that's kind of what I was thinking, if you are paying them all of each month, that would seem like a healthy use of credit, but the literature out on the 'webs kind of says the opposite. I was interested in hearing from you steve dave, since you are the king of credit cards, and just acquired a new house. a bigger house will probably be in my short term future and just wanted to make sure these cards wouldn't impact the amount we'd be approved for. but i'm guessing other factors, notably income, is probably a bigger factor.