Addicted to credit cards. How many is too many?

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It is not that hard to maintain them all.  I use a steno book. I list them all by statement closing date and every sunday I go through the last weeks closings and check every card online that just had the statement cut off.

As far as Barclays I used the Luxury card in November 2017 for around $85,000 to pay real estate taxes. At that time the line was $95K. I paid off the card before the statement closed. So I went into the statement period with a  zero balance and ended the period with a zero balance.

In January of 2018 I hit the CLI increase button on the site and received the standard we will get back to you.  Then I received a phone call from Barclays a day later. Asked me some very odd questions and told me the line has been increased to $250K. I requested only $150K. Go figure. I assume that the increase was based on the large purchases from 2017. I have used it every November since but I never asked them for a CLI again. I think I am done with that for that card as far as CLI's.

When they called me about the CLI she was very much wanting to know about my income and why I didnt use much of the credit I have since I never allow more then $3,000 show up on my credit reports. I explained that I use the cards alot and just pay them off before statement cut off date. But she could have seen that on my equifax report as it shows months payment amounts received. 

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As you've clearly discovered, with that many cards it's imperative to have a simple yet reliable system in place to monitor status and usage.   Do you also have any kind of system or schedule that allows you to cycle through your cards so that each of them, or at least the ones in your top tier, get at least minimal spend on a semi-regular basis?

You're correct about Equifax reporting the last cycle's total payment information if the issuer reports it but I've never seen or heard of BarclayUS soft-pulling Equifax reports for account reviews.  Have they been doing that with you?

[NRB525]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

@NRB525 

I'm not disparaging all high AF cards. Centurion has real benefits. I'm just mentioning the fairly broad consensus that the Barclays products don't hold up to their Amex and Chase competitors.

If I had the income and expenses to merit a $250k CL, I'd rather use a card with better rewards than 1% cash back. Heck, I'm thinking of closing a 1.5% card and a 2% one.

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The OP has only one card with an AF. The cards on hand all have limited earnings for spend. Applying the MyFICO filter to the card list will result in a long list of comments, but at this stage, simply avoiding AF has been a general WIN, I think. There are no necessary games to try to "use the perks", no time wasted trying to find categories to spend in. 

And very large credit lines. 

Credit is a choice, and it sounds to me like the OP has dealt with the requirement, always pay on time. If the OP request changes into "how can I maximize rewards", that is indeed a different conversation.

[NRB525]

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@Citylights18 wrote:

Here is how the process usually goes for ramping to high amount of CCs.

1) Takes out store cards at the register for discounts. Puts some spend on them with the idea of paying later.

2) Get a credit card with the bank you have checking setup with for "emergencies"

3) Say yes to that airline credit card when the stewardess walks by.

4) Fearing loss of job takes out another CC just in case from a credit union and starts charging.

5) Job is gone and starts racking up debt on the bank cards.

6) Accepts BT offer from the airline card for 1.99 APR 6 months.

7) Racks up more debt and now looks for a new BT card to pay things off.

8) Buys a new car and accepts a complementary CC offer.

9) Takes out another 0% APR BT card.

10) Finds a credit union willing to hand out a 30k balance and BTs the outstanding 25,000

Its usually either a young person taking on way too much credit card debt and/or has job losses and they get on the app cartwheel.

The way out of it is to get higher SL cards to raise utilization, hide bills and spend on a card with high balance, eventually get more of your balance at low APR, use CLOCs/PLOCs to rapidly reduce statement balances. Very quickly your pushing 20 accounts.

Once you get off the cartwheel there really isn't a need for more accounts unless you're pursuing more rewards and even that is a finite game. The goal I think should be to get enough useful perks to the point where it renders SUB chasing futile.

Going back to the OP what I'm hearing is his criteria on closing a card is whether or not the CL is above 5,000 or not. The criteria should be based around perks and earnig mainly. A second consideration around how long you've had the cards. I have one card that I'm carried for 8 years with a low SL (8,000) just for AoA purposes only. Everything else I have I will use for something.

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I don't get the impression this cardholder profile applies to the OP at all. 

[Anonymous]

I do a full cycle with all the cards. After the statement closes I use the card for about 1 to 2 days and move on to the next and the next. When I check the cards on sundays I pay what is owed on the oldest closing dated cards and mark them as paid off in my steno book.

It is really easy and a good system.

I have two car loans open. One is Ford credit which I took out in 11/2019 with only 13 payments remaining and I pay two to three a month on it.

Then I have the Suntrust car loan which I just took out in March 2020 for a 2020 Lexus. About 3 days after I took out the loan I registered it on the Suntrust site and started to make payments. About a week later Suntrust sends me a letter that I can only make up to 3 payments in advance and the rest of the payments I made will go to principal and not to future payments. Now I have to be sure to make payments every month to keep the three months ahead. If I knew this upfront I would have never have used Suntrust. But the car dealer placed the loan for me. They should have told me then about the three payment maximum. They could have easily placed the loan with another lender. Nothing I can do about it now.

[Turbobuick]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am 62 years old. I have been getting a few credit cards every year, ususally 5 to 6 a year. Needless to say I currently have 42 credit cards. I do not pay any annual fees on any of them.

I rotate them all and pay them off mostly online before the statement cuts off so I never have more then $3,000 showing as owed on my credit reports.

I swore I was done getting new cards but applied for three more yesterday online and was approved for all three.  I do have a high income and my FICO scores are only 740's to 750's due to so many inquries they never seem to go higher. I spend somewhere around $20,000 a month on them mostly for insurance premiums HOA dues and real estate taxes on some of my rental properties.

My credit reports show car loans, two open but paid ahead a few years on each.

I figured I would run out of banks to apply to but I seem to keep finding more.

Should I close some of these? I have closed in the past any card with a line under $5000 so the open ones are all over that amount.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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I'm your age, recently retired, and have been wondering about how to stay busy. It really sounds like your credit cards are your hobby. It must take quite a bit of your time to "rotate them all..." and manage that much plastic.

Too many cards? The obvious answer is yes, but it sounds like you have a handle on your situation. You could cancel 35 of them and still have too many. Stop applying and watch your score shoot to 800+. Add up the time and effort to maintain that stack and ask yourself if it's worth it. Only you will know the real answer. Good luck! 

[Turbobuick]

You can refi a car loan anytime anywhere. Usually auto pay gets you the better rate. 

[Anonymous]

I am told by banks all the time that my scores are not going to go above 760 since I do not have a real estate mortgage. My house has been paid off for over a decade and I have no interest in re mortgaging my paid off house just to have an increase in my credit score.

I plan on going into retirement in the next 5 years so to take out a mortgage now makes no sense. I rather be in the 740's then have a mortgage loan at this point. My rental properties are paid off as well so all I owe on my credit report are my two car loans and I show the open 42 credit cards. I do check my three credit reports every other day to be sure there is nothing unusual going on.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am a Forensic Pathologist so I have job security...

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@Anonymous  I sure hope we never meet in person...🙈

[Kforce]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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On the other hand, adding another credit card can be very little work. 

 A few mins to app, another few mins to set up online and autopay in full, and hey! 

This is why so many have a lot of cards.

You just need to admit that you have a fun hobby, and are addicted.

"Credit Cards Anonymous",  Member Number:  007,  Name: Longtimelurker

[MoneyBurns]

Hi, 007, Longtimelurker!! ☺

12 Steps to great credit! Sponser myfico forums

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@Kforce wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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On the other hand, adding another credit card can be very little work. 

 A few mins to app, another few mins to set up online and autopay in full, and hey! 

This is why so many have a lot of cards.

You just need to admit that you have a fun hobby and are addicted.

"Credit Cards Anonymous", Member Number:  007, Name: Longtimelurker.

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