If you are trying to build up a good credit
history say you
have two credit cards in the past couple of years that you
paid off
in full every month and now, you like to switch to a different credit card
company though, here are the questions you may be asking
1) If you close one credit card account with say AmEx to open up a new
account with say VISA, how will that affect your credit
report?
2) Does the credit report "reward" people that have a consistent good
record with one specific company over an extended period of time, or
does that "customer faith" not plays a role? In other words, say you
switched credit cards 4 times within a year, but paid off all those
cards, would that equal the same score as staying with one credit card
for that whole year and paying that one off every month?
3) How many credit cards should you have?
The answers to the questions are:
1) They will both show up on your credit report. Switching quickly doesn’t leave a good impression on your credit
history.
2) Customer loyalty means nothing on a credit report. A long history
of paying on time means a lot. Switching cards costs you points if
those are new accounts. If you already have 4 cards, and change off
which ones you use, you will end up with the better FICO score
since you will have carried balances on multiple cards.
3) As many as you need to run your life. Those that travel a lot
have a need for more credit. I have one that has a low credit limit
just for doing on-line purchases, and another that I use just for
car expenses & gas. The average American has quite a few, something
like 8 or 10 last I hear