Why So Many?

[UpperNwGuy]

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@finfreewrote:
UpperNewGuy- retaining older cards allows you to smooth out AAoA when obtaining multiple new cards- if you close out old accounts but aren’t applying for several new cards at once then it shouldn’t really be an issue. As I understand it, to max out FICO you want AAoA over >9 years (but no real benefit to having much over 9 years except as it may impact depth of credit) so it’s a relatively simple calculation to know how many (and which) old cards you can close based on how many new cards obtained. I won't easily relinquish cards with 30+ year history. I recently (within past two months) obtained 3 new cards and a mortgage for a second home with just a tiny impact on my 3 FICO 8s; have to believe AAoA helped to insultate me from a more significant impact.

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Credit history is only 15% of the credit score.  Canceled cards stay in the calculation for ten years following cancellation.  No need to keep all those old store cards around for AAoA purposes.  They just don't help that much.  Of course, this advice is to those who already have long credit histories.

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14wrote:

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@Anonymouswrote:

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@fltireguywrote:
Why so many?
Because I can

(37 cards)

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But you could also (presumably) have 6!

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It can be used both ways.

"Why have 37 cards?" "Because I can!" (My income/assets and credit support many cards and high CLs, a sort of collection of trophies.)

"Why only 6 cards?" "Because I can!" (My income/assets and creditworthiness are such that I don't really need to worry about utilization or lender diversification.)

"Why only 2 cards?" "I'm rich have better things to do than keep track of a ton of different CC accounts."

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"What's a credit card?   Oh yes, I remember, for the little people"

[joltdude]

Its very much a YFMV (Your Finances May Vary)... there are pros and cons and what works for one, doesn't always work for someone else...

and it is also income dependant... Having too many cards when your not making as much as some of the heavy hitters on here.. you have to think about not spreading your rewards too thin, and not hitting the ceiling on what lenders are willing to give you for cards... During my build of credit. the only thing that i really tried not to do is app for store cards... I could always pick these up later if they would be useful..... And even with trying to limit what im getting, due to changing benifits and such, already thinking of adding and replacing even out of what i consider cards that could be keepers for some folks.. Wish i traveled and spent enough to justify travel cards and such.. just dont.. Or AF cards..... Its a little harder for me to bite on stuff like that.. it still has to pay for itself.... Though I do wish folks would be less leery of letting go things that arent working, or are costing them for little to no benifit.... Most of us grow out of a card at one point or another..... Just let it go.... 

-J

[kdm31091]

I think as a whole people tend to overstress about AAOA. It is 15% of your score. The bigger component is basically paying on time and having low utilization (which is fluid month to month, so not important to maximize at all times). More minor components like AAOA are something to consider, but are not in most cases going to stop you from having a good to great score that will get you what you need.

Another factor I see mentioned a lot that I don't always agree with is diversification. When you are investing in stocks or something, yes, it's important to keep things diverse. With credit cards? As long as you have a couple major issuers in your pocket, it seems very unlikely you would have an issue. Your cards are not all going to be shut off at the same time for no reason, and it's just more to keep track of. I think 3-5 cards from a few different lenders is probably sufficient for "diversity" purposes.

There's also diminishing returns with rewards...the more you spread out your spend, the less benefit you really are able to reap on each account. This varies based on your income and spending but you can only support so many reward programs and really get anything out of them.

At the end of the day people are going to do what they want and some people just enjoy collecting the cards, which is fine, but like Lurker said upthread, many of the arguments don't hold up very well. Just do what works for you.

[Anonymous]

Asking why so many cards, is like asking why so many shoes? 

One pair is an absolute necessity.  You can't walk around outside barefoot.  Just like you need at least one card to do things like rent a car, book a hotel, shop online.  Can you do these things without a credit card? Sure you can, but I personally don't like have money in my checking account on hold until whenever.

Do I really NEED more than one pair?  In my case, I say yes. I can't work out in my office shoes. I can't wear my party shoes to the office. In most nice places, I can't wear my workout shoes to party. So that's at least three. It's the same with miles, points and cash rewards. If I didn't care about any of that, sure I could live with one, but I do care. 

Do I really NEED more than three pair? Of course not. However, I work hard. I earn money. I spend it how I like. I'm not rich, but I'm not poor. I'm just a gal who likes shoes. Lots and lots of shoes. So many shoes. Shoe shoes were really cheap, I mean really cheap (like a no AF card).  Some shoes were ridiculously expensive (like Amex Platinum and Centurion Card expensive). Some shoes come out of the closet almost everyday (like my high rewards cards). Some shoes come out of the closet once a month (like my airline specific cards). Some shoes come out of the closet once a year (like my cards I hold mainly for the fringe benefits - think status). Some shoes have not been worn in at least five years, but I can't get rid of them because I may just wear them (like my old No AF co-brand cards for chains I don't really use but I might - think Wyndham visa). Somes shoes I have had for at least 20 years now and I know for a fact that I will never wear those shoes again, but I will never get rid of them. They exist on a shelf in my closet out of the way not hurting anything (not helping either) but they are mine and I want them (like my old subprime cards - all of which I recently dumped because I really no longer need to pay a fee for cards that have no value but I would have kept if they were free). 

There is no rhyme or reason or justification for having cards other than the reasons that mean something to you. 

@shoegal you too have a pink Disco, so I think you can relate. 

[imaximous]

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@Anonymouswrote:

Asking why so many cards, is like asking why so many shoes? 

One pair is an absolute necessity.  You can't walk around outside barefoot.  Just like you need at least one card to do things like rent a car, book a hotel, shop online.  Can you do these things without a credit card? Sure you can, but I personally don't like have money in my checking account on hold until whenever.

Do I really NEED more than one pair?  In my case, I say yes. I can't work out in my office shoes. I can't wear my party shoes to the office. In most nice places, I can't wear my workout shoes to party. So that's at least three. It's the same with miles, points and cash rewards. If I didn't care about any of that, sure I could live with one, but I do care. 

Do I really NEED more than three pair? Of course not. However, I work hard. I earn money. I spend it how I like. I'm not rich, but I'm not poor. I'm just a gal who likes shoes. Lots and lots of shoes. So many shoes. Shoe shoes were really cheap, I mean really cheap (like a no AF card).  Some shoes were ridiculously expensive (like Amex Platinum and Centurion Card expensive). Some shoes come out of the closet almost everyday (like my high rewards cards). Some shoes come out of the closet once a month (like my airline specific cards). Some shoes come out of the closet once a year (like my cards I hold mainly for the fringe benefits - think status). Some shoes have not been worn in at least five years, but I can't get rid of them because I may just wear them (like my old No AF co-brand cards for chains I don't really use but I might - think Wyndham visa). Somes shoes I have had for at least 20 years now and I know for a fact that I will never wear those shoes again, but I will never get rid of them. They exist on a shelf in my closet out of the way not hurting anything (not helping either) but they are mine and I want them (like my old subprime cards - all of which I recently dumped because I really no longer need to pay a fee for cards that have no value but I would have kept if they were free). 

There is no rhyme or reason or justification for having cards other than the reasons that mean something to you. 

@shoegal you too have a pink Disco, so I think you can relate. 

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You can never win an argument against a woman and her shoes. lol.

[simplynoir]

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@Anonymouswrote:

Asking why so many cards, is like asking why so many shoes? 

One pair is an absolute necessity.  You can't walk around outside barefoot.  Just like you need at least one card to do things like rent a car, book a hotel, shop online.  Can you do these things without a credit card? Sure you can, but I personally don't like have money in my checking account on hold until whenever.

Do I really NEED more than one pair?  In my case, I say yes. I can't work out in my office shoes. I can't wear my party shoes to the office. In most nice places, I can't wear my workout shoes to party. So that's at least three. It's the same with miles, points and cash rewards. If I didn't care about any of that, sure I could live with one, but I do care. 

Do I really NEED more than three pair? Of course not. However, I work hard. I earn money. I spend it how I like. I'm not rich, but I'm not poor. I'm just a gal who likes shoes. Lots and lots of shoes. So many shoes. Shoe shoes were really cheap, I mean really cheap (like a no AF card).  Some shoes were ridiculously expensive (like Amex Platinum and Centurion Card expensive). Some shoes come out of the closet almost everyday (like my high rewards cards). Some shoes come out of the closet once a month (like my airline specific cards). Some shoes come out of the closet once a year (like my cards I hold mainly for the fringe benefits - think status). Some shoes have not been worn in at least five years, but I can't get rid of them because I may just wear them (like my old No AF co-brand cards for chains I don't really use but I might - think Wyndham visa). Somes shoes I have had for at least 20 years now and I know for a fact that I will never wear those shoes again, but I will never get rid of them. They exist on a shelf in my closet out of the way not hurting anything (not helping either) but they are mine and I want them (like my old subprime cards - all of which I recently dumped because I really no longer need to pay a fee for cards that have no value but I would have kept if they were free). 

There is no rhyme or reason or justification for having cards other than the reasons that mean something to you. 

@shoegal you too have a pink Disco, so I think you can relate. 

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Bravo on this comparison/post. If I could give more than one kudo for this I would.

[Anonymous]

I think part of the reason this comes up so often is the makeup of the forum users.   We have two large groups:

1) New or fairly new rebuilders.

2) credit card "addicts", some of these ex-1)s

(Then there are a sprinkling of really wonderful intelligent helpful and modest people, like me, well, I'm the only one in that group to be honest)

So those in group 1 have had some bad experiences with credit and have come here to find out how they can recover.   They then see post after post of people with 20+ cards, and since some are very aware of the dangers of easy credit, this seems very strange.   They then ask why to see if they are missing anything, and are then on the road to entering group 2!

I like the shoes analogy, but try to think of something you have no interest in.   So I currently have 246 pairs of designer sunglasses and plan to get at least 10 more by the end of the year.    Why so many?   Well, I obviously need to carry more than 1 because the one I am using might break.  Or I might accidently leave it at the office and won't have one for the drive home.  And they could get stolen so I need back up.    A maker may need to recall their product and I don't want to be left with no glasses.  And then there are lots of different weather and light conditions so I need to make sure I have enough to work in most of these conditions.   And I need the frame color to match that of my tie clips.    And when I wear some of the more expensive models, I feel that people recognize that I have prestige etc

(These are no more strange than many of the reasons offered here).

Still, sounds fairly harmless, my money and my glasses.   But for those fearful about credit, replace wearing sunglasses with drinking bottles of vodka....

[Anonymous]

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@kdm31091wrote:

I think as a whole people tend to overstress about AAOA. It is 15% of your score. The bigger component is basically paying on time and having low utilization (which is fluid month to month, so not important to maximize at all times). More minor components like AAOA are something to consider, but are not in most cases going to stop you from having a good to great score that will get you what you need.

Another factor I see mentioned a lot that I don't always agree with is diversification. When you are investing in stocks or something, yes, it's important to keep things diverse. With credit cards? As long as you have a couple major issuers in your pocket, it seems very unlikely you would have an issue. Your cards are not all going to be shut off at the same time for no reason, and it's just more to keep track of. I think 3-5 cards from a few different lenders is probably sufficient for "diversity" purposes.

There's also diminishing returns with rewards...the more you spread out your spend, the less benefit you really are able to reap on each account. This varies based on your income and spending but you can only support so many reward programs and really get anything out of them.

At the end of the day people are going to do what they want and some people just enjoy collecting the cards, which is fine, but like Lurker said upthread, many of the arguments don't hold up very well. Just do what works for you.

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The sign-up bonuses are why you get many reward cards.   I mean I am glad most people dont' just get 20 cards a year or I wouldn't be able to get so many rewards but there is surely a lot to benefit to acquiring a ton or rewards cards.  Really if you aren't getting any sort of reward why do you have more than one credit card?  The only non reward benefit I can see to a credit card is when you rent a car or deal with a merchant you might not trust 100 percent.  I didn't have a single credit card for 6 years and the only time I needed them were for rental cards. And I just used my corporate card to book the rental cars.  In all other instances I just used my debit Visa.  

[wasCB14]

I've gotten price rewinds on maybe eight pairs of shoes with my Prestige and Costco cards. A few good cards can go a long way.