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How The Credit Reporting Companies Handle Open Credit Accounts

By: Susanna Berlatsky


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Sometimes stores will offer you huge discounts on their merchandise if you open a credit account with them. But beware of opening too many credit card accounts at different stores. The credit agencies keep track of all of your open accounts. After a certain number of open accounts, your credit score will begin to decrease for each additional account that you open.

This is also true for credit cards that you have applied for at the various credit card companies. The more credit card accounts that you open past a certain point, the more it negatively impacts on your credit score.

The reason this happens is that each time you open a new account, the credit reporting agency puts an entry on your credit report. For example, if for some reason, you were to open 25 credit accounts at different stores, your credit report would reflect each of these accounts. Too many accounts and your potential debt to credit ratio starts to look precarious.

Each credit reporting agency has its own internal way of book keeping. But, normally, each entry causes your credit score to lose at least a couple of points. And, if you possess too many of these newly open accounts, especially in a short period of time, you may find yourself wondering why you are inexplicably being turned down for credit applications.

If the amount that you owe on your credit card is close to its limit, avoid opening a new account. Instead, contact your card company and see if you can increase the credit on one or more of your existing credit cards. As mentioned before, opening a new account can possibly have a detrimental effect on your credit score.

If you increase your credit limit on a card that you already have, your credit score is not likely to be affected that much. Furthermore, the fewer lines of credit that you maintain open at any one time the simpler it is to monitor your credit expenditures. This also helps you to prevent the problems that many people have - losing control of their credit card debts.

Sometimes it can be hard to resist opening up new credit accounts. Credit card companies make billions of dollars off of their customers. As a result they are experts at coming up with all sorts of irresistible incentives to tempt you to temporarily take leave of your senses and sign up for their new card. But, it is never too late to correct the mistake that you have made.

Take stock of all of your credit cards and begin to eliminate those that you really don't use. But don't just cut them in half. In addition, contact the card company and formally cancel it. This way, your cancellation will actually be reflected on your credit report.

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