topic Re: How many credit cards do you have? in Credit Cards

How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 07:23:07 GMT

Asking because up until recently I had always thought 2-3 cards was the optimal number (idk why I feel like I just read this somewhere once before and it just stuck with me). Then recently I come to learn that some of my coworkers had upwards of 10 credit cards and it blew my mind. So I recently applied for 3 more cards and got them but I still think 5 cards is all I would ever need.

So how many cards do you have? For those who have close to 10 or more, why did you get so many? Was it for the rewards? The higher CL for credit utilization? Specific benefits? Just want to know.

Thanks

EDIT: whoops I meant to put this under the "Credit Card" discussion forum, could a mod helpl me move this?

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 08:51:35 GMT

I moved your post. A good place to start is the search function. Your question comes up almost every month so if you search for ‘why so many’ for example, you will find multiple threads where posters discuss this very question.

Personally I have 40+. I have that many for one reason; rewards. The amount of miles and points I have would boggle your mind

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:12:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I moved your post. A good place to start is the search function. Your question comes up almost every month so if you search for ‘why so many’ for example, you will find multiple threads where posters discuss this very question.

Personally I have 40+. I have that many for one reason; rewards. The amount of miles and points I have would boggle your mind

Do you mind telling me a rough estimate of how much monetary value all your points would have?

Also how do you manage 40+ cards?? How come you don't just close them after you redeemed the points or have you just not redeemed them yet? I feel like I'd lose track of so many cards...

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:42:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I moved your post. A good place to start is the search function. Your question comes up almost every month so if you search for ‘why so many’ for example, you will find multiple threads where posters discuss this very question.

Personally I have 40+. I have that many for one reason; rewards. The amount of miles and points I have would boggle your mind
Do you mind telling me a rough estimate of how much monetary value all your points would have?

Also how do you manage 40+ cards?? How come you don't just close them after you redeemed the points or have you just not redeemed them yet? I feel like I'd lose track of so many cards...

As for value, that is very dependent on how you redeem your miles/points. Just using ThePointsGuy valuations for the miles and points that I have, the value is over $80k. However I know when I redeem what I have I can and usually do far better than his assessments so the real value is much higher.

As for managing the cards, I use an Excel spread sheet that keeps track of all mine and my g/f’s who has 20+ Herself. I have redeemed quite a few of my miles and points in the past. I fly first class all the time and have travelled to Australia, Cancun, and St Lucia as well Vegas multiple times in the last few years and stayed in multiple 5 star hotels. I have several trips in the planning stage. With award tickets you need to plan well ahead, some more then a year in advance because depending on your plans, award flights can be very difficult to find and secure. Australia for example is one of the most difficult and I am already working a trip back there for early 2020.

I have cancelled a few cards but but keep most for several reasons. First, I continue to use the cards benefits in excess of their AFs (the annual fees of my cards together exceed $3k). Take the Citi Prestige for example. Despite the card’s benefits being nerfed the last few years, I have taken advantage of the card’s 4th night free for hotels multiple times and have saved thousands of dollars in hotel rooms when I haven’t paid for them using miles and points. The second and this is a big reason, is that most creditors have cracked down on ‘churners’ and you ultimately risk having your entire account shut down by several of them if you repeatedly get a card, use all the benefits and then cancel right before an annual fee is due.

Hope this answers your questions

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

pipeguy — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:43:42 GMT

24 + 2 AU, available credit limits $400k plus. I/we go after cash sign up bonuses and 0% intro apr offers. Use a monthly spreadsheet to track payments and balances. In addition, my wife has 10-12 cards and $200k+ in credit limits. Note that my credit history goes back 40+ years.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:56:39 GMT

Thanks all for the thorough answers. I didn't realize what I was suggesting was called churning and had risks involved. The life style and rewards you list out seem very attractive to me but I imagine I'd end up with 100s of credit cards by the time I retire if I want to keep up that life style.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 10:15:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks all for the thorough answers. I didn't realize what I was suggesting was called churning and had risks involved. The life style and rewards you list out seem very attractive to me but I imagine I'd end up with 100s of credit cards by the time I retire if I want to keep up that life style.

To be clear closing cards isn’t necessarily bad. It’s all in how you do it and timing. Also there is no right or wrong when it comes to how many credit cards to have. 2-3 is perfectly fine and what the average consumer carries. People like me and others here are out of the norm and it is not something that I recommend to most people. The ideal number of cards to carry is what fits your lifestyle/spending habits, etc. and it’s best not to get carried away and necessarily follow what others do on this site. Too often people get caught in the feeding freezing when a new card comes out and end up with a useless card. We call it the Flavor of the Month card and if you spend enough time here, you’ll see it happen. Always, always and again review the features and benefits of a card PRIOR to applying and make sure that it really is card that you need and can use.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

stw715 — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 10:40:07 GMT

I’ll keep it short as this has been discussed extensively over the years.

For me, currently 18 cards active with 159k limit, obtained 21 unsecured cards in 16 months from April, 15 to Aug, 16. Started with one secured card in July, 2014. Few reasons...

1). Number revolving accounts with balance. Each time mine crosses 1/3? TU FICO 8 drops 8~10pts, 12~15pts crosses 1/2, and 20pts drop when zero balance across the board reported. (only free way I have to monitoring score change is TU FICO 8 thru few Synchrony cards).

2). Obtained way more cards than I need early on, with the idea of those cards can age together to build solid base for AAoA especially once my old closed accounts roll off the report. To cut down the need/wants to obtaining new cards down the road. Taking short term scoring hit, in exchange of not needing to micromanage my utilizations over the long haul (tho I still do).

3). To an extend, more cards/limits would offer me more options if my financial hits the fan again, a la 2007. It can stretch my cash reserves.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

MrDFinance — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 11:59:51 GMT

Well I want to maximize my rewards/cash back so I have the 9 cards in my Signature and plan to get more that fit my needs... As long as your responsible it doesn't hurt to have a thick file with a bunch of accounts being managed properly..... I'm kinda fresh off the rebuilding phase and trying to create a base of cards I can have for the future...

Penfed Platinum Rewards .... Amazon card and Either a Amex Platinum or CSR and I think I'll be done unless something special with no annual fee comes along.....Not sure which premium card I want and don't think I can justify both so holding out on those for now

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

marypoppins70 — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:18:02 GMT

Currently 54 with $356,000 in CLs. Plus I have a $25,000 unsecured LOC with my bank

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

kerplunk — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:27:16 GMT

It depends on your own use cases. I have 6 credit cards. I think that 5 cards, along with a recent loan and a mortage, is optimal for most people. More than 10 cards is unncessary. Of course, those people will tell you differently, but you should stick with common sense and what you believe is the ideal number of cards for your own personal circumstances.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:06:22 GMT

I have no idea. I have a text file with the anniversary dates for the cards that hit it this year. So I can close ones I don't want. I need to do that for cards for next year. Lets just say I have a lot of cards.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:14:07 GMT

@kerplunk wrote:
It depends on your own use cases. I have 6 credit cards. I think that 5 cards, along with a recent loan and a mortage, is optimal for most people. More than 10 cards is unncessary. Of course, those people will tell you differently, but you should stick with common sense and what you believe is the ideal number of cards for your own personal circumstances.

Blanket statements like that really aren't necessary. Always happens in this type of thread. Lets just remember each person is different as are their needs While some people may find no use for 10 or more credit cards for others, they do have real need and usage. Thanks

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:19:53 GMT

@kerplunk wrote:
It depends on your own use cases. I have 6 credit cards. I think that 5 cards, along with a recent loan and a mortage, is optimal for most people. More than 10 cards is unncessary. Of course, those people will tell you differently, but you should stick with common sense and what you believe is the ideal number of cards for your own personal circumstances.

I would say of the cards you have the only one that is neccessary is the CSP. The others ones are useless. That is to me. You are putting your personal decisions on to other people. I don't get cards that don't have at least 500 dollars of sign up bonus value after any fees. As long as there are cards out there available to me that do that I will continue to get them.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:35:56 GMT

To each his (or her) own... being a credit forum there are a lot of people who have LOTS of cards, for whatever reason... usually because of rewards, or to optimize utilization, or to feed the ego, or what have you.

Then there are those like me who only have 3... and for years I only had 2, or even 1.

If you're good with keeping track of due dates, annual fees, limits, balances, etc. of 10+ cards, there's no problem, for you. For me, less is more. I don't have a lot of discretionary spending money so 10+ cards or 5 figure limits would be wasted on me... so I chose cards that have no annual fees and rewards I can actually take advantage of. That's why my signature isn't plastered with a ton of cards.

We're all unique... and our credit wants and needs are also unique. Embrace them and go for the 1, 2, 10, or 30 cards that meet your needs.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:55:09 GMT

OP—As has been said by others, each of us have our own reasons for the number of cards we have. Some reasons will make sense and some may not seem to make sense to everyone. It’s a personal thing, but having said that, I have 17 credit cards. The majority are for a specific purpose/use. I try and avoid churning for the purpose of churning. However, if there is a good SUB and I can identify a purpose for the card beyond the SUB, I may snag it. Only 2 of my cards have an AF, ($89 & $95) and both of those have either annual or use benefits that outweigh the fee. As far as keeping up with them, I’m rather OCD and check my account balances, usage, etc often and PIF more than a couple of times a month. For years I was a cash/debit only person and happy doing it. However, I realized how much “free money,” “free travel,” and other rewards I was missing out on and changed my ways. Not surprisingly, I have more money, better credit scores, and more open doors financially now and I don’t spend any more than I did before. It does take caution and self control, but it works for me.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

K-in-Boston — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 14:14:16 GMT

@kerplunk wrote:
It depends on your own use cases. I have 6 credit cards. I think that 5 cards, along with a recent loan and a mortage, is optimal for most people.

I've kudoed this part; that last sentence is dead-on right for optimal scoring for the general public (although I'd use the word "open" rather than "recent" as you would do better with a well-seasoned paid-down loan than a new one). Let's try not to make blanket statements that one way is right for everyone. This category of threads has a tendency to go south quickly.

I have 2 charge cards, 20 revolving cards, 8 revolving cards as an AU, and 1 business Amex Platinum charge card (not shown in my signature as I have absolutely no responsibility for it and it is not on my reports) as an AU. All of them serve a purpose either for rewards, 5% or more off purchases, long 0% promotional periods, or as balance transfer cards.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

kerplunk — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 14:16:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@kerplunk wrote:
It depends on your own use cases. I have 6 credit cards. I think that 5 cards, along with a recent loan and a mortage, is optimal for most people. More than 10 cards is unncessary. Of course, those people will tell you differently, but you should stick with common sense and what you believe is the ideal number of cards for your own personal circumstances.
I would say of the cards you have the only one that is neccessary is the CSP. The others ones are useless. That is to me. You are putting your personal decisions on to other people. I don't get cards that don't have at least 500 dollars of sign up bonus value after any fees. As long as there are cards out there available to me that do that I will continue to get them.

I don't have the CSP.

We are all using a forum called myfico.com -- a site dedicated to FICO scores. It is a fact that you do not need 30 credit cards to achieve high FICO scores.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 14:19:41 GMT

Right now, I have 10 cards, with a total amount of revolving credit of $81,100. At one point earlier this year I had twelve but have closed one (my Capital One secured Platinum) and combined another (Capital One Quicksilver MC, combined into Quicksilver Visa Signature to produce my current biggest-CL card). 8 of these offer cash-back rewards, applicable either to in-store purchases or as general cash back.

As to how many I'll end up expanding to, it's kind of hard to say but I'm pretty sure that, with my own life and financial circumstances, my practical maximum will probably be 15-20, closer to 15 than 20 really. In fact, one of my long-term credit goals is actually to have fewer cards with better APR's and bigger CL's than a large number of cards with low CL's and high APR's. For instance: my main goal for early 2019 is to get one of Navy FCU's cards, preferably the cashRewards Visa Signature, though I'll also accept their co-branded Amex (More Rewards) or their Go Rewards World Mastercard if offered (in fact, I'm contemplating applying for two or all three of these if I'm allowed to upon joining NFCU early next year, since it'll save one or two HP's), hopefully getting a SL of $8,000 or more. The reason for that particular figure is that I would like to be able to close out my Overstock store card, which I rarely use and has the highest APR of any of my cards (28.74%), but has a $8,800 CL at this time, and replace it with a lower-APR rewards card that has a SL reasonably matching the Overstock.

From everything I've picked up in research, it looks like NFCU is my best bet; they're well-known to be good for post-BK rebuilders like me and reasonably generous with SL's. This is one reason why I'm trying to stretch out my gardening phase as long as I can this time, to age my existing accounts and inquiries (and even have at least one or two inquiries age off completely) and reduce the possibility of being turned down for "pyramiding" or over-aggressive credit-seeking.

Aside from that, I'm planning on combining my two Discover IT cards next spring providing a CLI offer on either card is available at that time, both to reduce clutter and to help boost the CL on the remaining Discover card. I would also like to get the Marvel Mastercard if I can only get my stubborn TU score high enough (it's been hovering frustratingly just under the range at which it makes sense to apply), and if I don't get a cobranded Amex from Navy (or Penfed), there's a good possibility of my applying direct to Amex in the fall of 2019 once I hit the 5-year, 1-month mark from filing BK. Charity Charge (Commerce Bank) and Blispay are also on my radar.

One may ask why I don't have Chase or Citi in my credit bucket list, and the answer is, in a word, BK. I burned Chase on a Visa for over $12,000 in my BK, so they're flat out until at least the BK leaves my credit reports in 2024, and maybe even after that. Citi is a bigger question mark; from what I've heard and read I MIGHT be able to get a cobranded card, specifically the Costco Anywhere Visa, but if I do it's likely to be bucketed so that I'll not be able to boost it beyond the initial SL, and I might have to jump through some hoops involving manual recon to get it anyway.

Re: How many credit cards do you have?

simplynoir — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 14:21:10 GMT

@kerplunk wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@kerplunk wrote:
It depends on your own use cases. I have 6 credit cards. I think that 5 cards, along with a recent loan and a mortage, is optimal for most people. More than 10 cards is unncessary. Of course, those people will tell you differently, but you should stick with common sense and what you believe is the ideal number of cards for your own personal circumstances.
I would say of the cards you have the only one that is neccessary is the CSP. The others ones are useless. That is to me. You are putting your personal decisions on to other people. I don't get cards that don't have at least 500 dollars of sign up bonus value after any fees. As long as there are cards out there available to me that do that I will continue to get them.
I don't have the CSP.

We are all using a forum called myfico.com -- a site dedicated to FICO scores. It is a fact that you do not need 30 credit cards to achieve high FICO scores.

I didn't realize we needed to apply for cards for the sole purpose of achieving high FICO scores. Must of missed that memo somewhere.