How is the system in Australia now and why was it changed?

I think in Finland having too many credit lines would actually hurt you with loans. However well you have handled those. As important factor is total amount of loans or capacity to get them.

Yeah, amount of credit cards & the total available credit limit is used as a negative signal when applying for a loan. But I think you'd have to have some completely silly amount for it to _really_ affect the outcome. You can easily show that you've not used the cards, for example. If you have 10 credit cards which you use constantly, it would affect your ability to get a loan. To me this makes sense, but of course, it's what I'm used to.

10 cards, with average of 3000 limit. Would mean you could take a 30000 more loans at high interest rates very quickly. It is not about having used and paid them, but capability to get loans beyond what you can manage very quickly.

It turns into a bit of a pointless ritual though - “I need a mortgage, I’m going to cancel cards I don’t use and slash my credit limits to maximise my borrowing power” - but no sooner have I bought the property, I will apply to increase them again, and they are unlikely to say “no”-even if the credit card is issued by the same bank as the mortgage. Or at least, that’s my personal experience in Australia