Is it bad to have 12 Credit Cards??

[SunriseEarth]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I want nuts the past 2 years  Do I need Help??

Dicoverit 3600

Paypal smart connect 3300

Amex Blue Cash Rewards 3500

Citi bank Bank Diamond Preferred 3500

Chase Slate 2500

Walmart 4100

QVC  3100

Old Navy Visa 3000

Capital One Platinum 2200

Amazon Chase 750.00

Orchard/ Capital one card 420   "Going to close soon"

Barclays Apple Card 1700

---

It all depends on how you use them.  If you can manage them all and pay on time and keep UTIL reasonable across the board, they can definitely work for you.

[Smug]

Unless you close some you will always have smaller limits, I did the same and learned.

[takeshi74]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Is it bad to have 12 Credit Cards??

---

X cards is never a "good" or "bad" thing.  It's the individual's ability to manage and responsibly use them.  There isn't a single X for every person out there.  The number of cards one can manage varies from person to person.  You have to determine what works for you.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I can manage them---Seems when I get another card my credit score goes down then goes up

---

You might want to read up on credit scoring.  Here's just one source to get you started but there is plenty of reference material out there including existing threads:

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

AAoA and inquiries are negatively impacted when you open a new account.   The effect of an inquiry falls off relatively quickly but it just takes time to build AAoA (exception being adding a backdated AmEx).

[odd_dog]

Is it bad having 12 credit cards? Sweet Jesus I hope not!!  LOL  I think as long as you can manage them it is a plus....I use some for auto bill paying, others for specific rewards depending on the type of point, or cash back I need at the time. Also if I do it right I can get about a full month and a half before I even have to pay, with all different closing dates I am able to pick the card that will give me the most time before I have to pay (I religiously PIF). The worst part is just keeping up with the close dates on them so as not to ever pay late...

[TiggerDat]

I don't think so.  Learn to use Excel, it can help manage them!

[Anonymous]

As takeshi74  said, there is no magic number.  It depends on goals and comfort level.  For example, it is perfectly reasonable for someone to decide to commit to a program, such as UR/MR/TYP/SPG/Arrival points etc, and use one card for everything.   One card may not be quite optimal for FICO, but that isn't all that important.   Two other extremes is a) where you try to build a collection where each transaction is maximized and b) try to get all the credit you can "for utilization"

Providing you can manage them (which anyone can really do with auto pay) not a problem

[Anonymous]

Personally I doubt I'll ever have more than 5 or 6, don't want more than that, but there are a lot of people who use farrrr more than that, lol. Just like everyone said above, work with your personal abilities and what you can handle, focus more on what is best for your life and personal habits =)

[stevenngu92]

I find it easier to manage cards when the statement closing date of each card is near one another. Most of my statement cuts from the 16th to the 20th so i usually make an effort to login around the 14th and pif every card except for one. Shortly after my statement cuts i pif the remaining card so i don't forget. I only have 8, but i think i could manage around 20 because of that.

[Anonymous]

And as your file grows thicker, it also depends on the "value" of your time.   For example, there are several cards I can get with sign ups above say $150.    Free money in some sense (well, I would need to meet spend which might take rewards from other cards) but I can't get too excited at spending even the small amount of app time to get it.  Others would make other decisions, and get lots of extra cards.  My decision would also be different if the bonus was a lot larger.

[killer_queen229]

No. Considering I want to have 9 cards in total within the next year (I have 5 currently).