Do I need to start new credit accounts?

I have 14 accounts of various types.. CC, Student Loan,Mortgage and Auto. No store cards and it gives me a C as well. I dont pay much attention to that section.

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Take everything on credit karma with a grain of salt. It's useful as a tool, but also flaw ridden.

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+1

Use CreditKarma to track changes on your credit report but that's about it. If you want to maximize your credit score, research what is involved in having the highest FICO score you can. You don't need over 20 accounts to have a good credit score. Opening more trade lines can actually hurt you as it lowers your Average Age of Accounts, which is a component of the FICO scoring model. Pay your bills on time, keep utilization on your credit cards at less than 10% and your score will rise. You would be surprised how much weight is given to your utilization of revolving credit. (Your balance/credit limit)

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You can make your score jump 40-50 points just by having little or no debt on your CCs versus being maxed out on them.

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Yep. This is a terrible way to judge someone's creditworthiness IMO. I wish I had known this 4 years ago when I financed my truck. I got a crappy interest rate because my score wasn't high enough. I didn't realize having my only credit card with a $500 limit almost maxed out was what was making my score so low.

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Yep. This is a terrible way to judge someone's creditworthiness IMO

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Drug abusers, recent criminal record, age, salary, occupation, job stability or lack thereof, employment history, child/family support obligations, high interest rates being charged on a particular credit card or other account, military service, paying taxes in a timely manner, civil and/or public servants are not taken into consideration in today’s current credit model as to whether or not one can be trusted.

And to make matters worse, your income has nothing to do with your credit score. It is not reported to the credit bureaus or listed on your credit report.

I never understood why doesn't the debt to income ratio play a major role in a credit score.

Especially that it is one of the main checks they do when applying to major credit like a house loan.

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I never understood why doesn't the debt to income ratio play a major role in a credit score.



It actually plays ZERO role in your credit score.

A person making 20k with 100k in debt paying their bills can have a much higher score than someone making 2 million a year with no debt but had a bankruptcy along the line to get there.

Its stupid.. But they rely on the banks to look at more than just a FICO. Sadly many only care about the score nowadays though.

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Which is why I posted this thread earlier An alternative/supplement to the FICO score