@Anonymous wrote:
More, more, bigger, bigger and another just one MORE but the bottom line is one can only spend much, eat so much and do so much in life.
If the OP (like myself) wants to use /value his/her time & efforts on things other than CC collections more power to em and there isn't any big loss in doing so.
One can qualify for the best terms when applying for cars,homds etc without a Rolodex of CC accounts.
These three lines are the best part of your post IMO. There's a finite limit to what you can (and should) spend each month, and hopefully, that doesn't increase when you add more and more specialty cards. So because the total hasn't (hopefully) gone up, the spend is now divided amongst more accounts, so the rewards are scattered. You reach a plateau. Unfortunately, subconciously or not, that "special" card for xyz category probably does make some people spend more, which quickly wipes out any small gain they're recieving. And what about the unnecessary spend to keep accounts active? All these little things add up, and can rapidly exceed the extra 1% in rewards on xyz.
The time vs effort thing is a salient point as well. We can spend hours obsessing over opening cards to gain maybe $100 a year. When you break it down, it's pretty much peanuts. People feel bad for using "the wrong card" for transactions yet as you said there is no big loss.
There is also, as your last line states, a diminishing return with positive accounts. It's important to have a few tradelines in good standing to qualify for good rates, but people tend to extrapolate "a few" into wanting a card from every bank, every network, etc. It can become a collector's sort of thing. No harm in it of course, if that's what you want to do, but it's not necessary from a credit score/history POV.
Personal Cards: Amex Plat | Amex Delta Res | CSR | Citi AA Exec Business Cards: Ink+ | Amex BGR
