topic Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards? in Credit Cards

Is there such a thing as too many cards?

mgs2010 — Thu, 05 May 2016 06:33:33 GMT

Long story short - I have legit about 50 credit cards with limits from 300 on the low (Target - never ever a CLI) to NFCU $16,100 limit. Total limits among all lines is roughly 180k. Aside from juggling to make sure each card gets used before 12 months has passed, is there anything against this? My file is very, very lengthy between all of these open cards and cards from my past, auto loans, student loans, mortgage, etc. Sometimes I just want to simplify some and close some cards. Any tips?

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

creditguy — Thu, 05 May 2016 06:52:01 GMT

Sure there is such a thing as too much credit. You can find threads where people have faced AA for too much exposure or available credit. It's a YMMV thing though. More than likely you won't face that unless your getting manual reviews for new credit or CLI's. Of course your income plays a part as well. I firmly believe in quality of credit compared to quantity of credit. I have no problem closing cards that I no longer need or use. Sure we could all use a little utilization padding but at what cost? If your spending time tracking cards to make sure you use them, then it's probably time to pare back. I'd start by eliminating anything with a toy limit, it's just dead wood, especially if the card doesn't grow i.e. Target.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 11:49:21 GMT

I would say 50 is too much. When it takes a reem of paper to print your credit report... there might be a problem. :-)

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

redpat — Thu, 05 May 2016 12:23:39 GMT

Dump'em! About 40 or so.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

MrsCHX — Thu, 05 May 2016 13:13:40 GMT

I think 50 is a lot by any standards and that you HAVE to have some overlap in there as far as the usefulness of cards.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

MyLoFICO — Thu, 05 May 2016 13:24:00 GMT

Wow, that is a lot. I have 24 and am working to close about 7-9 of those.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 13:52:13 GMT

There is certainly a limit for too many cards, but I believe that varies by person. Some can juggle 20+ cards with no problem whereas others have problems using just 3. If you feel the amount of cards you have is too much certainly close some. I would nix those that 1)you have to force yourself to use 2) newest accounts 3) tiny limits that won't grow (not necessarily in that order). Also, as another poster mentioned, having too much available credit can actually be a bad thing if your income cannot support that POTENTIAL level of spending. A few days ago someone's BOA card got closed with a perfect record simply because they asked for a CLI increase and BOA felt they were at risk because the person had too much available credit from other lenders.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

takeshi74 — Thu, 05 May 2016 14:07:58 GMT

Definitely take a look at the many prior discussions on number of cards as this is an extremely common topic.

@mgs2010 wrote:
Sometimes I just want to simplify some and close some cards. Any tips?

Do what works for you. If X is too many for you to manage then close some.

@mgs2010 wrote:
Long story short - I have legit about 50 credit cards with limits from 300 on the low (Target - never ever a CLI) to NFCU $16,100 limit. Total limits among all lines is roughly 180k.

A $300 limit indicates concern with your credit profile. If you have 50 cards totalling $180K it sounds like you have a lot of low limit cards which also indicate concerns. The concern isn't really about number of cards but about your your credit profile.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 14:50:18 GMT

I have 7 cards which is 3 too many for me so I would say yes. You can easily reach a point where you have a lot of cards that are essentially useless or outclassed by other rewards cards.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 14:59:45 GMT

I'm using 3 right now with 2 in SD and even that seems like too much work for me... 50 cards looks like a full time job honestly... I don't know what I'd do with that many... there are some other cards that I was looking at but in all honesty, I don't know if I want to deal with even 2 more... as someone mentioned, "too many" seems like an individual thing... but 50 seems like way too many no matter who you are...

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

mgs2010 — Thu, 05 May 2016 15:07:08 GMT

The target card was my first post bk7 store card. Since then, my limits have been steadily increased as more time passed since bk. Ive always just been afraid to close cards out but i definitely agree, many of these cards have similar rewards programs and some have none at all. The only one I'm dead set on keeping is discover. I worked really hard to get back in with them after years of being declined. I love the 5% cash back in rotating categories. The rest are just "meh"

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

grillandwinemaster — Thu, 05 May 2016 15:25:51 GMT

IME, at one point I was managing 24 credit accounts, about HALF of what your managing. I realized time spent doing so was not worth it FOR ME.

Consider 3 potential pitfalls:

A) increased chances of fraud \risk.

B) increased chances of accidentally missing a payment. (I did this😕)

C) increased mental anguish/anxiety level. (This happened to me.)

In the end, there isn't much that your accomplishing with 50 credit cards that can't be accomplished with 5-10 credit cards. Of course, were all different, if it's a hobby for you, then so be it. Just my 2 cents, FWIW.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 15:50:04 GMT

I'm trying to get down to 7/7 store/primes. I'm way in the high 20s total still.

I don't know what Cards you have, but with retail cards, close any that do not ever offer deferred financing. Your spends could go on a 1% or more card. Discover up to 10% right? Target is tough to part with as it's 5%, but they have a debit card linked to your bank to solve that.

I did a huge spree last year and because of it I've been denied the Bliss pay and the Marvel card. You may notice there are bunch of threads of members getting all kinds cash back this morning. tipping my hat to people who got to take advantage.
I'm not trying to make this all about me because everyone plays by the same rules. my disasters will get repeated by others who do the same thing. Very few favorites and exceptions. Some "on a roll" post months later with AA and shutdowns.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 15:55:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm using 3 right now with 2 in SD and even that seems like too much work for me... 50 cards looks like a full time job honestly... I don't know what I'd do with that many... there are some other cards that I was looking at but in all honesty, I don't know if I want to deal with even 2 more... as someone mentioned, "too many" seems like an individual thing... but 50 seems like way too many no matter who you are...

Hey eXs,

Which cards in the sock drawer?

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 16:14:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm using 3 right now with 2 in SD and even that seems like too much work for me... 50 cards looks like a full time job honestly... I don't know what I'd do with that many... there are some other cards that I was looking at but in all honesty, I don't know if I want to deal with even 2 more... as someone mentioned, "too many" seems like an individual thing... but 50 seems like way too many no matter who you are...
Hey eXs,
Which cards in the sock drawer?

haven't used my Slate since college... so about 4 years now with no charges on it... not sure how they still keep it open... I need to go and buy myself a slurpee with it or something... UofM BoA isn't used either... I don't drive enough to put gas on it (plus it won't even fit in the wallet anymore) and 1% on other stuff just doesn't compare to 2% on DC, 1.5% right away on QS (travel and overflow from DC) and 3% from Marvel on seriously like 90% of my spending...

so yea... Slate and BoA have no use/space for me...

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 16:28:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm using 3 right now with 2 in SD and even that seems like too much work for me... 50 cards looks like a full time job honestly... I don't know what I'd do with that many... there are some other cards that I was looking at but in all honesty, I don't know if I want to deal with even 2 more... as someone mentioned, "too many" seems like an individual thing... but 50 seems like way too many no matter who you are...
Hey eXs,
Which cards in the sock drawer?
haven't used my Slate since college... so about 4 years now with no charges on it... not sure how they still keep it open... I need to go and buy myself a slurpee with it or something... UofM BoA isn't used either... I don't drive enough to put gas on it (plus it won't even fit in the wallet anymore) and 1% on other stuff just doesn't compare to 2% on DC, 1.5% right away on QS (travel and overflow from DC) and 3% from Marvel on seriously like 90% of my spending...

so yea... Slate and BoA have no use/space for me...

Thanks...

We have similar cards...mine are new and low CL....

And I am done apping...just need to be patient with the cli...somehow someway!

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Broke_Triathlete — Thu, 05 May 2016 17:01:52 GMT

I definitely think there is such a thing. If you're applying for more cards and aren't using the ones you already have, then yes, you have too many cards. If you are juggling so many cards and begin to miss payments because cause you forgot about them (one should really have all cards on auto pay, at least the minimum), then yes, you have too many cards.

However, it's completely individual. Some can and only want to manage a few, like myself. There are others that can manage 50+ and I believe there is a member here with 95 cards. Then on the extreme you have one guy that manages 1600+ cards. I couldn't imagine printing off that credit report.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 17:16:22 GMT

My question is: with 50 cards, which ones do you use on a regular basis (say every month or 2) or have benefits that you use on a regular basis (airline & hotel benefits, free FICO scores, events, concierge, etc.)? I'd keep those cards and whichever is your oldest card (for reporting purposes) and close everything else.

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

n777ua — Thu, 05 May 2016 17:23:03 GMT

My personal opinion is that 50 is egregious; there's no practical need for that many open tradelines. On the off chance you'd ever default or BK, think of all the lenders you could be potentially blacklisting yourself from. As others have pointed out, just because a BK is off your CR in 10 years doesn't mean its gone from a lenders records.

Just my $.02

Re: Is there such a thing as too many cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2016 17:50:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm using 3 right now with 2 in SD and even that seems like too much work for me... 50 cards looks like a full time job honestly... I don't know what I'd do with that many... there are some other cards that I was looking at but in all honesty, I don't know if I want to deal with even 2 more... as someone mentioned, "too many" seems like an individual thing... but 50 seems like way too many no matter who you are...
Hey eXs,
Which cards in the sock drawer?
haven't used my Slate since college... so about 4 years now with no charges on it... not sure how they still keep it open... I need to go and buy myself a slurpee with it or something... UofM BoA isn't used either... I don't drive enough to put gas on it (plus it won't even fit in the wallet anymore) and 1% on other stuff just doesn't compare to 2% on DC, 1.5% right away on QS (travel and overflow from DC) and 3% from Marvel on seriously like 90% of my spending...

so yea... Slate and BoA have no use/space for me...
Thanks...
We have similar cards...mine are new and low CL....
And I am done apping...just need to be patient with the cli...somehow someway!

cool, which ones do you have?