trade lines as a risk because if you actually start using that amount of credit, and become overwhelmed in debt, you could find yourself in a position of not being able to make your mortgage payment. Too many trade lines and it will actually reduce your credit scores. And that would be the last thing they want.

So reduce your risk and reduce your credit lines. Keep a couple on hand, try to keep the balance less than 50% of the maximum available, and always pay them on time.