@Anonymous wrote:Good info guys, thanks. Differing reasons. And as always, thanks for the subtle passive aggressive response Irish80
Those of you that have so many cards, did you pick them up a few here and there over time or go on massive app sprees a couple of times? I imagine answers differ to that question as well.
lol well I don't think Irish80 is being Passive/agressive it's just a lot of people lately have been posting threads that are a bit over redundant and not many people use the search option where they can easily find their answers.
Regardless if threads are repeated, members on these forums are usually great / helpful and I don't find many that have negative attitudes.
@MyLoFICO wrote:
@Septrosh wrote:They are addicts to credit cards or like them for perks or have been building their credit through the years and slowly grow into more rewarding and "prestigious" cards. Some, as you mentioned, might also do it to falsely lower their util %. I suspect for the non addicts it's mainly because they are growing their portfolio into better cards and don't want to close oldies so they "sock drawer" them.
I take back what I said, this sounds much better. I want to go with this answer instead.
haha Did you get the chance to get a post in the appaholics thread before the mods locked it?
@Septrosh wrote:
@MyLoFICO wrote:
@Septrosh wrote:They are addicts to credit cards or like them for perks or have been building their credit through the years and slowly grow into more rewarding and "prestigious" cards. Some, as you mentioned, might also do it to falsely lower their util %. I suspect for the non addicts it's mainly because they are growing their portfolio into better cards and don't want to close oldies so they "sock drawer" them.
I take back what I said, this sounds much better. I want to go with this answer instead.
haha Did you get the chance to get a post in the appaholics thread before the mods locked it?
I posted in one that was about appoholics. not sure if its still there or not lol
@Anonymous wrote:Good info guys, thanks. Differing reasons. And as always, thanks for the subtle passive aggressive response Irish80
I don't see Irish being passive-aggressive in his response at all. He is letting you know there is a lot of duplication and it is sometimes best to search before posting a new thread or idea. Helps keep the boards more streamlined and easier to find things if people don't keep asking the same questions in different threads. 
@Anonymous wrote:I bought a new wallet and I had empty slots that needed to be filled.
You crafty devil, you. Well played. 
In addition to or perhaps to mirror some of the comments made, in MY case this Forum has helped me score several nice cards that I doubt I'd have known about if I wasn't on MyFico. BHO Diners Club MC $20k, John Deere $15k (hidden card), BBVA AmEx $20k (sorry CreditCuriousity), and eBates $10k but I don't use it much. I current have 20 cards open and in good standing including cards that are not that popular on this Forum such as DCU and Congressional FCU low interest rather than rewards Visa(s) GM BuyPowwer $11k, and BB&T $12.5k low interest not rewards card.
I generally pay in full, and I like cash sign up bonuses, plus 00% promotional periods - these end after 6/12/15/21 months so I'll add another.as needed. I don't like AmEx (long story), I don't like Bank of America, and I've closed all my regular Capital One Cards as "worthless" to me at least and the only card I have that has an Annual Fee is the Diner's Club, although I've yet to pay a fee. I have very few store cards, but I used to have a bunch. What I'm trying to say is what one person finds useful, others don't and it's not one size fits all. There is also the utility factor and creating a "thick file" that ages and shows a strong credit history.
I probably only "need" 3 cards each from a different lender with maybe 40 to 50 percent of my current revolving credit limits and frankly I have closed over a dozen cards within the last year. After you get a bunch of good cards it gets harder to kill them off because you see value in what you have as far as cash back, rewards, low interest, etc. Within the next year I'm going to close a bunch of cards with a goal of getting down to 10-12, but looking at my current group, 4 could probably go, 6 if I really pressed, but getting down to 10-12 is going to be really hard.
One other benefit of a large diverse wallet is that closing one for whatever reason won't nick your scores. Case in point, Comenity closed my only card with them with a $10.k limit for no other reason that I pay in full and they were not making any interest off me (see various Total Rewards and Comenity threads), the loss of $10k in available credit had no effect on my scores at all, plus or minus so other than an ego ding and the fact I really liked the card, it was a non-event to my credit profile. If I had say only 2 or 3 cards this event would have hurt scoring and utility.
If I had to guess based on my experience the magic number is probably 6 good cards with good credit limits, for me that'll be very very difficult to cut back to, but who knows I'm going to retire in a couple of years and I might just do it then....
Edits - typos as per usual
@MyLoFICO wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I bought a new wallet and I had empty slots that needed to be filled.
You crafty devil, you. Well played.
Don't encourage him... 