How Many Credit Cards? Another Angle ...

[FICOdawg]

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@TrapLine wrote:

@FICOdawg 

Average consumer has 4.8 credit cards. In my life time, I think the least number of credit cards I ever had was eight. Did not know I was guilty of excesses except in eating?!

Being around the MyFico posters can lead to desires and more cards, bigger limits and lower Aprs. Funny thing, the posters are good at getting them.

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I am mid 50s.   Travelled the World for work and only have a Chase United and Chase Marriott card.     Never knew it actually hurt me to not have a chunk of cards in my pocket.   Im actually planning to get another card for the sake of my credit mix lol.   I've had my Marriott card since 2012 and this past week was the first time I ever asked for a CLI.

MyFICO you have to take with a grain of salt as I'm pretty conservative fiscally and there are people on here playing Russian roulette daily with balance transfers and they have credit limits and scores that far exceed their true financial state.    FICO 10T is going to snuff them out.

I don't know a single friend or colleague that's filed for bankruptcy or had to charge off debt.    Reading about people on this forum it's fairly prevalent.    Maybe there is a correlation.....   hmmmm.

[Realist]

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@FICOdawg wrote:

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@TrapLine wrote:

@FICOdawg 

Average consumer has 4.8 credit cards. In my life time, I think the least number of credit cards I ever had was eight. Did not know I was guilty of excesses except in eating?!

Being around the MyFico posters can lead to desires and more cards, bigger limits and lower Aprs. Funny thing, the posters are good at getting them.

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I am mid 50s.   Travelled the World for work and only have a Chase United and Chase Marriott card.     Never knew it actually hurt me to not have a chunk of cards in my pocket.   Im actually planning to get another card for the sake of my credit mix lol.   I've had my Marriott card since 2012 and this past week was the first time I ever asked for a CLI.

MyFICO you have to take with a grain of salt as I'm pretty conservative fiscally and there are people on here playing Russian roulette daily with balance transfers and they have credit limits and scores that far exceed their true financial state.    FICO 10T is going to snuff them out.

I don't know a single friend or colleague that's filed for bankruptcy or had to charge off debt.    Reading about people on this forum it's fairly prevalent.    Maybe there is a correlation.....   hmmmm.

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You aren't wrong about taking with a grain of salt.   I could tell stories about people I knew coming up that abused their credit in ways that even today, I don't see people doing, nor want to see people doing.   In a bad way.  I still wonder about how they're doing from time to time, but these unfortunate events are decades in the making. 

I know I play when I say to abuse credit, but it's meant in good fun to be done in a responsible way.  There are ways to do this, from the learning that came before.   Sometimes it's walking away from that school of hard knocks.  Sometimes it's taking the time to learn.  And sometimes, it's by way of observing through others that have walked the paths prior.  The last is where I hope to help others, and where I lead P3 and P4 to today.  These kids are absolutely golden.  I didn't have any of that coming up.  

But yes, on the boards, there are going to be many well intended individuals that do want to help, and some that know how to help, most likely because they've walked the walk.  And there will be others that want help, or don't know how to help.  Their advice, while I'm sure well intended, may or may not be the best advice for the best outcome, but the advice still appreciated.  We're all on the same team, although some people may have a few additional pieces of information to offer over others.

Take everything with a grain of salt, but with discernment, try to figure out what logically makes sense.  Is it probable, or not.  Logical, or not.  In the end, most people do actually want to help others.  I believe that anyways.

[FICOdawg]

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@Realist wrote:

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@FICOdawg wrote:

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@TrapLine wrote:

@FICOdawg 

Average consumer has 4.8 credit cards. In my life time, I think the least number of credit cards I ever had was eight. Did not know I was guilty of excesses except in eating?!

Being around the MyFico posters can lead to desires and more cards, bigger limits and lower Aprs. Funny thing, the posters are good at getting them.

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I am mid 50s.   Travelled the World for work and only have a Chase United and Chase Marriott card.     Never knew it actually hurt me to not have a chunk of cards in my pocket.   Im actually planning to get another card for the sake of my credit mix lol.   I've had my Marriott card since 2012 and this past week was the first time I ever asked for a CLI.

MyFICO you have to take with a grain of salt as I'm pretty conservative fiscally and there are people on here playing Russian roulette daily with balance transfers and they have credit limits and scores that far exceed their true financial state.    FICO 10T is going to snuff them out.

I don't know a single friend or colleague that's filed for bankruptcy or had to charge off debt.    Reading about people on this forum it's fairly prevalent.    Maybe there is a correlation.....   hmmmm.

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You aren't wrong about taking with a grain of salt.   I could tell stories about people I knew coming up that abused their credit in ways that even today, I don't see people doing, nor want to see people doing.   In a bad way.  I still wonder about how they're doing from time to time, but these unfortunate events are decades in the making. 

I know I play when I say to abuse credit, but it's meant in good fun to be done in a responsible way.  There are ways to do this, from the learning that came before.   Sometimes it's walking away from that school of hard knocks.  Sometimes it's taking the time to learn.  And sometimes, it's by way of observing through others that have walked the paths prior.  The last is where I hope to help others, and where I lead P3 and P4 to today.  These kids are absolutely golden.  I didn't have any of that coming up.  

But yes, on the boards, there are going to be many well intended individuals that do want to help, and some that know how to help, most likely because they've walked the walk.  And there will be others that want help, or don't know how to help.  Their advice, while I'm sure well intended, may or may not be the best advice for the best outcome, but the advice still appreciated.  We're all on the same team, although some people may have a few additional pieces of information to offer over others.

Take everything with a grain of salt, but with discernment, try to figure out what logically makes sense.  Is it probable, or not.  Logical, or not.  In the end, most people do actually want to help others.  I believe that anyways.

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I'be been trying to learn the FICO game since I joined the forum.     What's eye opening is people who filed BK or had charge offs are back in the game.    I understand rebuilding credit but there is a subset of folks who can't control the spending urge.

While I think most try to be helpful, it's important people realize income levels and perspective can be vastly different.

There is a recent poster in a pile of debt who wants an easy way out and can't see the true situation they are in.   They don't take accountability and blame others for the debt.  Eye opening for me.

There is obviously bias as there are some who successfully navigate the CC game and max out the rewards.      I'm just the one who likes to point out the potential downfalls of the CC game since Americans have 1 trillion in card debt.    This is why I say take the advice with a grain of salt.     Considering the data show many are underfunded for retirement, racking up credit card debt is not going to help.     

Im sure there are folks on here spending money they'd otherwise not spend just to hit SUB thresholds.    Probably not a smart move but im sure it's happening.      

[Minimalist]

I'm really no longer about 'playing the game' when it comes to my FICO score.  In the past 2 years I've been through numerous bouts of unemployment (9 months and 8 months respectively) and just had major surgery that's going to keep me out of work for longer.  When employment is acquired, and the money comes back in, the priorities will shift from credit to just living below my means and living off cash.  1 or 2 credit cards in the future, but not relying on them.  Making sure to have sufficient funds in the bank to insure that the next round of layoffs/unemployment will be covered in their entirety (it helps that I'm making a career transition to an industry that's relatively recession-proof).  

Overall the big goal is to not so much obtain wealth (although it'd be nice), but to have the piece of mind knowing that whatever new thing arises, you'll have the funds to cover it.  Money doesn't buy happiness, directly anyway, but what it does buy is security, which in turn leads to happiness knowing you're covered if the SHTF yet again.  That's better than any credit line or FICO score will ever provide, by itself anyway.