I can't seem to get to upload a comment, so I'll break it down into several parts:

Karried,

Thanks for the article. Don't cancel your Target if you haven't already done so. As you know doing a "hard pull" or opening a new account only temporarily lowers your score. Closing an account will do far more damage to your score than opening one.

I know you may already know this since you were a Realtor, but for avg. Joe.

(i.e. say you have 3 credit cards with $100 limit each. You maxed out all your cards at the limit 3x$100=$300/3 cards =100% of borrowing power). Say you just opened another card (Target) and you paid it off as stated $300 owed/$400 total limit=75% of borrowing power), thus you effectively just lowered your total debt ratio by 25%. The best thing to build credit is have at least 3 lines of revolving credit, 1-2 "hard" lines of credit (mortgage, boat, car), and 1-2 lines of credit. If you're paying them off regularly (not minimum payment), then that is best although paying on time is the big issue and not having any 30+ days late pays.