cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Quantity of Credit Cards

tag
Citylights18
Valued Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards

Personally I don't like presenting an all metal card like the CSP at the Taco Bell drive thru.

 

That says the person probably makes good money that is not what I want them to know.

 

You could use a swing cash back card like the PNC Cash Rewards or USB Cash+ for small food orders and reserve the CSP just for dining out. Of course you'll lose about 3-5% of your CSP spend potential while doing it but more low key.

Official travel point totals as of 12/26/23 (1,382,693 Total Points)
Chase Ultimate Rewards 661,525 | IHG One Rewards 144,443 | Hilton Honors 143,801 | AMEX Membership Rewards 102,729 | World of Hyatt 90,413 | Marriott Bonvoy 65,343 | Citi Thank You 62,712 | Wells Fargo Rewards 33,652 | Southwest Rapid Rewards 28,105 | United MileagePlus 13,316 | British Airways Avios 12,333 | Jet Blue TrueBlue 11,661 | NASA Platinum Rewards 1,883 | AA Advantage 1,744 | Navy Federal Rewards 792 | Delta Sky Miles 175 | Virgin Atlantic Virgin Points 100 | Lowes Business Rewards 6,992 ($69.92) | Amazon Rewards 475 ($4.75) | Discover CB 499 ($4.99)
Message 51 of 81
coreysw12
Valued Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards


@Citylights18 wrote:

Personally I don't like presenting an all metal card like the CSP at the Taco Bell drive thru.

 

That says the person probably makes good money that is not what I want them to know.

 

You could use a swing cash back card like the PNC Cash Rewards or USB Cash+ for small food orders and reserve the CSP just for dining out. Of course you'll lose about 3-5% of your CSP spend potential while doing it but more low key.


To each their own, but I don't see what the paranoia is all about with having a drive-thru person see your all-metal card. Trust me, they see dozens of them every day, it isn't as special as some of us might like to think it is.

If someone wants to find people who make good money, for whatever nefarious reasons they might have, there are plenty of ways to go about doing it besides memorizing what credit cards everyone at their drive-thru is using. The car they're driving is probably a far more accurate indicator, for example. As all of us here are well aware, people with low incomes are perfectly capable of getting a shiny all-metal card, while it's less likely that someone with a brand new Mercedes has low income.

    Total Loan Balance: $43k / $65k


    Total SL: $78k

United 1K - 725,000 lifetime flight miles    |    Chase Status: 4/24
Message 52 of 81
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards


@Kinglord wrote:

As I am in the recovery/rebuilding process I am struggling to understand the goal of obtaining massive amounts of credit cards.  Some of the more senior contributrs here have staggering amounts of extremely high profile credit.  Is this done to obtain the initial sign up offer and then have the CL help their overall utilization? Is there another reason for obtaining such a high number of them?  Is it strictly just for fun, I know the feeling of approval Smiley Happy

 

Please share, thank you!


 

For me, part of it is for fun / bragging rights. Smiley Tongue

 

Part of it is also because different cards offer different types of benefits I find useful to my needs. For example, I like having the cell phone insurance that Wells Fargo offers, and I like the 5% rotating categories that Discover / Chase offer (one card may have 5% for restaurants available and the other card may have 5% for gas stations available the same quarter), and I like the 2% on utilities that BB&T offers.

 

But in addition, I just like having credit extended to me by a variety lenders to put me at ease psychologically, so that I'm not bound by one particular lender in case one decides to take adverse actions against me or becomes stingy with CLI / benefits.

Message 53 of 81
Citylights18
Valued Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards


@coreysw12 wrote:

@Citylights18 wrote:

Personally I don't like presenting an all metal card like the CSP at the Taco Bell drive thru.

 

That says the person probably makes good money that is not what I want them to know.

 

You could use a swing cash back card like the PNC Cash Rewards or USB Cash+ for small food orders and reserve the CSP just for dining out. Of course you'll lose about 3-5% of your CSP spend potential while doing it but more low key.


To each their own, but I don't see what the paranoia is all about with having a drive-thru person see your all-metal card. Trust me, they see dozens of them every day, it isn't as special as some of us might like to think it is.

If someone wants to find people who make good money, for whatever nefarious reasons they might have, there are plenty of ways to go about doing it besides memorizing what credit cards everyone at their drive-thru is using. The car they're driving is probably a far more accurate indicator, for example. As all of us here are well aware, people with low incomes are perfectly capable of getting a shiny all-metal card, while it's less likely that someone with a brand new Mercedes has low income.


At the same time I don't see what the earning advantage is on purchases that are $3, $4, $5 dollars to be all in one currency.

 

I think you're better in a lot of ways to diversify your issuers who offer different perks.

 

Again do you want to beat up a metal card for $1, $2, $3 purchases, risk having it stolen when you can keep it in "reserve" in a sock drawer. There is the power game with rewards and also the small ball game.

Official travel point totals as of 12/26/23 (1,382,693 Total Points)
Chase Ultimate Rewards 661,525 | IHG One Rewards 144,443 | Hilton Honors 143,801 | AMEX Membership Rewards 102,729 | World of Hyatt 90,413 | Marriott Bonvoy 65,343 | Citi Thank You 62,712 | Wells Fargo Rewards 33,652 | Southwest Rapid Rewards 28,105 | United MileagePlus 13,316 | British Airways Avios 12,333 | Jet Blue TrueBlue 11,661 | NASA Platinum Rewards 1,883 | AA Advantage 1,744 | Navy Federal Rewards 792 | Delta Sky Miles 175 | Virgin Atlantic Virgin Points 100 | Lowes Business Rewards 6,992 ($69.92) | Amazon Rewards 475 ($4.75) | Discover CB 499 ($4.99)
Message 54 of 81
wasCB14
Super Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards


@Citylights18 wrote:

@coreysw12 wrote:

@Citylights18 wrote:

Personally I don't like presenting an all metal card like the CSP at the Taco Bell drive thru.

 

That says the person probably makes good money that is not what I want them to know.

 

You could use a swing cash back card like the PNC Cash Rewards or USB Cash+ for small food orders and reserve the CSP just for dining out. Of course you'll lose about 3-5% of your CSP spend potential while doing it but more low key.


To each their own, but I don't see what the paranoia is all about with having a drive-thru person see your all-metal card. Trust me, they see dozens of them every day, it isn't as special as some of us might like to think it is.

If someone wants to find people who make good money, for whatever nefarious reasons they might have, there are plenty of ways to go about doing it besides memorizing what credit cards everyone at their drive-thru is using. The car they're driving is probably a far more accurate indicator, for example. As all of us here are well aware, people with low incomes are perfectly capable of getting a shiny all-metal card, while it's less likely that someone with a brand new Mercedes has low income.


At the same time I don't see what the earning advantage is on purchases that are $3, $4, $5 dollars to be all in one currency.

 

I think you're better in a lot of ways to diversify your issuers who offer different perks.

 

Again do you want to beat up a metal card for $1, $2, $3 purchases, risk having it stolen when you can keep it in "reserve" in a sock drawer. There is the power game with rewards and also the small ball game.


Amex took about 36 hours (from my request via the app to delivery) to replace my peeling-apart metal Platinum. Chase has done likewise on CSP (2015-2018) and CSR (2018-2020) in the past. So wear and tear is hardly a concern. Metal sandwich cards can tend to peel apart over time, anyway, even without much use. Maybe it's the heat in Los Angeles.

 

I recall a discussion on the no-longer-active CreditCardForum a few years ago that estimated the income requirement for CSP (assuming a sufficient and clean credit history) was only about $25k-$30k. Maybe it's higher now.

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
Perks: Delta Plat., United Explorer, IHG49, Hyatt, "Old SPG"
Mostly SD: Freedom Flex, Freedom, Arrival
Upgrade/Downgrade games: ED, BCE
SUB chasing: AA Platinum Select
Message 55 of 81
kdm31091
Super Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards

I don't think having a metal card means you make a lot of money necessarily. Metal cards are pretty common and come from several issuers now. Beyond that, I think you overestimate how much the average cashier even cares about your card or correlates it to anything. They swipe a lot of cards every day.

 

There's always the argument about diversifying or concentrating spend and I think there's merits to both. Those $3-5 transactions are not going to make much of a difference no matter which approach you want to use.

Message 56 of 81
wasCB14
Super Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards


@kdm31091 wrote:

I don't think having a metal card means you make a lot of money necessarily. Metal cards are pretty common and come from several issuers now. Beyond that, I think you overestimate how much the average cashier even cares about your card or correlates it to anything. They swipe a lot of cards every day.

 

There's always the argument about diversifying or concentrating spend and I think there's merits to both. Those $3-5 transactions are not going to make much of a difference no matter which approach you want to use.


...unless we're talking EDP with $5k spent across 29 transactions.

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
Perks: Delta Plat., United Explorer, IHG49, Hyatt, "Old SPG"
Mostly SD: Freedom Flex, Freedom, Arrival
Upgrade/Downgrade games: ED, BCE
SUB chasing: AA Platinum Select
Message 57 of 81
Kforce
Valued Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards


@Remedios wrote:

I dont have "that many" opened accounts by standards here, 13 or 14.

My rewards are not diluted, because of my spend. Never racked any debt, and I doubt I ever will

I currently have at least three cards on 0%, without balances, because 0% wasnt why i got them. 

 

@Kinglord  whenever this question is asked, you get two kinds of answers, one being "I have as many as I want, works for me", and "No one needs more than 2-3 cards, look at the real world etc"

 

If people in real world knew what they were doing, they would have more than 3, but probably not 15.

There is no right or wrong answer, and no number that's going to work for everyone. 

 

I dont see it as a game or hobby. To me, it's a financial tool, and I treat it as such. 

 


+100

You would have more than 3, but probably not 15.

The lower the spend the closer to 3 and the higher you spend the closer to 15

I am a 7

 

Message 58 of 81
Citylights18
Valued Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards


@wasCB14 wrote:

@Citylights18 wrote:

@coreysw12 wrote:

@Citylights18 wrote:

Personally I don't like presenting an all metal card like the CSP at the Taco Bell drive thru.

 

That says the person probably makes good money that is not what I want them to know.

 

You could use a swing cash back card like the PNC Cash Rewards or USB Cash+ for small food orders and reserve the CSP just for dining out. Of course you'll lose about 3-5% of your CSP spend potential while doing it but more low key.


To each their own, but I don't see what the paranoia is all about with having a drive-thru person see your all-metal card. Trust me, they see dozens of them every day, it isn't as special as some of us might like to think it is.

If someone wants to find people who make good money, for whatever nefarious reasons they might have, there are plenty of ways to go about doing it besides memorizing what credit cards everyone at their drive-thru is using. The car they're driving is probably a far more accurate indicator, for example. As all of us here are well aware, people with low incomes are perfectly capable of getting a shiny all-metal card, while it's less likely that someone with a brand new Mercedes has low income.


At the same time I don't see what the earning advantage is on purchases that are $3, $4, $5 dollars to be all in one currency.

 

I think you're better in a lot of ways to diversify your issuers who offer different perks.

 

Again do you want to beat up a metal card for $1, $2, $3 purchases, risk having it stolen when you can keep it in "reserve" in a sock drawer. There is the power game with rewards and also the small ball game.


Amex took about 36 hours (from my request via the app to delivery) to replace my peeling-apart metal Platinum. Chase has done likewise on CSP (2015-2018) and CSR (2018-2020) in the past. So wear and tear is hardly a concern. Metal sandwich cards can tend to peel apart over time, anyway, even without much use. Maybe it's the heat in Los Angeles.

 

I recall a discussion on the no-longer-active CreditCardForum a few years ago that estimated the income requirement for CSP (assuming a sufficient and clean credit history) was only about $25k-$30k. Maybe it's higher now.


But you also receive a new credit card number when you order in a new card.

 

Not a worry for a card which you don't use for recurring bills.

 

While its technically possible to get into metal cards at the 25k-30k income range, very few in that range are pursuing them. Its big spenders that are attracted to them.

Official travel point totals as of 12/26/23 (1,382,693 Total Points)
Chase Ultimate Rewards 661,525 | IHG One Rewards 144,443 | Hilton Honors 143,801 | AMEX Membership Rewards 102,729 | World of Hyatt 90,413 | Marriott Bonvoy 65,343 | Citi Thank You 62,712 | Wells Fargo Rewards 33,652 | Southwest Rapid Rewards 28,105 | United MileagePlus 13,316 | British Airways Avios 12,333 | Jet Blue TrueBlue 11,661 | NASA Platinum Rewards 1,883 | AA Advantage 1,744 | Navy Federal Rewards 792 | Delta Sky Miles 175 | Virgin Atlantic Virgin Points 100 | Lowes Business Rewards 6,992 ($69.92) | Amazon Rewards 475 ($4.75) | Discover CB 499 ($4.99)
Message 59 of 81
wasCB14
Super Contributor

Re: Quantity of Credit Cards


@Citylights18 wrote:

@wasCB14 wrote:


Amex took about 36 hours (from my request via the app to delivery) to replace my peeling-apart metal Platinum. Chase has done likewise on CSP (2015-2018) and CSR (2018-2020) in the past. So wear and tear is hardly a concern. Metal sandwich cards can tend to peel apart over time, anyway, even without much use. Maybe it's the heat in Los Angeles.

 

I recall a discussion on the no-longer-active CreditCardForum a few years ago that estimated the income requirement for CSP (assuming a sufficient and clean credit history) was only about $25k-$30k. Maybe it's higher now.


But you also receive a new credit card number when you order in a new card.

 

Not a worry for a card which you don't use for recurring bills.

 

While its technically possible to get into metal cards at the 25k-30k income range, very few in that range are pursuing them. Its big spenders that are attracted to them.


Amex and Chase do not change the 15/16 digit card numbers for damaged cards still safely in the customer's possession. For lost or stolen cards, they do. My first-CSP-then-CFU card has had the same 16 digit number since I got it Jan 2015, despite a replacement due to damage in 2017 and a 2018 PC.

 

They do change the expiration and security numbers (3 on the back for Chase, 4 on the front and 3 on the back for Amex).

 

I can't really think offhand of any problems with recurring bills and Chase...mainly because I've been quick to update billing info to some latest and greatest card, or have used a card from another bank. I can say that my Amazon channels, billed to Schwab Platinum for the  monthly credit, go through smoothly without the new card's 4 digits.

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
Perks: Delta Plat., United Explorer, IHG49, Hyatt, "Old SPG"
Mostly SD: Freedom Flex, Freedom, Arrival
Upgrade/Downgrade games: ED, BCE
SUB chasing: AA Platinum Select
Message 60 of 81
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.