What Type of Credit Card User Are You? [with apologies to frogman1]

[UpperNwGuy]

In a thread that is now closed to new comments, frogman1 made an interesting comment:

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I think once people get their scores up on here and stay a while there are five types of people on here

1). Bonus chasers:  people who don't carry balances and go from card to card and stop using the card soon as they get the bonus.  People who like to go on big vacations

2). Coupon cutters:  they don't carry balances either. They carry 10 cards at all time trying to get the biggest cash back they can for each purchase.  They complain about sign up bonuses because they spend such a little bit of money that they can never reach the spend.  They get a new card if they can save 2 dollars a year in a category.

3) 0 interest balance transfers.  They carry balances so they always looking for no interest.

4) People who get all the cars from one company to maximize their rewards.  Either Chase or Amex.  They will have Chase Freedom.  Chase freedom Unlimited , CSP and CSR .

5). High Credit Line People:  they don't care much about benefits or interest rates other than to brag about them.  Their goal is only to get more cards to increase their limits.  They don't need the increased limit they just want to have it to have it.

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I have two questions:

1.  Is frogman1 correct?  Are these the five types of people on here?  Are there other types?

2.  Which type are you?  I tend to fall into type 2, the coupon cutters.  I almost migrated into type 4, the single bank for everything, a few months ago, with Chase, but then Chase scared me with their survey of three bad alternatives to devalue or eliminate the transfer of Ultimate Rewards points from Freedom cards to Sapphire cards.

[RadioRob]

i don’t meet any of the above. I don’t have exclusivity to one company, don’t carry major balances, and don’t just hop from reward to reward.

I just want a little love from all of the banks. That way if one does under I’m diversified.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Im the type that just wants something that works for my spend. Having learned the importance of utilization, having a good enough limit so as to when you use a card you arent left with high utilization is a good and worthy goal for me. Rewards are nice but not necessarily the be all end all for me

[K-in-Boston]

I'll be lazy and copy-and-paste my answer earlier.

I think once people get their scores up on here and stay a while there are five types of people on here  There are also an unusually large number of us that are outliers and fit into every one of those 5.  I will not be categorized! LOL

1). Bonus chasers:  people who don't carry balances and go from card to card and stop using the card soon as they get the bonus.  People who like to go on big vacations  I like free stuff.  I like free stuff even better when I can just consolidate the line into something that I already have and keep it useful.

2). Coupon cutters:  they don't carry balances either. They carry 10 cards at all time trying to get the biggest cash back they can for each purchase.  Not 10 but depending on the month or quarter probably 5 or 6, but most of my spend goes on one card.  I only carry Target for store cards since I mostly shop online, so maybe that does get me to about 10 if I count Lowe's, Kohl's and Amazon. They complain about sign up bonuses because they spend such a little bit of money that they can never reach the spend.  Not a problem on my end, fortunately or unfortunately - that's why Amex gives me lackluster bonus offers like spend $15,000 by the end of next month and get bonus MRs. They get a new card if they can save 2 dollars a year in a category.

3) 0 interest balance transfers.  They carry balances so they always looking for no interest.  Also acceptable would be zero balance transfer fees and very low APR.

4) People who get all the cars from one company to maximize their rewards.  Either Chase or Amex.  Why not both?  They will have Chase Freedom.  Chase freedom Unlimited , CSP and CSR .  No, the CSR is redundant (for me since I don't use the travel portal) with the CSP and Amex Platinum.

5). High Credit Line People:  they don't care much about benefits or interest rates other than to brag about them.  Their goal is only to get more cards to increase their limits.  They don't need the increased limit they just want to have it to have it.  I fit the category but not the descriptions.  I need the utilization padding while paying off mountains of debt, and it's part of my consolidation plan to end up with just a handful of obscenely high credit limit cards in a couple of years.

[Anonymous]

I am none of those types - I just want 1 or 2 cards to help my score along so I get better rates on my auro and homeowners insurance. I frankly don't care about credit cards and almost never use them. Besides, with my CL's a tank of gas tanks my Utilization which would tank my score. No thanks.

[wasCB14]

-Benefit vampires. Similar to coupon cutters in some ways, but we focus on benefits instead of rewards. We don't have a 3% card for everything, but we know all about travel/purchase/price protections.

-People who like simplicity, and mostly use one card from the bank that has their main/only checking account, even if it's not that great. Might have one no-FTF card.

-Amex loyalists who use a Visa or MC only out of reluctance.

-Metal heads who care mostly about the weight/appearance of a card.

[K-in-Boston]

@wasCB14 Haha I was the Amex loyalist from 2002-2015. 99% of my spend went on my Gold card and I would try to avoid merchants that didn’t take Amex! I’m still pretty loyal and the majority of my spend goes to my SPG these days.

[Anonymous]

I think there is another category you can add;

People that will use 1 or 2 cards max and generally where they bank (For Example, it's easy for me to use a Chase card because that's where my checking account and savings is). Also don't carry a balance and do care about rewards but mostly keeping fee's low.

[digitek]

I'm definitely a 2.  I figure it saves me a few hundred bucks a year that I wouldn't have.  The only way I can find to make a bank pay me back.  It does take a little extra work, and juggling it all can be a pain in the ass.  I'm stuck in that zone, though, where it is just barely worth it to me for all the hassle.  If I made a little more money I'd probably just get a Platinum and call it a day  =D

The categories are kind of funny, though, because they are pretty spot on LOL

At this point, though, I've got all the major categories covered, any other categories at 5% just don't offer enough incentive.  I think I'm done except for the Limitless whenver it comes out.

[Anonymous]

I mostly bonus chase, but when the bonus is met I slip the card in wherever it fits in category 2, if at all. I have a pretty high annual spend and I like to maximize my return from it. With the exception of some niche spending, that mostly only leaves me with four personal cards in my daily wallet.

With that being said, I also have three cards that I pay the AF for simply for airline flight travel benefits. I can't imagine that there are many people that would fit into that 'category' though. They all have a tiny monthly bill assigned to them to keep them active but I only pull them out of my travel wallet when I am on those specific airlines.