I think I am missing something. Why would anyone need 15+ credit cards and over 150,000 dollars as a credit line.? If you have a high income, why wouldn't you just have 2 or 3 credit cards with a high credit line?
@Anonymous wrote:I think I am missing something. Why would anyone need 15+ credit cards and over 150,000 dollars as a credit line.? If you have a high income, why wouldn't you just have 2 or 3 credit cards with a high credit line?
There are a couple points in here that can be broken apart:
1) NEED v. WANT. Some people like having lots of cards and lots of available credit. It makes them happy. Applying for credit cards may be their hobby.
2) Number of cards. Different people have different spending profiles and different goals. Some poeple like the simplicity of running everything through one card, and that's okay. Others prefer to try to maximize their rewards. This often involves individual cards for specific spends, such as groceries, gas, restaurants, hotels, etc. Still others like to pick up rewards through churning through offers. This means that they are always applying for new cards in order to get the intro bonus, but they get the very maximum value available.
3) The credit line. Very few people NEED $150k in credit, but it is comforting to know that it is there. I don't need any credit. I could put everything on a debit card, but I like having the option to put everything on credit because I could lose my job. In that case, I'm may need credit to float myself for a couple months, and if I don't have it, I'm not going to be able to get it then.The other part of the lines is that many banks are reticent to give very high lines. Some do, but most have internal caps for cards and overall risk with that bank. That means that in order to get to those high overall credit lines, you need to have a whole bunch of decent lines available to you.
I'm not one who needs a bunch of credit cards but I understand that everyone is different and everyone has a different goal or objective when it comes to managing their finances. I currently have 3 credit cards and one store card. My long-term goal is to have 5 or 6 credit cards. I've never used credit cards that much in my life but since going through a credit challenge a few years ago and now in the process of rebuiding my credit, I've learned that taking a more acitve approach is a very posiive way to manage your life. Monitoring your reports and tracking your spending is a good way to stay on top of your finances. Credit cards can be a very effective tool to help you do that.
With all the rewards available today, it certainly makes sense to have at least a couple of good cards to run your monthly spend through rather than get nothing from a debit card or cash. They also provide some protection. I like that. I'll never understand having a large amount of cards (10+) but I won't begrudge those that do. It's their life and their money.
