Originally Posted by
Grant Wilkinson
In Canada, you need to be careful about having too many cards. Even if you pay them off completely each month, they affect your credit rating. When lenders check your credit rating, the maximum on each of those cards is considered a liability. So, if I have 3 x $10,000 max limit cards, lenders assume that I already have a $30,000 loan against my income. This can affect their decision to give me a car loan or mortgage, for example.
It's true in the US also.
I don't know what time of month the Credit bureaus take a "snapshot" of one's card usage, but if the real time balance on your card(s) is too high (it's the ratio of current balance to available credit) , you get dinged for a month or so with a lower credit score.
I pay off my 3 cards ( 2 VISAs and one Discover ) every month. but my FICO score still bounces around between 815 and 826.
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