Home ownership is a dream for many young couples. In order to achieve that goal, it’s important to track your creditworthiness.

In college, a close friend of mine had her identity stolen. She had never been late on any payment, yet someone had applied for credit cards and opened cell phone accounts in her name. Sadly, it took about a year to be fixed. It scared me enough to learn more about credit and be proactive with my finances.

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Recently, I found out about CreditKarma.com. With positive reviews from the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, and after doing some extra research, I thought I would give them a try and get my credit score. It has you enter various information and gives you a score along with a “report card” that gives you an A to an F in seven categories.

My report wasn’t much of a surprise, except that I got an F in “total accounts.” Say what?! They recommend having at least 41 credit accounts in order to get an A!  They say, in general, more accounts equals better creditworthiness. While not as weighty as paying on time, this bugged me enough to investigate.

My research didn’t support that extreme of a number, so take a sigh of relief you overachievers. Here’s what I am taking away from it:

• Have as many accounts as you can handle

• Have a variety of cards, but most should be from major issuers (Visa, AmEx, etc.)

• Retail accounts don’t really improve credit, but if you have to have them, they should be limited and only where you frequently shop

• Opening several accounts just to increase a score will likely hurt, not help

Overall, Credit Karma seems like a good resource, but shouldn’t be the only source. Don’t forget to monitor your score through AnnualCreditReport.com (not the site with the annoying commercials) at least once a year.

As for me, I’m sticking with my habits (maintaining low balances on high-limit cards, paying them off on time and in full every month, etc.) and don’t plan to open about 30 new accounts. Do they even make wallets that big? Maybe fanny packs would have to come back in style.