Credit Tips: Does Having More Than One Credit card Help Your Credit History?

Posted On: January 1, 2006

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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 2:55 pm
Post subject: Does Having More Than One Credit card Help Your Credit History?
Yang
Date: 7/4/2001 9:23 pm CDT

I am a newcomer to the credit world and I want to establish a prefect credit history for me. Till now, I have got several credit cards, including secured, unsecured;visa,master and Amex. My questions are below:

1. For establishing credit history, is it useful to get more credit cards than just one or two? I’ve heard that most of the card issuers not send your credit reports to all 3 CRA.

2.Is it safe to apply a credit card by phone? I’ve received several calls for different banks(they said so)to ask me to give my checking account number and I refused.

3.Do those debts (not credit bills) give any infulence on my credit history? I received some different items such as socks and magazines which I’ve never ordered and put them aside for several months (never use them), but some bills come again and again and finally the collection agencies give me a bill and said something else…like a theareat.

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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 2:56 pm
Post subject: Does Having More Than One Credit card Help Your Credit History?

dave
Date: 7/5/2001 2:39 am CDT

You should get copies of all three credit reports to find out what’s on them. If you have collection accounts on your reports, they will seriously affect your ability to get credit cards. If the information reported is false, you should be able to get it removed by challenging it–especially if it’s for stuff that you never ordered.

It is safe to apply for credit cards by phone but only if you make the call. If someone calls you asking for bank account information, be highly suspicious and refuse to give it. It is probably a scam.

For starting out, you will probably have to put up with a card that has a high interest rate, low credit line, and a bunch of fees. Easy to get cards include Capital One, Providian and Orchard. If your credit report is clean and you maintain a good account history with 2-3 credit card companies for a year or two, you will qualify for good offers and much better rates. Make sure that any card you get reports to all three CRAs. These companies do.