How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

[HeavenOhio]

@Anonymous, the silver lining to your spree is that all of your cards are "good." They're not predatory, subprime, or store cards that you'd have little motivation to use. 

There's a definite scoring advantage to having three open cards. And some say five open cards is better.

There's no scoring advantage to having more than five cards, but there's a feeling that ten accounts might help one's profile. That would include both cards and loans, and it would include both open and closed accounts.

My suggestion would be to give these cards a year. Then I'd close a couple that are useless to you, while still staying over five open cards. One option would be to combine your three Capital One cards into one account. You can do that anytime the combination option becomes available. The closed accounts would remain on your report.

In the meantime, the suggestions for spreading out your spending are good. Use the DC card for most of your spend, the Discover card for its 5% categories, and the AMEX card for groceries. The USAA card can be a backup to the DC. The QS can also back up the DC, and it'd be your main card for avoiding foreign transaction fees.

Just make sure that each card is used at least once every six months. If you can make it every three months, that's better. A small recurring transaction is a good way to keep a card in use every month.

[NRB525]

OP, congrats on the approved new cards.

The most important thing to do now is to set up auto payment and keep track of the usual statement date when each and every card prints each month. While 3 or 5 cards are optimal, and 10 helps build wide history, that only helps you if you never ever miss any payments. With your list of cards, and likely infrequent use, the odds of forgetting one on any given month go up. A 30-day late will set your score back, and takes a while to age off to no impact.

So take the next few weeks to read the fine print on all the cards, set up on-line accounts, link checking account for payment, and set up auto pay.

And take the next year to get to know the cards. Discover has a signup step each quarter to activate the bonus category. AMEX “groceries” are not all the places you buy groceries as some examples.

Keep in mind also that you are now well over 5 accounts in the last 24 months. You will see a lot of talk here about Chase cards, but for many of those Chase cards, you cannot be over 5/24. So I would suggest a lot of research, and no new apps for two years. Then in Oct 2020 you can look at other cards based on your research.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I take my finances seriously and I have goals/circumstances not discussed here, hence why I sat down with an advisor.

Go poo poo on someone else’s parade please. I’m happy

---

If you post stuff in a forum, you need to at least respect other people's responses.   To most of us here, what you did seems ill-advised (but not uncommon,  many here originally did similar things and now they know better).   You may be happy because you are not aware of all the consequences.

I personally would start out with a flat fee-only (hourly) fiduciary CFP to get overall advice rather than someone from a financial institution, but fine.

[kdm31091]

I think the advisor's input was odd at best because most mainstream articles about this sort of thing recommend 3-5 cards to avoid losing control over payments, balances, etc. It is best not to immediately add a ton of accounts, both for the short term scoring damage and also IMO the fact that you now have to manage all the accounts. It can be difficult enough to monitor budgeting, spending, balances, payments due, etc on just a few cards, but it can be even worse with 10+. There are apps to help you with this sort of thing; some people find them useful and others don't.

The cards are open and the damage is done, so I would just leave them sit for 6 months to a year and see which ones benefit you and which ones do not. After that, I would probably cull down to 4-6 but that's just my preference on number of accounts. Others have a much higher tolerance.

In terms of rewards, I always feel that concentrating your spending on fewer cards is the better way to go because spreading it out dilutes your benefit. You can end up with $2 in rewards on each card every month, and maybe $30 on one card would benefit you more; plus many programs have redemption thresholds which take a long time to reach if you are using 10. Some things to think about.

[Kforce]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

You got bad "professional advice", 3 cards is enough to build a solid 800+ profile, anything more than that should be based on earning rewards to reduce the cost of living, unless you're a CC churner. Opening so many new accounts in such short period of time can also invite negative and unwanted attention from your current and new lenders which can lead to AA (Adverse Action), something we read about often on this board.

And if those were the cards the said adviser recommended, I would post here for advice instead next time.

---

+ 1,  Late to the party but my 2c.

I got my first mortgage at a good rate with 2 credit cards and 1 auto loan on my credit report. My second mortgage with 3 cards and 2 autos.  Even today I only have 7 cards and 840 Ficos, were 850 before paying off all houses (Debt free and Investing).  My youngest daughter in college has 1 credit card and AU on 2 of mine with 780-800 Fico's. 

Many might want a lot of cards but need is another thing.  Don't get me wrong if one has the spend and wants to use the benefits, points, cashback, 0%-offers, etc, CC's can be fun and beneficial.  Having a large number of cards is not a credit requirement it is just an addictive hobby. (I have other hobbies)