How Many Credit Cards Do You Have/Use

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I'm a REI novice but CC hacking master :-) I like getting the rewards and benefits. In fact, I plan on using CC as much as I can when buying things for real estate. However, I'm good and never carry a balance. Also I am active duty military so I take advantage of the tons of benefits companies offer (low interest from 0-4% and no annual fees, even on my Amex Platinum!) The benefits they offer are great - from return protection, extended warranties, to car rental insurance. If I can, I always put it on a credit card. To answer your question, I probably have 10 or so credit cards. For your average REI, 2-3 are probably good. One each that gets you great points/cash back/miles at office supply, home improvement, and gas stations. If you find yourself traveling a lot, a good airline CC can get you some free trips to check in on your properties too! Edit: I should add that types of credit matter a lot. Because I don't have a mortgage, it'd be "harder" to get a mortgage (non-revolving) even though I have 50K+ in credit available for credit cards (revolving type credit). So having good credit with cards will probably help but you need mortgage history to really bump your score. Also spreading debt over cards and not using more than 30% of any card shows good history as well. Credit card inquiries ding your report, but they're usually only on there for a quarter.

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I got 4 credit cards, 3 that I need to pay off (thanks to the guru courses that up sell to the next course). I have my system in place to pay off though

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Enlisted military family here. We moved to the States about a year ago, and bought our owner occupied residence in December and an American car right after. Then we bought my brother's house in Feb with the same mortgage lender, so they had to pull credit again shortly after the first closing. I was tipped off to the CreditBoards by someone here on BP and figured that we weren't going to buy conventional for some time, so why not play with my FICO a bit. I kept notes. Here's what I did: Sept last year 816, 825, 811January 779 Fresh new mortgage in place. Fresh new auto loan in place. Opened a Home Depot credit card. $8000 limit. February 759March, 785. In order to close the investment mortgage, the lender told me to close my longest line, held about 20 years (!!) and with a $25,800 limit. Mighty GRRRR. Long, big trade line *poof* Waiting to see how score declines. Applied for a credit card at Keesler Federal CU while score is still high. Approved for $16000.April down 728May 771. Don't know why score is up. Applied for AmEX. Approved. Applied for Chase, and denied. Used their free credit score because I was denied...score now 726.July 773 Applied for Barclay. Approved $5000.Aug 755. Applied for Chase Slate. Chase was my big trade line, but they only gave me $5000. Approved.Sep 773 Oct 757Nov 769SO five new credit cards in under a year. I still have fairly high scores. And got $34k in new credit, plus the auto loan at about $35,000 and two mortgages in a year. Still not sure how the AmEX line works yet...I don't see a limit when I look. I am *very* careful about paying on time. This year with renovating our own home and moving from overseas, have a balance on everything. NOW, I plan on improving my PAYDEX score for my business. :D

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I have about 10. It's funny because I don't actually know exactly how many without looking at my debt spreadsheet. I have financed a flip with them and they are cheaper than a HML. Much cheaper when you factor in rewards. My wife and I have so many airline miles right now it will be hard to use them all.

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Home Depot, Barclays (from financing a Mac, just stepped into it), Discover, a credit line at WF & that's about it. Having a couple accounts can come in handy, & I'm a fan of having at least 2 main accounts: an account that you can draw cash out of at a cheaper rate (vs a cash advance from a CC) like a bank credit line, & having a solid cash-back/miles card that you can put your expenses on. Pay it off in full each month, take the benefits/miles and keep it conservative as far as opening excess new lines

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For how long, will it be a short decline lets say 3 to 6 months or a long decline over a year, in the time it will take to bring it back up

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Opening those cards will kill your credit score.....