Do you a have a limit for how many cards and total credit limit you want?

[Anonymous]

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@disdreamin wrote:

It's interesting, I see sign-up bonuses mentioned in this thread, but somtimes in a negative way, as in "I don't get cards for SUB's." For me, the opposite is often true. I have absolutely applied for cards based on how valuable/useful the SUB would be to me. Granted, the cards themselves were also useful cards for me to get/have for my spend, but I am absolutely not above chasing a good SUB.

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Oh, you are certainly not the only one, quite a few people do get cards for SUBs, easy calculations show it is usually more profitable than longer-term rewards even from pretty good cards.    IMO, getting "forever" cards, or even long term keeper cards, is fraught with issues: cards can get nerfed in various ways, better cards come can out, your spending pattern and/or goals can change.   So, if your profile permits, it's fine to go for a crappy card with a high SUB, as the great card with a small SUB might not be so great pretty soon.....

[xenon3030]

I consider ~2 new cards per year (very high SUB or high cashback/MR). In this case, I will be always 4/24. My cards have CL of $300 to ~25k. I let the creditors assign the CL and some eventually do CLI after a few months. I care about my total CL and it should evolve smoothly.

We may or may not enter recession soon. So, be prepared and I suggest to be careful with CC game plans. In prior recessions, I heard some stories of balance chasing and domino effects that can impact several cards. Do not let a creditor(s) to make life more miserable, in case of recession.

[ChazzieT]

I have 18 cards.

I use 10 of those every month.

Another 4 find organic spend at least once per quarter.

I keep the remaining 4 for various reporting reasons.

There are a couple of Unicorns I'm trying to find a way to qualify for, but otherwise I likely won't add anything soon unless something new comes out that fits my spend better.

My current overall limit is $290k.

I would like to push that to about $400k for util reasons.

[HHH71]

No limit. In 2018 I had $2,500 in credit card limits. Was scared of credit cards and just didn't understand them. Today I have over $250,000 in credit card limits. Now I understand the game I am getting so much out of them. I just ordered a iPad Pro with points from one of the cards. My wife stayed at the Waldorf in London for two weeks on points from another card. I easily get over a million hotel points a year from spend, a couple hundred thousand miles from spend with airlines, etc. even though I pay over $2,000 a year in annual credit card fees, I easily get back 5x that every year. I don't app spree though. I get one I want about every 4-6 months that fits into my spend. I think I have 12 cards now and don't see a reason yet to stop getting 2 or 3 more each year. I pay in full every month. I won't give them a penny.

[CreditMarathoner]

I have 4 cards right now.  I'm good with 2-4 cards total, I don't need more.  The most recent card (CSP) I got mainly for the SUB.  If I do more traveling in the future, it will stay, but I might close it after 2 years as it has an AF that I may not benefit much from if I don't travel.

As for limits, I'm more conservative than most.  Except for the CSP, my cards have $1500-3000 limits, mostly due to requesting decreases and having auto increases turned off.  Though I put everything on them and PIF, I don't have a huge income nor am I a big spender.

I only keep 2 cards in my wallet for daily use.  The Amazon card and the CSP are in the sock drawer (Amazon card gets used on Amazon of course, CSP only comes out for travel).

[TheRedHat]

I want to limit the total number of cards to five or less. This was fun for awhile, but I don't really wish to spend a lot of my life managing cards and rewards and benefits (the exception being travel). I am methodically closing and replacing cards that I have now with the cards that I permanently want. A total limit of $25,000 - $50,000 between 3 of the 5 cards is good enough. The other 2 will be charge cards.  

[RedWolfFish77]

I am a little late to the party but I have 17. 16 credit cards and 1 charge card. I have a couple goal cards but I regret opening up the Capital One cards since I've been bucketed for a lifetime it seems now. 

second mistake I made was not growing my relationship with chase more. I only managed to get the Prime card before 5/24 and never got back under since. 

lastly, I'm pretty much scared to apply with Citi. I have the DC but they seem to be new acc/inquiry sensitive. 

[Drifter73]

It changes as you go.

Just starting a build or rebuild, limits are generally low, so the more cards the merrier.

Once you hit a workable total limit, you start to realize that managing all the different statement cut and due dates can get a bit cumbersome. After all, 1 late payment can set you back in a big way. Scary thought.

So, then you just focus on sub, rewards, cash back that helps and start to sock drawer cards afraid closing them will hurt your AAoA.

Then you come to terms with security = the more cards, the harder it is to actively track fraud charges on sock drawer cards you didn't think you needed to monitor. So you start to close cards with annual fees, high apr, foreign currency fees, etc...

Now, you're starting to think about the KISS method of other things in life and apply the Keep It Simple Stupid strategy to your card collection.

Comfort is different for everyone, for me, 10 credit cards is the ideal maximum to manage (5 active daily and 5 sockdrawed emergencies or once every 6 months usages)

That may change again in 2023 for me to less or more since I'll be adding a PLOC and x2 more cards with direct deposit into savings account options instead of statement credit only cards.

I'll be closing at least 2 to 4 cards next year as part of a new strategy to compliment a different credit file than I have today.

[Anonymous]

@AyaMai wrote:

Do you a have a limit for how many cards and total credit limit you want?

I would like to have as many cards, and with the highest possible credit limits that they will approve me for. I have no ceiling for this desire. Furthermore, I want perfectly immaculate credit reports that allow me the freedom that comes with being approved for anything and everything I ever apply for.

[cws-21]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would like to have as many cards, and with the highest possible credit limits that they will approve me for. I have no ceiling for this desire. Furthermore, I want perfectly immaculate credit reports that allow me the freedom that comes with being approved for anything and everything I ever apply for.

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Interestingly, @Anonymous, I want to have the fewest cards, while still optimizing cash back in my major spend categories, with the "highest possible credit limits" (and "immaculate credit reports").