Enlightenment needed...

[NY_Beauty]

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@jsucool76 wrote:
I just have an unhealthy addiction. The problem that arises for me is, when i take out my wallet to pay for something, and a friend or family member sees all my cards they immediately assume I'm in debt. Hurts my ego.

So many people think that because you have a lot of cards, they're automatically all maxed out. Everyone always says "well why do you need all of them?"

Because i want 5% at restaurants, and bookstores, and gas, and home improvement, and restaurants again, and again, and gas again. XD... Mainly just because I can. Lol

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Hee hee!  I like that response!

[NY_Beauty]

Wow!  19 cards is about 15 more than I care to deal with!  Impressed that you juggle it all so well! 

[ElCamino]

I use my cards for the rewards. Specifically for cashback.

I may not have the huge budget some of the other users do, but every little bit saved helps. When I shop online I also try to use a referral site so I can get even more cashback.

[Gunnar419]

Within the last six months, after exposing myself to the temptations of MyFico, I went from having two cards to having seven.

I know, a lot of people around here app for seven cards before breakfast and think nothing of it. For me, seven felt like too many. I found myself making spreadsheets to track them all, constantly checking my autopay setups, and still worrying that I'd miss a payment.

Having seven cards and 6% utilization did great things for my score, but I kept thinking about canceling some of the cards, and the only reason I didn't was that they're all good cards. No sub-primes, no big fees. I'm not a big spender, though, and it felt stupid having all those cards.

Then an opportunity came up to get a nice little foreclosed house dirt cheap. I needed a few thousand dollars that I didn't have. I was able to pull it off only because I had all those cards. It wasn't just having the available credit, either, but having the particular combination of cards -- one that I could write a small BT check on, one that I could take a large cash advance on, another that I could then BT those funds to at a very good rate so I could avoid paying the terrible cash advance interest.

Ironically the two cards I was most thinking of canceling were two of the most useful.

Now I'm in more debt, but still under 20% util, and I have a house that will soon be very livable.

[ElCamino]

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@Gunnar419 wrote:

Within the last six months, after exposing myself to the temptations of MyFico, I went from having two cards to having seven.

I know, a lot of people around here app for seven cards before breakfast and think nothing of it. For me, seven felt like too many. I found myself making spreadsheets to track them all, constantly checking my autopay setups, and still worrying that I'd miss a payment.

Having seven cards and 6% utilization did great things for my score, but I kept thinking about canceling some of the cards, and the only reason I didn't was that they're all good cards. No sub-primes, no big fees. I'm not a big spender, though, and it felt stupid having all those cards.

Then an opportunity came up to get a nice little foreclosed house dirt cheap. I needed a few thousand dollars that I didn't have. I was able to pull it off only because I had all those cards. It wasn't just having the available credit, either, but having the particular combination of cards -- one that I could write a small BT check on, one that I could take a large cash advance on, another that I could then BT those funds to at a very good rate so I could avoid paying the terrible cash advance interest.

Ironically the two cards I was most thinking of canceling were two of the most useful.

Now I'm in more debt, but still under 20% util, and I have a house that will soon be very livable.

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Ah, but that's the beauty of the "game".

With good enough credit, you can easily app for a card that allows for 0% balance transfer and offset at least some of your debt to a low or no interest account.

[Gunnar419]

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Ah, but that's the beauty of the "game".

With good enough credit, you can easily app for a card that allows for 0% balance transfer and offset at least some of your debt to a low or no interest account.

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Agreed. I didn't mention it in the post you quoted, but the debt for the house ended up being financed mostly at 0% thanks to BT availability. The flexibility those cards gave me was fantastic.

[kroberts67]

I have 14.  Some I don't ever use and down the road when I get higher limits and don't need the help with UT I can close them.  I have a spreadsheet that I made for everything, it's really easy for me to keep track this way.  In additional to the due dates and reporting dates I list my real balance, the reported balance, my UT...   and so on...  I have them color coded according to the ones I PIF with my paycheck on the 15th, and likewise for my end of the month paycheck.  Super simple.  (But then I also obsess about keeping it orderly, haha)

[NJTurnpike]

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@kroberts67 wrote:

I have 14.  Some I don't ever use and down the road when I get higher limits and don't need the help with UT I can close them.  I have a spreadsheet that I made for everything, it's really easy for me to keep track this way.  In additional to the due dates and reporting dates I list my real balance, the reported balance, my UT...   and so on...  I have them color coded according to the ones I PIF with my paycheck on the 15th, and likewise for my end of the month paycheck.  Super simple.  (But then I also obsess about keeping it orderly, haha)

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We must be related! My spreadsheet has all the same fields for EVERY pay period projected out to the end of 2015. Even have a special section for my BlueBird.

[longtimelurker]

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@NJTurnpike wrote:

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@kroberts67 wrote:

I have 14.  Some I don't ever use and down the road when I get higher limits and don't need the help with UT I can close them.  I have a spreadsheet that I made for everything, it's really easy for me to keep track this way.  In additional to the due dates and reporting dates I list my real balance, the reported balance, my UT...   and so on...  I have them color coded according to the ones I PIF with my paycheck on the 15th, and likewise for my end of the month paycheck.  Super simple.  (But then I also obsess about keeping it orderly, haha)

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We must be related! My spreadsheet has all the same fields for EVERY pay period projected out to the end of 2015. Even have a special section for my BlueBird.

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Or, to maximize your finances:

a) put all credit cards on auto pay, full balance on due date

b) with the time saved from not updating the spreadsheet, go and get a part-time minimum wage job!

[vpae]

This might help paint a picture.. it's not 100% accurate obviously as YMMV but it does put things into perspective

http://blog.creditkarma.com/wp-content/infographic.jpg