Credit cards, some people love them, some people hate them. For some, even one is too many, and other apply for 6+ cards every year (see: credit card points bloggers). On Twitter there was a thread with Brad at Enemy of Debt about the number of credit cards that people have. That got me curious. Before 2011, I only had one credit card and in fact wrote about how happy I was that I only had one card. Then I started reading travel/credit card points blogs, and realized how with a little bit of effort, I can get some cool travel experiences for not so much money. Now I have 5 credit cards:
- Citi Thank You Card, no annual fee
- Chase Hyatt Visa, $75/year fee
- Chase British Airways Visa, $95/year fee (looking to cancel this one soon)
- American Express Starwood Preferred Guest, $65/year fee, first year waived
- American Express Hilton Honors, no annual fee
I just applied for my sixth card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa for it’s 50,000 points bonus and the Ultimate Rewards network. Because I pay for almost everything on credit cards, I look for ones that will give me great sign-on bonuses and everyday rewards. To make them worth it, I practice SAFE credit use – I pay off my balance every month (OK, I’ve forgotten once or twice, but I call the credit card company to request a courtesy refund of the late fee, which I almost always get) and I keep a low credit utilization ratio. That’s not hard, because my total available credit tops $40,000, and the most I ever have on there is maybe $5,000 – and that’s with a few big purchases – before I pay off the monthly balance.
I wouldn’t keep signing up for cards if I expect to take on a loans in the next two years, but since I am still several years off from buying a home, and my credit is strong, I can take the credit inquiries that card applications “cost”. To keep track of my cards, I have an excel spreadsheet with the card’s name, the minimum spend requirement to hit sign-on bonuses, and the due dates. In addition, I try to use all of them at least once every few months so that I have some sort of activity on there.
How many credit cards do you have? How many do you think is too many?
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I have two credit cards, that I've had open for years, have a zero balance and which I don't use. I do use them every few months for something small to keep activity on them though. I wrote a post on my blog a few day ago at http://www.youngcheapliving.com, contemplating whether or not I should close them. I'm on the fence on that decision. Like you, I have high limits there are some rewards on them, which I'm not taking advantage of. I'm a Dave Ramsey follower and am fairly convinced that I don't need or want these credit card accounts anymore. Still not completely sure, however.
I have 3 altogether. I always pay my balance off every month and have never carried a balance.
I have 1 credit card with a very low line of credit. The point system isn't appealing enough for me to open a whole bunch of credit cards, though free vacations would be nice. But I like having just one card. I don't use credit cards enough to justify getting another. Plus, I've cut spending considerably, so even if I were to get one of these 'free points' cards (I'd never get one with an annual fee) I doubt my trips to the grocery store would be beneficial in the reward kickback.
I have an amex blue, and I had a few chase cards which I consolidated the available credit on and closed all but the Chase Freedom. I am going to try my bestest not to use it much.
Dani http://www.okdani.com
There are 5 in my wallet – all of them no annual fee. One's a store card and the other ones have pretty solid rewards programs – which is why I got them in the first place.
While there may be a limit to the number you can carry in your wallet, I don't see a problem with having lots of credit cards in general – so long as you aren't paying fees on a card that you never use, haha. It'll be interesting to see some of the other comments!
I have a southwest card, chase card, and an old citi bank card that I never use. My wife has her own credit card. Total of 4. We usually only use the southwest card for plane flight purchases.
I also got the Chase Sapphire Preferred card for the 50k bonus! I have to say that it was completely worth it. By redeeming them through their site for plane tickets, I ended up getting +$700 in credit for tickets I would have straight up bought anyway. But I still only signed up for it since the annual fee was waived for the first year. I'm about 6 months through my first year now, and I'm planning on calling Chase today to downgrade my card to the regular Chase Sapphire (no annual fee for that one). I crunched the numbers and I don't do enough traveling to make up for the $90 annual fee of the Preferred card.
I used to use the Chase Freedom card as my base card, but I realized that most of my credit card charges are for eating out (for better or for worse), so the Sapphire card is more lucrative rewards-wise for me.
as a follow up to my last comment, when I called Chase to switch to the plain Sapphire instead of the preferred, it took about 3 minutes and was no hassle AT ALL! you even get to keep your account number (altho they still have to send you a new card in the mail, so your exp date/CV changes). i thought they'd try to sell me and keep me on the preferred card, but they did no such thing. getting the card for the 50k bonus was toooootally worth it.
I do not have nearly enough credit cards. I'm missing out on a lot of sign up bonuses. Number one rule though when applying is to be debt free (maybe except the house).
I have two and would like to keep it to those. One is a regular major-bank-branded credit card that I rarely use. I have one recurring monthly bill on it just to keep it active. It was my first CC and has the longest history, so I keep it around. No annual fees, but no perks either. My second is a Chase Freedom card. I switched from using my debit for everything to the Chase for rewards and more security. I love it! Pay it off in full every month. My only gripe is that it takes longer (a couple days) for purchases to post, versus my debit card, where things posted almost immediately.
I am an authorized user on two credit cards for my job, but neither are actually in my name or report to my credit report.
I have one, the one from the bank I was at almost 10 years ago when I applied for my first credit card. Since then I have had a credit card for IKEA where I outfitted my first apartment – they offered 6 months 0% interest, and I paid it off in 3 – but it was never used after that and has since been closed. I'm thinking about getting a cash back card soon, but not before I finish paying off all my debts.
I have three. One primary. One so I get have banking fee waived at my bank. One is my very first credit card (that I am kind of attached to and have emotional issues closing it
…if I were to close an account, it would be this one as I haven't used this for years.
I have two, which I pay for most of my non-rent/utility expenses with. When I had just one, I would hit about 25% of my limit routinely and then pay off the whole balance, regardless of the time of the month. Getting a second card doubled my available credit, so I'm not as concerned about credit utilization anymore. I am not planning on getting another soon; keeping track of the rewards is too complicated for me. I don't need another PF-thing to track – I have enough right now!
Right now, I've got 2 cards – I have the alaska airline signature (though I dont live in Seattle where they are based, the $99 companion ticket is enough for me to keep the card) and a southwest air card because I fly them a lot. I'm planning on applying for the chase saphirre and trying to get my fiancee on board and apply for it as well to double our points haul.
Sometimes I wonder what people think of me as I sort through my cards at the grocery checkout. They probably wouldn't suspect that I'm anti-credit and carry no debt! This is what's in my wallet:
-Chase debit/credit card that replaced one that I lost. I used to get rewards points for charging it as a credit card, so it has a sticker on it to remind me about that.
-Chase debit/credit card that I lost on the bus that was later returned to me (after I'd had the new card issued) and still works. I use that only for the ATM, because I can remember the PIN for this one but not the other.
-debit card for HSA (sticker!)
-debit card for public transportation FSA (sticker!)
-old AMEX JetBlue card that is no longer active (I have need of the number sometimes, so I know where it is). That was my first credit card; it was useful for the TrueBlue points, which will just about cover our honeymoon flight's after a year's use, and it also built up my credit file. But it had an annual fee, and AMEX wouldn't waive it, so I cancelled it at the end of the year.
-Chase Freedom card: my new baby! It's earned me almost $300 cash back since I opened it in October, without changing my spending habits or paying any interest or annual fee.
I have two cards- one I've had since I was 19 and that's my biggest debt of all. The other is a Discover card I am working on paying off the balance first since the interest rate is 14.99% (the other one is 9.24%). I used to have a CitiPremier pass when I traveled a lot for work, I did get a lot of cool rewards, but unfortunately, I always carried a balance. I paid for those "rewards" several times over. Maybe in the future when I've paid all my debts I will get a rewards card for monthly use (and pay each month!) but for now I don't need any rewards!
I've got a Capital One Miles card, Discover Card, Credit Union Card, Bank of America Card, Marriott Rewards Card. The only one with a fee is Marriott. Most will be canceled once we purchase a house as I won't need the credit anymore. Right now the only one getting used is Marriott card as we rack up the hotel points for a Hawaii trip. If it wasn't for the rewards I wouldn't use one of them.
I have a United Airlines card and American Express (Costco). I have more, but use them very rarely. My United has a fee, but I usually generate enough frequent flier miles to go first or business class evry couple of years overseas.
Costco AMEX is my primary, a VISA and a Mastercard that each give me 1% back, thinking about getting a Discover card to round up the big 4. As I said before, best to have a few cards to fall back on just in case one or more gives you "trouble" or you lose a card and need another one to get by. It's weird how much credit cards seem to have deeply embed themselves into our lives. BTW nice post off my comment about how much is enough, I'm glad I can contribute indirectly sometimes
I do have currently 6 cards in my wallets =, these days we all are living our life with plastic money .
We have one card we use regularly, the USAA MasterCard we've had for years. No rewards or points, but a low rate — which doesn't matter, since we pay it off. Another Capital One mastercard lays unused in the safe.
I'm surprised you have so many. What's the point? Just to get sign up rewards?
I have two, a Visa and an airmiles Mastercard. The Visa was the first credit card I've ever had so it has my longest credit history which is why I keep it, the Mastercard I got to earn airmiles, but also because when I was travelling two years ago and only had one card, my Visa got STOLEN and I ended up totally screwed when I had to pay for hotels, etc. with my debit card or cash. So now I keep two cards just so when I travel I can leave one in the hotel in case I lose my purse or something when I'm out.
I just applied for a cash-back card, and when it comes in I'm going to cancel my Mastercard. I don't really see the point in keeping more than 2 cards (one for regular use, one as backup if the first is lost/stolen). I don't want to have too much credit out in my name or be over-exposed to identity theft.
I have 2: An old one that I never use (Citibank) because the fees are too high and there are no rewards — but I don't want to close it because it's the only card I have that allows me to carry a balance. The other is an American Express charge card that has a $50/year fee but I get that back every year (and more) in points. My old company paid the fee; my new one doesn't. I use it to pay all my bills.
In college I had a few store credit cards that I have since closed. There's really no point in those.
I would feel comfortable getting one more as an alternate to the Citibank card, one with a lower rate and good rewards, but that's all I would do.
I have three:
- MBNA Mastercard, 1% cashback
- AMEX, Airmiles
- Scotiabank SCENE Visa, you get points that you can redeem for movie tickets
I feel these three are already too many for me. For now, the first two are just for regular bills (phone, cable, internet) and the last one is for credit card purchases. Since I got married we've moved into mostly debit card/cash purchases so there are no surprises at the end of the month (as in, you need how much to pay your credit card?? for what??). At least with debit the money is taken right away so we know exactly how much money we have left for spending that month.
I have 3 – 1 Mastercard. 2 Visas. None with fees. And I have one visa & one mastercard that both give a cashback at the end of the year.
I’m thinking of cancelling one of the Visas (the one without cashback)
I have 15 to 16 cards and earned 1 million miles and points in 2011. To me, that is a fair price to pay for the credit inquiries. My score is still above 700 and I have the dilemma of being able to go wherever I want, but not have enough vacation time.
It does take a bit of work to track them all, so this isn't for you if you like to simplify your finances!
I only have 1 credit card & it's more than enough. I don't really see the point in getting anymore since most of the points we have here are useless.
I have 2. One for all my bills, and the other for everyday use.
I would like to comment about the excessive and unwise use of credit cards. The problem with credit cards is that in many cases people with the worst credit are the most likly to use credit. I know of someone where I work that has sixty thousand dollars of student loan debt but I do not think many folks realize how so very easy it is to get hooked on credit. By the time they realize how bad things really are its to late.
I have three. 1 for history and best benefits, 1 for the high balance and low interest rate and the third is literally for emergencies… actually, if I'm being honest it's for clout. It's an AmEx. I think they're the high end of CC.
I carry no balances (finally) on any of them. The other three I had were unnecessary.