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Another one here with 10+ cards. It's all about management and long term planning.
If the card doesn't serve a purpose for you, why get it? Each of my cards has/had a purpose (some are in the sock drawer, like Lumber Liquidators/GE). It's really not hard to manage cards as long as you pay attention to what you're doing. Just because I have them, doesn't mean I use all of them all the time. I don't. They get rotated, depending on my needs at the time and the card's purpose.
And contrary to popular belief, it's not all about rewards and what I can get back from them. It's also about long term planning, where you see yourself in 2-5-10 years. It's also about having a contingency plan in place just in case there's an emergency where you need to use the credit you have. For example, having some of the higher end cards give one exclusive benefits when travelling, particularly abroad, that one can't find with other cards. There are intangible perks with certain cards, beyond the rewards that are there if you need them.
Edit: I'm moving toward retirement in the not too distant future and it's good to know that I'm in a good place now, creditwise and financially. And when I retire, there's a likelihood that some of the cards will also be retired. It just depends on what cards will serve my purposes at that time in my life. CSP and AMEX are almost certainties to be with me for the rest of my life...however long that is.
I have 8 cards, but I don't use all at once. My collections are 4 majors and 4 stores. I will ONLY use 1-2 cards and always PIF.
The rest I sock drawer unless it's time to arise for the occasion! lol All cards will be used at least once a year but not at the same time.
I have 10+ accounts only if counting store cards, which I *generally* don't since they get relatively infrequent use. Anyway, I have no issue managing them, because I manage my money as a whole so tightly - I spend as debit, and I input every penny spent into my money management program as I spend it. So I don't even need to log in to my accounts to know the balance at any given time (I still do log into everything about once a week, just to make sure everything's going smoothly). It's all in one place, which makes it really easy to keep track. On top of that, I have my calendar set up with due dates, statement cut dates, and reporting dates, so I always know with plenty of time when payment is due.
Not going to lie, I'm a bit of an organization nut.
09/05/13
I have 9 open CC's. I was surprised the last time I pulled my EQ Fico here. The #1 positive was "You have many accounts that are in good standing." The little blurb in the blue box on the side mentions my 9 accounts in good standing and then also says "FICO High Achievers have an average of 6 accounts currently being paid as agreed."
Maybe FICO is just surprised that someone like me can handle that many accounts given my past credit (I'm probably in a "You suck at credit" bucket lol), but it was still interesting to see.
Just food for thought.
12 cards, no store cards all prime. Some business and some personal. It's about the rewards so it's a churn I guess. Some will be with me for quite a while (CSP, Delta and AMEX Platinum Business) but the rest are here for a year or less then replaced for more miles, points etc. I'll keep it if I can get value from AF in free hotel nights or other bonuses or upgrade perks. If it's a strait churn (Ink Cash) I will cancel and reapply for another Ink card at some point just for the sign up bonus. I have two Ink cards so I will always have one active as it's actually a great business card.
It's not hard to keep track of all the cards and due dates. Simple spreadsheet and several visits to web sites. What is hard is tracking annual spend for bonuses on cards like Delta AMEX where I get miles and MQM for certain spends. I tend to use just that card until I hit the spend then retire it and use other cards to hit those spends. I have to hit $25,000 and $50,000 on one Delta, $30,000 and $60,000 on another Delta then a spend of $30,000 on SPG Business and finally a $20,000 for Hilton. I'm not sure I am ready to add another hotel or airline card in the mix yet.
Thankfully I have a spend heavy business so I will cover those spends easily by mid year even while using Ink cards to keep earning those points and keep Chase in the mix (and happy).
Edit - Forgot to mention all the cards are PIF every month. That makes it simple.
@distantarray wrote:I honestly got to ask... what's the point of getting tons of credit cards? and for what?
I know it's good to have a good category cards to save you money on cash back, getting 5% on everything, getting points, and sign up bonuses etc.
but there are wayyyyyyyyyyy too many people who just get subprime cards with no real function or benefits that leaves me bewildered... is it just to see how many banks will approve you? Personally I don't see any point if there's no real benefits (credit card bonus, program rewards etc)
Personally I don't see any reason to get any cards other than these
Any airline, hotel, or cash back cards I can understand
but people are getting store cards to places they don't even shop, and with banks and credit unions that offers no rewards and subpar limits and higher interest rates.
I have 14 cards. I will have 13 when I close the Amex PRG.
I have cards tomake sure that I make the most possible cash back on everything that I spend. I also use them to manage cash flow. Half of my cards have payments due at the end of the month, and half of them have payments due at the middle of the month. I keep balances low and pay them in full unless I have a 0% intro purchase offer. I'm sure that I will acquire at least 2 more that I will probably keep.
Most of the cards I've gotten have been from sign up bonuses.
Not even spending rewards, since no rewards is as great as a sign up bonus. The Chase Ink's are great because they have both--sign up bonus and 5X accelerated rewards.
1. Unless interest rates increase, I see no reason (aside from needing to finance something) to apply for a CC without a sign up bonus, or continue to use (post sign up) any credit card with less than 1% return on spending.
2. When short term rates (discount rate) increases, sign up bonuses will go away. Then, credit cards become valuable for the 30 day float because money market rates will return to 5%, the historical norm (there will always be a regression to the mean, 0 rates won't last).
In an environment with surpressed rates and inflation (artificially low rates causes inflation--too many dollars chasing fewer goods) where money becomes less valuable (especially for those living on a fixed rate), if an issuer didn't offer a sign up bonus enticement and/or rewards for spending, no one would have a reason to use the card.
In other words, if there's no interest rate float (only appealing if rates are around 4% or higher) or rewards on spending in a 0% environment, I would opt to transfer the savings back to the merchant to curry some favor, since I receive *nothing* from the issuing CC company. The only time I'd use it would be for the necessary convenience of hotels, car reservations, and dubious online merchants.
I'm here to enrich myself, not the CC companies. This is why we've seen huge sign up bonuses and rewards spending.
distantarray wrote: I honestly got to ask... what's the point of getting tons of credit cards? and for what?
It doesn't make sense to me. I'd rather have less cards with high limits.
I am an AU on two store cards, but literally never use them. If they weren't so old they wouldn't be worth keeping in my opinion. My other six cards are more than I need, and I seem to have to jockey them around in order to make sure they all see a bit of use. The limits are high enough that I really don't run into utilization problems.
I plan to PC or upgrade if I need different features, and try to keep the accounts I have for as long as possible. I look forward to changing my Orchard card into something better once Cap1 finishes the transition.
The only exception to that would be Chase. On one hand, I would really like to app for Sapphire Preferred once my report is spotless, but know that I could PC it instead. Applying would net me the bonus gain, but it would also hit my AAOA, and add a card. Doing a Product Change would cost me the annual fee and the bonus points, but keep my number of cards low and maintain my AAOA.
What I've learned here points to new credit as a common cause of denial and higher rates, and too many low and medium limit cards can be a barrier to high limits. So I lean toward the PC even if it costs me a few hundred bucks.