Why was I denied a credit card? “too many revolving accounts”…My score is 815.?

Joe Y: Why was I denied a credit card? “too many revolving accounts”…My score is 815.?
I recently applied for a credit card online to be used to transfer from a higher interest card. It came back ‘declined’. A few days later I received a letter from the creditor stating that I had too many revolving credit accounts. My score is 815 (when I checked it a month ago) and I have never been declined any sort of credit in the past.
I recently applied for a credit card online to be used to transfer from a higher interest card. It came back ‘declined’. A few days later I received a letter from the creditor stating that I had too many revolving credit accounts. My score is 815 (when I checked it a month ago) and I have never been declined any sort of credit in the past.

–I Can’t find much info from the last time I looked at my report, but I had noted this: Current score 815, 41 accounts in good standing, all reporting “always on time payment’, Zero ‘Potentially negative items”. For what it is worth, the ’41 accounts’ are between my wife and I, around age 30, and there are very few of them that are actually open. A lot of it is school loans/mortgages being transferred by the lenders. We have a few credit cards with a balance and a few with a zero balance.
-ubczoo..I have an established credit history, as I’ve stated above, I’m 31, have ’41 accounts’ in good standing with nary a late payment. I have owned 2 houses (still own one currently). I’ve had multiple car loans, paid all etc.

Answers and Views:

Answer by soul_chaser_j
I hope this helps..
Revolving credit is a type of credit that does not have a fixed number of payments, in contrast to installment credit. Examples of revolving credits used by consumers include credit cards. Corporate revolving credit facilities are typically used to provide liquidity for a company’s day-to-day operations.

Answer by ubczoology
lack of credit history
you need to establish a good credit history by holding multiple cards and have a good record of payments.
I had to apply for a student credit package and had citibank issue me a secure credit card for 2 years before I was clear.

Answer by ripcord_4523
Im guessing you haven’t been watching the news in the last four months have you. anyways

you have to many unpaid balances.

Answer by imisidro
Credit cards are becoming very tight about their rules recently. Stories abound of credit card companies suddenly reducing their credit limits, and very tight acceptance policies

As they said, they think you’ve got one too many open accounts for them to be comfortable with. Never mind your great credit score and that you pay on time. In their eyes, even if you don’t use your other accounts, you may do so at any time and you’d be up to your eyeballs in debt. So they deny your application.

Answer by Judy
Check each one of the accounts.
Things start going south when you utilize more than 30% of your available credit.
Both in individual credit cards and all those 40 cards you have.
Did you go over that 30% recently? That sends out red flags.
Having multiple open accounts does not hurt.
It’s carrying higher balances that is hurting you.
myfico.com for that 30% information.
Once you cross that number you get labeled as someone that will continue charging and not pay in full.
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Answer by kwflamingo
Banks and credit companies have tightened up their lending rules in the current economic crisis. You can have too many revolving credit cards which can prevent you from obtaining another card – just close the accounts of the ones you don’t use (that you don’t owe any money on) and try again.

Answer by eixlsl
Even with good credit, like you have, you can (as you did), get denied for credit because of the “too many revolving accounts.” What that means, is that you have the ABILITY to get into a lot of debt. Meaning, you have a lot of cards and they probably all have high credit lines. So EVEN if you have good credit, you can POTENTIALLY (not saying you will, but you COULD), run them all up and then not be able to pay them. That’s how the credit card companies look at them.

Your best bet, is to call some of the ones and ask that your credit line be reduced. So if you have a credit card with a $ 5000 limit, ask that they reduced it to like $ 2500 or something. Have them reduce it to the LEAST amount you need.

Having too much credit is NOT a good thing, EVEN if you have a great credit score. And in this economy, credit card companies just don’t want to take chances on someone potentially running up their cards, and then not being able to pay them.

Answer by toxicityrckr1605
You just, plain and simple, have too many accounts. Credit scoring is way too complex, and unneccesary. If you have too little or too many accounts, it hurts your history. You have an AMAZING score, but if you have too many accounts it looks really bad to creditors. Get rid of all those. I’ve heard you should have three credit cards, no more no less. That is a perfect number. I have one and I’ve been paying my balance down. Once I do that, I’m going to get another, buy gas once a month and pay it off. That is what I SHOULD have done and what everyone should do.Stop applying for cards too, that makes your history worse too. Its really stupid credit history is. It’s unneccesary and says nothing about the actual person’s integrity, character etc. That’s what I would want to know if I was loaning someone money.

Answer by akm
i dont know much about underwriting and bank rules but i do know for sure that a lot of bank and financial insitution right now are becoming pretty tight w/ opening credit now adays because of whats happening to our economy. even though you have a high credit score not a lot of banks are lending any body any money now a days.. so thats the best i answer i could come up with

Answer by cody c
You are too high of risk at the current time.
You have too many open accounts. It doesn’t solely matter what your credit score, company’s have to take in the risk factor. Especially in this current time.
When they pulled your FICO score they saw you have many revolving accounts, meaning they have nothing for collateral. That is a HUGE risk factor for them right now and they can’t take any chances on losing money.
I advise you to not only pay off accounts, but you also need to close them. If you have 4 accounts open with a zero balance, that’s hurting you when trying to get approved for credit. Not your score, but the final decision if your going to be extended the credit or not.

-Cody J. Coleman
Credit Manager-Preferred Credit INC.

Answer by wildbirdie
Congratulations on your 815. A credit score is a tool. A creditor can use it alone, as one of several tools, or ignore it when evaluating your application. You do not have a right to credit. It’s the creditor’s money at risk, so it’s their decision to make the loan or not. However many open revolving accounts you have, it’s higher than this lender’s rules allow. I was once turned down by a bank who wouldn’t give a credit card to anyone who had less than three years with their current employer.

One other thing. Some places will hold your old closed accounts against you. If it looks like you won’t be a long term customer because you have a history of account hopping, the won’t give you the account. They may think you’re going to transfer the account to someplace else as soon as you can find a little lower rate.

Answer by MamaBear
Here’s a secret: The MOST exclusive kind of credit score is — ZERO! A credit score is simply a measure of how much borrowing you do and how well you pay it back. If you don’t have a credit score, then you haven’t borrowed money. That’s a GOOD thing, but admittedly rather rare in this society. Having a “high” credit score is, when you think about it, a TERRIBLE thing, because it means that you have spent your life borrowing money you didn’t have and paying it back (usually at a much higher cost.)

41 accounts is a LOT of accounts, by anyone’s measure. My own personal goal is to have a zero score by 2013, and never borrow another dime from anyone else ever again.

Answer by Pengy
Because the amount of credit available in comparison to you income has been reached. 41 accounts even with zero balances means that you can use all that credit. Next recheck your credit score it is your debt to income ratio that is causing problems