Recommended number of lines of credit

[ndbigler]

Can someone tell me the recommended number of lines of credit that we should have post BK? We currently have a car loan, and one credit card each right now. (My husband and I.) The obvious answer I believe, is to not have more lines of credit than what we can afford. But other than that, what's a good number?

[emoney]

With the little information supplied I can only guess on the answer which would not be helpful.
What are your $$$$ goals, both short and long term. Do you own or want to own a home, college for kids and retirement are issues that should be addressed.
With more information I will try to help.
Thanks,
emoney

[SinkingFast]

There is no magic number as prospective Lenders look for so many variables.

A good mix of types of Credit. Secured and Unsecured. Definitely not tilted to the Unsecured or Revolving Credit side. Don't have A car loan and 10 CC's.

Total amount of LOC's and the max you use at any given time. Say you have $10K revolving credit available to you and you use 20%, or $2K max, at any given time.

How you pay your bills. Always "pays as agreed" vs "pays late" or "slow pay". Slow pays are deal killers with potential Creditors.

Stability indicators. Have you been with the same employer for years? Do you move around a lot?

And then there's Groupings. People who've had little to no credit experience are Grouped together. People with lots of credit experience are Grouped together. People with troubled credit and/or public records such as BK are Grouped together.

As time passes, your lates and the BK have less and less impact. But when your BK drops off your Credit, you get shifted into another Group. It's kinda like being the big dog as a Senior in High School, graduating, and becoming a Freshman in College. The CRA's shift your group and your score in relation to others in your new Group is impacted accordingly.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

My strategy was to rebuild with new lines until I narrowed it down to a few fee free and low interest rate cards, and cancelling all the first ripoff cards. You generally have to start with the bottom of the barrel lenders and work your way up. It took me about 6 months to work my way up to 4 fee free cards with 15k in credit lines. And cancelled the ripoff ones. Now that my credit is rebuilt to better than before, and more than I need anyways, I'm done applying for new credit unless I can find a house that is actually affordable.

[HHM]

The problem with canceling cards is it ends up "shortening" your credit history. Granted, coming out of BK you may have no choice but to take the rip off cards (incidentally, this is why I emplor people on this site to NOT go out and get these cheapy cards with annual fees right away). So even though you eventually get better credit cards, when you turn around and cancel these prior cards, you end up bringing your credit down, somewhat, again.

Payment history and the length of your credit history, combined, make-up 50% of your FICO credit score.

Ideally, coming out of BK, you want to get a card that charges no maintenance fee, otherwise, you don't care what the interest rate is..BECAUSE YOU WILL PAY IT OFF EACH MONTH (you charge $100 every month, or less if you can't afford to pay $100, then pay it off when the bill comes, and do this every month), and then you just hold the card indefinitely. As your credit improves, you will start getting credit card offers from mainstream companies...when a good one comes around, (i.e. unsecured, no maintenance fees, and a "relatively" good interest rate) then you apply for it and do the same thing, charge a small amount each month and pay it off each month.

As for what is best, there is no magic number...the best thing to do is have different kinds of credit. I think your right in their with 1 car loan and 2 credit cards. But whether that is enough depends on the available credit. If those two cards have low limits and they are routinely maxed, then you should get another credit card (but don't use it) to improve your open balance to credit limit ratio.