As many of you know, I work at Target. Yesterday when I was at work, I noticed a lady fumbling around with her wallet. She was looking for her Discover Platinum card. After about 5 minutes of searching through what must have been at least 25 credit cards (retail and major) she finally found it. In my opinion, if you have that many credit cards, and you carry them all around with you at all times, maybe it is time to close a few of them and only carry what you need! Just my 2 cents. Erica
I feel the same way! My sister has 11 cards and I think thats ridiculous. I worked in an amusement park for 7 years and I cant count how many times, people backed up my line looking through 25 cards for the one card they needed. I keep mine to 2 majors and one store card!
Whenever I get a new card, I close one of my older cards so that the total number of cards I have remains the same. Is it true that the average household has 10 major credit cards? I think this was mentioned on this site. Does anyone know when FICO starts penalizing you for having too many cards?
According economic sociologist Robert D. Manning (book title: Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit) the average number is 14 cards.
8 to 14 cards is not at all too many. In fact, it's just about right if you use them correctly, and here is the way to use them correctly. First open a savings account with the best possible interest rates with a bank that offers all online access to your accounts, no minimum balance, and other goodies. You also want free in-house transfers between accounts. Then deposit your entire check into the savings account each payday. Use each credit card for one week only, keeping them in rotation in such a manner that you are always shoving the payment dates further and further into the future. Be sure that you never charge anything on the cards that you do not already have the money in the savings account to pay for. Buy all your groceries and gasoline and everything you possibly can using your credit cards. Even pay your rent and utilities using the credit cards if at all possible. By doing this, you are always earning interest on the money you have already spent. Bill Bauer
8 to 14 cards is not at all too many. In fact, it's just about right if you use them correctly, and here is the way to use them correctly. First open a savings account with the best possible interest rates with a bank that offers all online access to your accounts, no minimum balance, and other goodies. You also want free in-house transfers between accounts. Then deposit your entire check into the savings account each payday. Use each credit card for one week only, keeping them in rotation in such a manner that you are always shoving the payment dates further and further into the future. Be sure that you never charge anything on the cards that you do not already have the money in the savings account to pay for. Buy all your groceries and gasoline and everything you possibly can using your credit cards. Even pay your rent and utilities using the credit cards if at all possible. By doing this, you are always earning interest on the money you have already spent. Bill Bauer
Bill; That is a great suggestion. CreditWorks offers something even better. Earn interest on credit cards that allow cash access. We have been paying 19.47% APR since May 1996. BTW I have more than 14 cards, but I only carry American Express Corporate card and United Mileage card on me. http://www.creditsense.com
