Anonymous wrote:One is too many if you ask me...I have a credit/debit card and I NEVER use credit. I don't like owing anyone money and will keep it that way. Only exceptions are huge purchases like car/house/similarly expensive which are obviously too much to pay in cash. I don't use my credit cad for anything ever and feel very good not having any uncontrollable debt that I can't even keep track of anymore

To me that would be throwing money away. I use credit cards that give cash back bonuses. When I was a part-time small business owner, I got about $900-1000 per year in cash back bonuses. Now that I've sold out my share of the small business, I still get about $600 per year in cash back bonuses. I put everything on the card, pay it off promptly at the due date and collect the cashback bonus.

As long as you pay off your cards every month, no problem. I might fear not being able to keep track.

Anonymous wrote:One is too many if you ask me...I have a credit/debit card and I NEVER use credit. I don't like owing anyone money and will keep it that way. Only exceptions are huge purchases like car/house/similarly expensive which are obviously too much to pay in cash. I don't use my credit cad for anything ever and feel very good not having any uncontrollable debt that I can't even keep track of anymore

OK, grandma. 1994 is calling, they want you back!

I have around 15 major credit cards and 3 store cards. I rotate them similarly to the previous poster to maximize rewards points. I try to do ALL of my spending in credit, and then I pay it off each month. Credit score is 813 according to Discover, and I probably make about $2k/year in rewards

Anonymous wrote:One is too many if you ask me...I have a credit/debit card and I NEVER use credit. I don't like owing anyone money and will keep it that way. Only exceptions are huge purchases like car/house/similarly expensive which are obviously too much to pay in cash. I don't use my credit cad for anything ever and feel very good not having any uncontrollable debt that I can't even keep track of anymore

Strange reasoning there... You don't want to "owe" money so won't charge a purchase to a credit card that gets paid in full every month yet you will borrow tens or hundreds of thousands for a car or house? Makes no sense.

One is too many if you ask me...I have a credit/debit card and I NEVER use credit. I don't like owing anyone money and will keep it that way. Only exceptions are huge purchases like car/house/similarly expensive which are obviously too much to pay in cash. I don't use my credit cad for anything ever and feel very good not having any uncontrollable debt that I can't even keep track of anymore

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 15 from major banks and one store card. If you're paying in full each month and not spending more because you have a credit card, then there is never "too many." Take advantage of the miles and points offers out there!

WOW! Do you carry them all with you in your wallet?

Yes, and I use a note app to keep track of which ones to use where to maximize bonus miles.

I have two cards for everyday use, and one I use for travel abroad since it has no foreign transaction fees.

Anonymous wrote:I have 15 from major banks and one store card. If you're paying in full each month and not spending more because you have a credit card, then there is never "too many." Take advantage of the miles and points offers out there!

WOW! Do you carry them all with you in your wallet?

We only have 1 card, I wouldn't want more than that.

Only one card.

I have two cards. One for most stuff, the second as back up in case the first one is lost/stolen/revoked because of security breach. I charge once or twice a month to keep it active.

Anonymous wrote:I have 15 from major banks and one store card. If you're paying in full each month and not spending more because you have a credit card, then there is never "too many." Take advantage of the miles and points offers out there!

Wow, PP, that makes my 6 total cards seem like nothing! I definitely do take advantage - and make sure to think about where to put each charge before I make a purchase. For example, my Discover card gives 5% cash back on a different categories for 3 months at a time, my BofA card gives 3% on groceries and 2% on gas, my AmEx is the only one I can use at Costco, and Barclays card for NFL shop purchases. All of the cards give 1% cash back on "everything else."

Also, I love that Discover has this online thing called "ShopDiscover," where if you go through their website when you are online shopping, you can get 5-20% cash back depending on if Discover has a relationship with the retailer you are buying from. My Barclays has a similar thing called RewardsBoost or something. So I definitely maximize cash/points back!

I have always been responsible with my finances thanks to my dad who drilled some very important principles about money into my head from a young age.

I think I'm gonna get the Target Red Card!

I have 15 from major banks and one store card. If you're paying in full each month and not spending more because you have a credit card, then there is never "too many." Take advantage of the miles and points offers out there!

I have 3 Visas through 3 different banks, one through Bank of America (this is my oldest card, used to have BofA checking but closed it when they threatened to charge $5 account maintenance fees but kept the card because of age), one through Wells Fargo (now my primary bank that replaced BofA), and one through Barclays that is an NFL rewards card so I get 20% off NFL merchandise (DH is obsessed with football), a Discover card (my second-oldest card), an AmEx (got it so I could use it at Costco), and a store credit card. So, 5 normal credit cards and 1 store credit card in total.

Is that too many already? I am wanting a Target red card for the 5% discount and free shipping from online for stuff I can't find in my particular store, but I think I have too many cards! I like to spread out my monthly purchases and the statements all close at different times of the month so it is helpful in terms of rotating which one I use at any particular time. Also, I like to keep my credit utilization ratio down by spreading out my charges and having high credit limits on each of them.

FWIW, I never carry a balance on any of the cards and pay them off in full each month. My Discover card now gives me my FICO score on each statement (which is awesome!) and my score is in the 730's. All my cards have no annual fees.

I have no other loans - cars are paid off, no mortgage because we rent, no student loans, no other debt to speak of, so my credit cards are the only "lines of credit" that I have.

So, how many is too many credit cards? How many do you have? Do you have a lot of different store cards?