What is too much?

[Booboo71]

I just finished counting my cards that I store in a rubbermaid container and realized I have..

30 Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard and Discover)

39 Store cards.

I didnt even count the cards I'm authorized on from my husband.  Thats a lot!

[pizza1]

The world is never enough.....LOL

[Booboo71]

PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I forgot Barneys in that mix! so add one to my store cards! lol

[pizza1]

RON1 AND CA WILL TELL YOU ...sorry, didn't realize my caps was on....anyway..they will you NO, its never enough!! LOL

[longtimelurker]

Two good definitions of "too much" in this space

1) You are finding it too hard to keep track.   In bad cases, this can be leading to late payments, or cards you want being closed for non-usage

2) You are unable to get cards you really want, getting declined with "too much available credit" either overall or from a particular issuer.

What counts as too much for definition 1 varies greatly!  5 is a stretch for some, others are fine with 100+.   Definiton 2 depends more on credit history and how spread out your cards are between issuers.

[longtimelurker]

And adding: "enouigh" is when you don't see a need to add another card, because all your reward categories are covered, you have sufficient CL for your needs etc

[Booboo71]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

Two good definitions of "too much" in this space

1) You are finding it too hard to keep track.   In bad cases, this can be leading to late payments, or cards you want being closed for non-usage

2) You are unable to get cards you really want, getting declined with "too much available credit" either overall or from a particular issuer.

What counts as too much for definition 1 varies greatly!  5 is a stretch for some, others are fine with 100+.   Definiton 2 depends more on credit history and how spread out your cards are between issuers.

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@longtimelurker wrote:

Two good definitions of "too much" in this space

1) You are finding it too hard to keep track.   In bad cases, this can be leading to late payments, or cards you want being closed for non-usage

2) You are unable to get cards you really want, getting declined with "too much available credit" either overall or from a particular issuer.

What counts as too much for definition 1 varies greatly!  5 is a stretch for some, others are fine with 100+.   Definiton 2 depends more on credit history and how spread out your cards are between issuers.

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I have been keeping it to a few cards. 

The only other card I want is Amex but have to wait!

[Anonymous]

'Too much' is when you need a tupperware container for your cards, hahaha!

In all seriousness, some people can handle owning and/or carrying many, many cards. Some people, like myself, like having cards you can count with a single hand. I think the main variable here is simply comfort: If you're comfortable with your number of cards, you're good. If you're not comfortable with your number of cards, one way or another, then it's too much/too little.

[kdm31091]

To me, "too much" is when managing them becomes more of a chore than you can handle, and also the "too much available credit" is a very real thing for anyone on a modest income. Any lender can decide you have too much overall credit for your income and refuse to grant you a new card etc.

[ddemari]

I agree my count has increased a few but im sitting at 38 cards. I can manage them all completely fine. But i have a plan to pay off balances by december on cards and want to close 3-5 cards store cards and combine 2 cap 1 cards.

When u start to pay late and OVER Extend is when u have too many imho