Why so many cards?

[Anonymous]

This is going to be drive mostly by income as the CL you get, expecially initially, is mostly based on that. I've gone from about 10k to 300k in 3 years but my income has also increased significantly.

[galahad15]

IME, there are 3 main reasons why I have acquired the current number of cards I have in my collection:

(1)  Trying over the years to find the absolute-lowest APR cards possible that I could qualify for, ideally also with rewards but not exclusively so.

(2)  In addition to #1 above, searching over time to try to get approved for as many fixed-rate APR cards as possible below 10%.

(3)  Cashback rewards and other card perks, such as free baggage and travel incidentals, car rental discounts and upgrades, trip cancellation and lost luggage insurance, etc.

[Anonymous]

The question why so many cards come up a lot here ...like once or twice a mo. Idk😮

Now the OP, mentioned risk ...and 2018 I've read some where that risk/util. Will be calculated different on scores anyone have more details on this?

[Dalmus]

 I fit into the "outlier" (as labeled by an earlier response) category.  I organically grew into the number of cards I currently have.

 I don't collect cards just to have them.  As I make through each step in my credit repair journey, I apply for the next level of cards so that I'm not shackled to the high APR/Annual Fee/No Rewards cards I started out with.

 I also am a fan of diversifation.  Having a large limit on one card in each network from a different lender is a safety net for rewards.  Oh, this restaurant doesn't take Discover, so I can't get my 5%, but I have my NFCU card and can at least get 3%."  I recently had to have my roof done...  None of my cards has any "home maintenance" categories, so I would have been stuck at 1% rewards except I have my Venture that will give me (effectively) 2%.  Not  great, but better than nothing.

 I'm actually in the contraction statge of my credit rebuild...  As my limits grow on my existing cards, I close out the lower limit cards.

[Steelersboy]

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@jawbrkr wrote:

Dont forget the good old *apping out of boredom*..that one kills me. Some, not everyone, just have an addiction. The thrill, the 60s wait...like playing the slot machine.

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Oh yes. Then it seems to take forever to get to your house.

[Anonymous]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

My collection is a mixed bag.  Some are older cards that I plan to close in the future but haven't yet due to account ages and utilization reasons.  Some are bonus-seeking and will be combined into another card from the same lender.  Some I have simply for balance transfer reasons (I have a LOT of revolving debt from a decade ago that I am slowly but surely paying off).  My credit union cards are great for international travel since they have zero or minimal fees on cash advances, and they have no foreign transaction fees.  The ones that I actually use daily are for rewards - whether it's Starwood points (or something that converts to Starwood either directly or via Marriott) for effective 3-6% back or for straight cash back/discount/statement credit (5% on Discover, Amazon, Lowe's, and Target.  More for Kohl's and Best Buy).  I make my credit work for me.

As for the high credit lines, it's all relative to income and spending.  Imagine that I had no revolving debt (hope to make that a reality in 4 or 5 years!) - if I only had $17k in credit lines, my credit scores would be in the gutter since my average monthly spend is at least half of that, and if I needed to book a vacation for my family I'd either max out all of my credit cards to do so or I'd have to use a debit card and get zero rewards.  For others, a few modest credit lines are sufficient and there's nothing wrong with that.

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K, your siggy line "GPS error" line... BAAAAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

When you have several recent chargeoffs showing, great income doest help starting limits. I had to do the 4 bankcards and 4 retail cards all under 1500 limits for several years. As in my signature I've gotten past most of that situation and modified my approaches.

[JamP]

I was thinking of two more very important reasons, insight and data points. 

The insight these people have with multiple cards as far as all the rules and tips and tricks. Without them most of us would still be using non rewards cards or the worst card you could ever use - debit cards.... 

Data points kind of fit in with insight too. Without data points, most of us would not be here and most of us would not have the cards we have.

How would we know about the 5/24 rule, 61,91,181 day rules, multiple apps with one credit pull, multiple pulls on one app, 15 and 31 day gravy trains, product changes, myFico flavor of the month cards and how difficult is it to get them, and the list could go on and on. 

I thank you for pushing the boundaries so we can learn from your victories and your losses.... anybody remember poking the bear and the blue envelopes or flooding a credit union that gave huge credit lines and then closed all our accounts Duck Duck Goose..

[Anonymous]

It may be that once upon a time too much available credit was a big deal.  But these days creditors soft pull your credit report to monitor it and initiate adverse action when your credit profile shows warning signs.  In other words, the risk that someone will rack up a lot of credit that cannot be repaid is mitigated by the fact that a bank can decline transactions and decrease your overal credit limit before you do.  Banks like to play hard to get.  You're more likely to get a lot of available credit the less you act like you actually need it.

[Journeygod]

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@brbmake wrote:

I am really new here, and I am enjoying reading many of these threads and learning about credit scores, but I have noticed something.  Many people have their cards with limits in their signiture lines. As I have been reading them, I am amazed at how many cards people have and the total credit lines they have.  Perhaps I have old information, but I was always told that having so much credit available was a bad thing (or a risk) because someone could go out and do a lot of damage quite quickly.  I have 3 credit cards. Total I have about $17,200 in credit on my credit cards.  Whihc, to many people here, is not much. Can someone explain the reasoning to me behind having so many cards? Thanks!

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Every couple of months we get someone like you who starts with, "I'm new here, blah, blah, blah. Why do you guys have so many cards?"

1. Many people on this forum have worked very hard to achieve the credit scores and credit they have. They're proud of their accomplishments...and they should be.

2. We have these cards because we WANT these cards.

Does that answer your question?