topic Re: How many credit cards is too many? in Credit Cards

How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 20:37:50 GMT

I just did an inventory of all my credit cards and counted 16 cards total. I was at 24 at the beginning of 2016, but have closed down 8 cards that I no longer need/use to avoid any problems with banks. I'm thinking of closing down more, probably down to 10 cards by the end of 2016 as the AFs are coming up.

Yes...reducing my overall exposure. I'm hovering around 200k in available credit at the moment and I personally think that's way too much.

So the question is...how many cards is too many?

How much available credit is too many?

If one makes 100k annually, does that person need 200-300k plus in available credit?

It doesn't help that some banks are soft pulling me each month, like Citi (meh). They are watching me like a hawk. I have somewhere between 15-25 inqs on each report and I know that doesn't help my situation.

My game plan is to sit tight and do nothing for 1 full year, I don't want to raise an alarm or red flag.

What's your take and opinion?

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 20:44:56 GMT

I can't help you with your questions but I will tell you right now I sit at like 18-19 CC's that are open. I looked at my Experian and noticed that Amex is the one that watches me most but not monthly. I will probably pull my other ones to see whats up.

After my last approval I am at around $70k total credit exposure. I make about $40,000 a year from full time job.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

dragontears — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 20:45:32 GMT

"too many" is completely a personal thing, some people are not bothered by 20+ cards others prefer to have only a few. there is no right or wrong answer and every individual will have a different number as to what the "right" number is.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

MrsCHX — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 20:47:33 GMT

It depends.

Shrug.

That's the correct answer for most questions on these boards. Income, monthly spend, credit report, all of these variables change the picture.

"Too many" credit cards is more than the invidivudal feels comfortable maintaining. If one is forgetting about cards or manufacturing reasons to spend to keep a card open, they may have too many cards.

"Too much credit" is the same. It depends on your individual circumstances.

I want to be able to put my normal monthly spend for groceries, gas, entertainment, etc on one card without worrying about making a payment by a certain date and worrying about utilization. Monthly spend for me in that handful of categories is around $600. I want to get at least 1 card to $6000-7000 so I have to stop worrying about when to pay and when it'll report, etc.

Another example, I shope at Target all the time. My limit was $300 before. So a normal trip for groceries and personal items was about $125-150. Bam; I'm pushing 50% utilization. Gotta pay it down by a certain date. When will my statement cut, etc, etc. It's a headache. I am at $800 which is a better cushion and would like to see my Target card at around $2K.

Personally, I don't need tens of thousands of dollars in credit. But some other people do!

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 20:48:33 GMT

I decided on 10 as the maximum I'm willing to manage.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

ddemari — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 20:54:44 GMT

Im impressed you can hold back and only have 10 captool! lol.

but, the question of how much credit is too much credit? is a question that I have looked at on google searches a bunch of times.

for someone that makes 100k, having 200k in credit is very reasonable in my eyes. A lot of people probably have 3 to 4 times more in credit than they make, some even more. It all depends on what you want, how you want to use it and what's important to you.

As a rule of thumb for myself, if I am adding more and more debt to my overall profile, its usually time to stop getting more credit and spend time on paying down balances.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

baller4life — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:12:25 GMT

Individual preference. How ever many you feel you can comfortably manage. I decided I really don't want to manage any more than 20-25. And I really don't need that many. But, I would much rather have more credit than I need than to need credit and can't get it! 😉

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:07:52 GMT

Thanks for all the replies.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Themanwhocan — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:09:54 GMT

@MrsCHX wrote:
It depends.

Shrug.

That's the correct answer for most questions on these boards. Income, monthly spend, credit report, all of these variables change the picture.

"Too many" credit cards is more than the invidivudal feels comfortable maintaining. If one is forgetting about cards or manufacturing reasons to spend to keep a card open, they may have too many cards.

"Too much credit" is the same. It depends on your individual circumstances.

I want to be able to put my normal monthly spend for groceries, gas, entertainment, etc on one card without worrying about making a payment by a certain date and worrying about utilization. Monthly spend for me in that handful of categories is around $600. I want to get at least 1 card to $6000-7000 so I have to stop worrying about when to pay and when it'll report, etc.

Another example, I shope at Target all the time. My limit was $300 before. So a normal trip for groceries and personal items was about $125-150. Bam; I'm pushing 50% utilization. Gotta pay it down by a certain date. When will my statement cut, etc, etc. It's a headache. I am at $800 which is a better cushion and would like to see my Target card at around $2K.

Personally, I don't need tens of thousands of dollars in credit. But some other people do!

Well, it will help your FICO score if you have some cards of at least $10K limits, maybe more. And it will certainly help your FICO if you have larger limits, so that your individual card utilization, as well as your overall utilization, are very low. So, unless your FICO is already well above 740, it might be good to pay attention to raising the limits on some credit cards.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

kdm31091 — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:14:21 GMT

It's a personal decision as income and spending vary. That said, excessive limits vs income doesn't look good on anyone's profile on a manual review. IMO, if you want to avoid "standing out" to creditors in a bad way, keep your limits and exposure in line with your income. If you make 20k and have an average monthly spend of 1k or so, you probably don't need 20 cards, both because it's excessive for your income/spend and just that you'll never rack up meaningful rewards that way.

Low utilization makes one's profile look good, but I think going for constant CLIs and new cards to pad utilization is overemphasized around here. Once you have enough credit that your utilization stays below 10% or so (less than 10% is considered "good" or "low"), you're only talking about maximizing perhaps a few points on your score by adding more, which is generally not necessary unless you have a major app planned (mortgage, etc).

For me, being a retail manager with not wonderful income, more than 5-6 cards is silly and I want to eventually be at a core 4 and no more than that. More than that is just a waste for me, rewards wise, and I think 4 cards/ at least 3 different banks or so is plenty diverse enough for the average person. YMMV depending on income/spend/preferences.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:13:21 GMT

It depends on the person really. I have 10 in total. What you see on my signature and 3 store cards. Many like to have different cards for many different reasons and we cannot judge them on that so kudos for you to close out what you know that does not work for you. What works for our own personal life style may not work for others.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:21:38 GMT

I agree with many of the posters above,all depends on how you see it, how comfortable you are with caring for an x amount of accounts. For me as im rebuilding back my credit and have managed to get about 18 active accounts, im learning that if i had 3 to 4 really good cards eith dependable limits that might be best for me. Since i dont make alot of money i dont spend enough to reap huge rewards as such. My goal is to get rid of all my inquiries, clean up my report to its fullest and have a nice score so when i need serious credit like for my next car i will have better options. Im sure whether you have 3 cards or 30 you can still achieve your credit goals, just have to see whsts most important to you

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Pway — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:24:58 GMT

I constantly ask myself this question. It depends on the person and how well they can manage each of their cards. I have quite the amount of cards, however I don't use them all the time. I also use it as a util buffer as I am carrying balances on some cards right now.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

RonM21 — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:25:11 GMT

@dragontears wrote:
"too many" is completely a personal thing, some people are not bothered by 20+ cards others prefer to have only a few. there is no right or wrong answer and every individual will have a different number as to what the "right" number is.

I think your personal situation dictates how many is too much. 14 cards for one person may be absolutely terrible for another's finances, and for that matter, even their profile.

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:59:19 GMT

1) This is a Great question, a FUN topic, especially for this forum.

Anyway as most have said it's one of the most personal of all, the questions we can tackle here.

Because we are talking about comfort level and not just building or rebuilding....

We're assuming, I think correctly you mean just...

Hey how many ya got?
How many ya cool with?

And of course we're all over the board, like asking how cars is ENOUGH?

Ask Jay Leno or Floyd Mayweather and you'll get a different POV, than me😉

I like the number 8-12 as plenty...
Enough to have primaries, back ups and SD's....
For me I can't see HOW to use or CARE about more, than that.
The idea of keeping TRACK of 'where' 2 dozen cards are even AT sounds like more WORK...than its worth to me.

Keeping up with due dates and AFs and possible 'changes' plus debit cards and library cards😀
Too much work with no tangible reward in my book.

*
The question of how MUCH credit access, with regards to income is a question I constantly wrestle with
2-3x income doesn't seem outrageous to me but
For some just knowing they have access to that type of lifeline RUINS them, because it affects their behavior.

A very tough question

Very interesting one

I kinda feel a person should at least have to ability to have CL = to annual income during life Phase 1

Then by mid life at least 150-200% of income...
Just so that if you need ro use credit and have a balance the debt load of 20-25% shouldn't kill you AND be within a decent range of payback w/O meaning bankruptcy for said household.

Again minimums IMHO

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 22:14:37 GMT

Same with me. I don't think I need 400k+ but it's a good buffer right now. I have some big furniture balances to pay off. Did spend a lot out of my savings for home improvements since a lot of FL contractors only take checks. One reason why I did put some furniture on my cards. Once that's paid down, I will start to cancel the cards I feel don't suit me or don't really use. I will say that I couldn't live with 3/4 cards now. I went from having 1 card to over 20+ and I do like that I don't have to touch my savings if I don't want to. Love quite a few of these cc's and have no intention of giving them up. We spent many years buying everything out of savings. It feels good to know we can have money in the bank and money in the bank!

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

ccpat — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 23:15:55 GMT

The older I get, the less I want to manage!

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 23:35:40 GMT

@baller4life wrote:
Individual preference. How ever many you feel you can comfortably manage. I decided I really don't want to manage any more than 20-25. And I really don't need that many. But, I would much rather have more credit than I need than to need credit and can't get it! 😉

I totally agree with this last statement!!

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 23:59:06 GMT

To the OP please remember where you are. I've been perusing this forum for 6 months after purchasing ficos out of curiosity (TU 816) and while there is invaluable information here and I've learned just about all I know about how FICO scores are calculated there's a dark underbelly here. There are a disproportionate amount of true credit addicts and misfits on this forum and their behavior is rarely discouraged or even criticized by the other members. "Credit sprees" routinely encouraged and rationalized, members who "try to garden" but compulsively app for junk time and time again, members with 10-20 credit cards and scores in the 600s plus a "few baddies", post after post of individuals desperately requesting credit line increases over and over and over again (the so called "luv" button) to achieve credit lines they have no ability to repay over the short term. It can be downright laughable. It's like a crack addiction. And invariable each post will be met by a dozen or so replies of encouragement from

the other junkies.

For some reason harsh truth seems to be discouraged here while egging people on is the norm. You also need to remember that a significant number of people arrive to this forum to fix their ruined credit, do you really want to take advice from these recovering individuals? The choice is yours. Cool story, I read a post a few weeks ago from a guy who was angry he was getting blacklisted from Capital One for not once, but burning them twice! Lol. He actually said "oh well I guess they don't want my buisness. Their loss!" I nearly spit out my protein shake. The arrogance. (Or the ignorance?). And no one said a thing.

To answer your question YOU DO NOT need more than 2 or 3 credit cards to build a high FICO. Nor do you need high credit lines. Diesel FICO scores can be created with a couple of credit cards and PERFECT payment histories. That's the whole trick, of which there is none, pay your bills on time all the time and don't use all your credit, pay in full. In my opinion anyone with more than 4-5 credit cards has some explaining to do. I can only imagine what a mortgage underwriter thinks when reviewing an application of somebody with 16 credit cards regardless of payment history or scores.

Priortizie your INCOME. Education schooling training and experience. FORGET THE PLASTIC CRACK. When your debt to income ratio is a thing of beauty EVERYTHING will fall into place. Peace!

Re: How many credit cards is too many?

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 00:35:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
To the OP please remember where you are. I've been perusing this forum for 6 months after purchasing ficos out of curiosity (TU 816) and while there is invaluable information here and I've learned just about all I know about how FICO scores are calculated there's a dark underbelly here. There are a disproportionate amount of true credit addicts and misfits on this forum and their behavior is rarely discouraged or even criticized by the other members. "Credit sprees" routinely encouraged and rationalized, members who "try to garden" but compulsively app for junk time and time again, members with 10-20 credit cards and scores in the 600s plus a "few baddies", post after post of individuals desperately requesting credit line increases over and over and over again (the so called "luv" button) to achieve credit lines they have no ability to repay over the short term. It can be downright laughable. It's like a crack addiction. And invariable each post will be met by a dozen or so replies of encouragement from
the other junkies.

For some reason harsh truth seems to be discouraged here while egging people on is the norm. You also need to remember that a significant number of people arrive to this forum to fix their ruined credit, do you really want to take advice from these recovering individuals? The choice is yours. Cool story, I read a post a few weeks ago from a guy who was angry he was getting blacklisted from Capital One for not once, but burning them twice! Lol. He actually said "oh well I guess they don't want my buisness. Their loss!" I nearly spit out my protein shake. The arrogance. (Or the ignorance?). And no one said a thing.

To answer your question YOU DO NOT need more than 2 or 3 credit cards to build a high FICO. Nor do you need high credit lines. Diesel FICO scores can be created with a couple of credit cards and PERFECT payment histories. That's the whole trick, of which there is none, pay your bills on time all the time and don't use all your credit, pay in full. In my opinion anyone with more than 4-5 credit cards has some explaining to do. I can only imagine what a mortgage underwriter thinks when reviewing an application of somebody with 16 credit cards regardless of payment history or scores.

Priortizie your INCOME. Education schooling training and experience. FORGET THE PLASTIC CRACK. When your debt to income ratio is a thing of beauty EVERYTHING will fall into place. Peace!

Well this was a fun read. I guess as someone with 9 credit cards, I'll start the explaining. I use my Target card solely for Target. I have a Citi DC and a Discover it card cause they are my oldest accounts (2 years). I have a Chase Slate because I was hit by a car and used the 0% intro APR to help if I needed to carry debt. I got a Delta Amex card, because I fly Delta. I have the Marriott Card from Chase because I stay at Marriott as my only hotel chain. I have the Amex PRG cause I wanted a charge card, and I wanted to earn MR points. I have the Titanium Card from Luxury card because I wanted a vanity card, I am strong enough to admit that. I have the Citi Prestige card for the when I travel.

Now, some people might want to have more than your recommended 4-5 cards, they might use them for the benefits and other things. People need to only have the credit they can carry and deal with. For some people, only having 2-3 credit cards is all they need. Others might try to maximize the benefits they get for the money they spend on plastic. I charge everything, even my graduate school tuition is put on a card. Citi Prestige will be getting that hit later this summer.

But what I will say is that you are right people need to realize income is a major factor in the credit decision process. I have a short credit history with alot of inquiries. I do not have any baddies and have perfect payment history for 2 years. I have no debt, but I make a 6 figure income at 23. That has helped me alot. So instead of painting witha broad brush, tell the OP to think about their own situtation and decide what is right for them. People have to make their own choices, and this community is supportive and people should advise to the best of their ability without being judgmental, because at the end of the day that person has to make their own choices.