Here's a question: why do people have so many credit cards?

[Anonymous]

If you're restablishing, having that many cards is crazy.  If you're already good with credit, I don't see a problem, although I'd never do it.  

Personally I'd rather have 6-8 cards with high credit lines.  Even that number might be a little high.  I have 4 cards right now and I'm OCD with checking amounts, bill due dates, adding them to the calendar, making sure I have the money in the account for payment, etc.  I can't imagine having to do that with 20 cards. 

[Themanwhocan]

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@elim wrote:

average (this poll) is 3.75.

the people that hang out on myFICO/CC are not the norm.

I myself have 9 and am far from done. (building thicker file, bonuses, better rewards, lower apr, etc.) Of course i will close/replace some along the way to avoid the wratch of the CCC's.

Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, US Census Bureau, Sallie Mae, Com Score, Experian

Research Date: July 9th, 2014

A credit card is a payment card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows the cardholder to pay for goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for them.

Total number of credit cards in use in the US	1,895,834,000
Total number of US credit card holders	199,800,000
Percent of people in the US polled who did not have a credit card	23 %
Average number of credit cards per person	3.75
Average age when receiving first credit card	20.1
Percent of credit card owners with a gas card	11.9 %
Percent of card holders who have a rewards credit card	60 %

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Divide the total number of credit cards in use, by the total number of card holders. You get 9.3 cards per person, and not 3.75

I wonder how they come up with these numbers... Are they saying that most credit cards are business cards, and that the holders of business cards dont also have personal cards?

[Themanwhocan]

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@mikelo22 wrote:

Many of us have multiple cards to maximize rewards. If you know of a single card that offers 5x rewards on everything please do share.

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The Buypower card gives 5% cash back on all purchases for the first $5000 per year, and uncapped 2% after that, with no annual fee.

And its a World Elite MasterCard...  

[Gunnar419]

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

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@mikelo22 wrote:

Many of us have multiple cards to maximize rewards. If you know of a single card that offers 5x rewards on everything please do share.

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The Buypower card gives 5% cash back on all purchases for the first $5000 per year, and uncapped 2% after that, with no annual fee.

And its a World Elite MasterCard...  

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Only if you want a car from Government Motors.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you're restablishing, having that many cards is crazy.  If you're already good with credit, I don't see a problem, although I'd never do it.  

Personally I'd rather have 6-8 cards with high credit lines.  Even that number might be a little high.  I have 4 cards right now and I'm OCD with checking amounts, bill due dates, adding them to the calendar, making sure I have the money in the account for payment, etc.  I can't imagine having to do that with 20 cards. 

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It wouldn't be that difficult with 20 cards. Simply rotate them. Use two or three for a month or two, switch to the next two or three in the lineup for a month or two, etc, etc. That assumes, though, that one is paying in full each month. Doesn't really accomplish the goal of reducing card management hassle if carrying balances.

[Man-Of-Steel]

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@kdm31091 wrote:
Its preference and what you can handle. You could argue that for a good FICO score you don't need more than probably 3 cards.

Most people who have a lot are chasing rewards and bonuses. It can be profitable if done right. Bonus churning isn't my thing personally but you can get a lot out of it. If you are a heavy heavy spender having lots of reward cards and travel transfer cards can make sense. If you travel a lot especially since those rewards tend to be lucrative.

That said unless your household income is VERY high like over 100k and you can afford to spend a ton and PIF over and over, excluding manufactured spending you'll hit a point of diminishing returns and spread tiny bits of rewards over many cards which IMO is useless. I do think some of the reward chase can be overkill and an addiction leading to app sprees and misguided abuse of rewards. Leading to accounts being shut down in some cases. You have to be careful. Credit is not a game. Accounts remain on your report for years even inquiries stay for 2. Don't open things you don't need and don't churn if you want long term clean reports.

The average non huge spender, non churner, non MS consumer probably doesn't need more than 3 to 5 cards max. I have 6 and I think its too many really because I don't do those things but I'm leaving them alone for now.

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That was well-stated, kdm31091.

[Anonymous]

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@elim wrote:

average (this poll) is 3.75.

the people that hang out on myFICO/CC are not the norm.

I myself have 9 and am far from done. (building thicker file, bonuses, better rewards, lower apr, etc.) Of course i will close/replace some along the way to avoid the wratch of the CCC's.

Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, US Census Bureau, Sallie Mae, Com Score, Experian

Research Date: July 9th, 2014

A credit card is a payment card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows the cardholder to pay for goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for them.

Total number of credit cards in use in the US	1,895,834,000
Total number of US credit card holders	199,800,000
Percent of people in the US polled who did not have a credit card	23 %
Average number of credit cards per person	3.75
Average age when receiving first credit card	20.1
Percent of credit card owners with a gas card	11.9 %
Percent of card holders who have a rewards credit card	60 %

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I'm wondering what is the average number of credit cards per person on this forum?

Probably look something like this:

Total number of credit cards in use on myFico Forum	...
Total number of myFico credit card holders	Entire Population
Percent of people on myFico polled who did not have a credit card	0 %
Average number of credit cards per person	>5, or >10?
Average age when receiving first credit card	18
Percent of credit card owners with a gas card	>50%
Percent of card holders who have a rewards credit card	99%

[Anonymous]

It seems six to eight would be the magic number, you'd have enough to establish a decent credit line, plus you wouldn't give any of your credit card lenders the shakes by having two many open accounts.  Barclay, Citi and AMEX are very leery of too many inquiries or open accounts, I can't imagine it wouldn't at least give other lenders pause. 

[longtimelurker]

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

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@elim wrote:

average (this poll) is 3.75.

the people that hang out on myFICO/CC are not the norm.

I myself have 9 and am far from done. (building thicker file, bonuses, better rewards, lower apr, etc.) Of course i will close/replace some along the way to avoid the wratch of the CCC's.

Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, US Census Bureau, Sallie Mae, Com Score, Experian

Research Date: July 9th, 2014

A credit card is a payment card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows the cardholder to pay for goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for them.

Total number of credit cards in use in the US	1,895,834,000
Total number of US credit card holders	199,800,000
Percent of people in the US polled who did not have a credit card	23 %
Average number of credit cards per person	3.75
Average age when receiving first credit card	20.1
Percent of credit card owners with a gas card	11.9 %
Percent of card holders who have a rewards credit card	60 %

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Divide the total number of credit cards in use, by the total number of card holders. You get 9.3 cards per person, and not 3.75

I wonder how they come up with these numbers... Are they saying that most credit cards are business cards, and that the holders of business cards dont also have personal cards?

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Usually the stats are broken down in various ways, so that Average number of credit cards per person inlcludes those with no cards.   The 9.3 you calculate would be labelled something like "average number of credit cards per cardholder"

[TheGardner]

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@elim wrote:

average (this poll) is 3.75.

the people that hang out on myFICO/CC are not the norm.

I myself have 9 and am far from done. (building thicker file, bonuses, better rewards, lower apr, etc.) Of course i will close/replace some along the way to avoid the wratch of the CCC's.

Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, US Census Bureau, Sallie Mae, Com Score, Experian

Research Date: July 9th, 2014

A credit card is a payment card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows the cardholder to pay for goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for them.

Total number of credit cards in use in the US	1,895,834,000
Total number of US credit card holders	199,800,000
Percent of people in the US polled who did not have a credit card	23 %
Average number of credit cards per person	3.75
Average age when receiving first credit card	20.1
Percent of credit card owners with a gas card	11.9 %
Percent of card holders who have a rewards credit card	60 %

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This makes no sense. 199,800,000 X 3.75 = 749,250,000 cards issued not 1.9 Bill. By the above data should be average of 9.5 cards per person. This looks like some more funny govmt math to me.