Vanessa Howell

Hey folks,

So a few months back I jumped into the frequent flyer scene and quickly realized that my choice of credit card could be quite beneficial to earning points/miles and status with airlines and hotels.

I use credit responsibly, always paying my balance off completely each month and living within my means.

I'd love to take advantage of all the travel benefits on the cards, but how many is too many?

I currently have
Credit Union Visa with no rewards: I keep it because it's my oldest card, and canceling would negatively affect my credit score.
Fidelity Visa: 2% cash back on everything
Amex Blue Preferred: 6% cashback at grocery stores, 3% gas stations. $75 pa fee
Amex Platinum: All the Amex Plat goodies like lounge access, concierge service, SPG Gold, $100 for Global Access, $200 for airline incidentals. No foreign transaction fee. $450 pa fee. I don't use it for the points since it's only 1%
Marriott Rewards Visa: 15 nights towards elite status per year, 1 free night a year, no foreign transaction fee, every $3,000 of spend gives 1 night towards elite status, 5 points per $ at MR, 2pts dining/travel, 1 pt elsewhere. $84pa fee. I'm currently spending on this card mostly to get points + elite status faster.

I'm considering getting:
IHG Rewards Club Select Visa: IHG plat status, free night, 5 points per $ extra at IHG, 10% rebate on point redemptions. Primarily because there is a location I travel to a lot w/ no MR or SPG properties.
Amex SPG: 5 nights towards elite status, 5 points per $ at SPG. I'm considering adding SPG as a secondary hotel chain. 1 point everywhere else (which nets to ~2.5% given value of SPG points)

I don't have any airline credit cards because none offer deals that are really that good. In particular Alaska no longer has the first class companion fare offer.

Are there cards I've missed?
I looked at Chase Sapphire, but it didn't really seem that compelling overall - especially when compared w/ either my 2% Fidelity visa cash back on everything, or the Amex SPG.

invisible

Let me take a look at my collection... over 15 years - 64 of them. Currently 7 of them active from 3 different countries.

Sheikh Yerbooty

I have 3. 2 that is mine, of which one is (or, rather, was) for emergencies (AMEX, never used) during business travels in the US. The third one is the card linked directly to the company's account, which covers all business needs. Personally I find that one too many, and may well ditch the emergency AMEX - not least because I am now in the lucky situation of not having to go to the US for business anymore.

Badenoch

If you're using the credit responsibly (i.e. not using the cards to rotate balances) then have as many as you want. I have 6 cards right now between personal and business. My concern is less about the number of cards than having available credit should I need to fly home at a moment's notice or need to spend a few extra days in a hotel should I be stranded for whatever reason.

I also don't carry all my credit cards in the same manner when travelling. I have a spare in a second place should I lose my wallet. Very comforting when travelling in dodgy areas.

rxgeek

Sounds like you have a good plan. If you cannot keep track of them, you have too many.

aradisc

I wouldn't say you have too many cards. But here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Have you opened all of those (besides the credit union card) in the past few months? If so, you might want to cool down for a bit. What's your average age of accounts?

2. Consider getting a credit report (eligible for the free annual one from each bureau?) just to get a sense of what it would look like to future creditors. The info on Credit Karma, Credit Sesame is great (and free!) but I'm of the opinion that looking at your plain, cold credit report will help you understand what a bank sees about you.

3. For the long term, be aware of what exposure you have to each bank, and which credit bureaus they use in your location, and manage this to have the best chances of getting approved for new cards.


In terms of the Chase Sapphire Preferred (the version with the annual fee), the reason people like it compared to a 2% cashback on everything card is the versatility of the points, like SPG. While it only earns 2% points on travel and dining, you can transfer the points to 5 different airlines and a variety of hotel chains. I trust you already know how you can save a ton of money with award flights and be able do business or first class redemptions that you might never have been able to afford otherwise.

Loren Pechtel

This. There's no such thing as having too many cards. The only issue is using them irresponsibly.

Vanessa Howell

Thanks aradisc,

I've opened two in the last two months (Amex Plat and Marriott Rewards), one in the last 18 months (Amex blue preferred), one in the last three years (Fidelity). Credit Union one is ancient. I've opened and closed a few cards in between, but nothing of note in the last five years.

I typically have anywhere from a few hundred to $2,000 on the cards each month that I pay off. Work travel expenses tend to go on them too, and I get reimbursed next pay cycle for them.

My bank exposure is fairly mixed, currently 1 Chase, 1 credit union, 2 Amex, 1 FIA (Fidelity). The other two cards would add another Amex and Chase if I get them. So I'd have a fair concentration in Amex/Chase then.

On Chase Sapphire - I think the value of most points is roughly 1c, w/ SPG being roughly 2.5%. So SPG Amex would earn me slightly more on travel than Sapphire or my 2x MR card.

I can see the value of transferring points to multiple airlines/hotel chains though. I tend to stick with one or two and build up points there so for now it probably doesn't make too much sense for me.

darthbimmer

I have 5 cards in my name that are branded with airline/hotel programs. I have 3 cards jointly with my wife that have no special affinity. My wife has 3 additional cards in her name only.

We certainly don't need this many cards for the spending limits. We use them for the rewards and shift around which one we use for any given purchase to maximize rewards. We live well within our means and pay off our cards every month.

How many is too many? We check our credit reports and FICO scores about twice a year and have observed that my excessive combined credit line has dropped my score by a small increment. We are contemplating a house move that would require obtaining a new mortgage so we are careful about reducing our FICO scores. I anticipate closing 2-3 of my accounts within the next 6 months, before their annual renewal fees hit, as I travel with those air/hotel partners infrequently.

nkedel

I have 5 cards. The usual advice I've gotten is that's too many, although it caused no problems with a recent refi.

Two are literally never used -- an Amex Blue that is my oldest live account, and a Chase MC that has a very low interest rate -- neither has had a charge in nearly 6 years, I have my bank set to send them a $5 bill payment each month to keep them active, and they each ship me back a $20 or $30 check for the credit balance refund a couple of times a year. Neither one has an annual fee.

Three are Citi AA cards, which follow a chain of "fee waived as long as you hold the next more expensive one:"
- Citi AA Amex, fee waived for having a Citi AA (non-Executive) MC -- which I use once or twice a month at costco

- Citi AA (non-Executive) MC -- my main card before getting the executive card; used to be used a couple times a quarter for sketchier online payments because it was the only card I had that had virtual account numbers. Also used for AA award redemptions for the 10% mileage refund. Fee waived for having the AA Executive MC, although I had to call twice to get it waived despite being told it would be automatic.

- Citi AA Executive MC -- my main card, at least for now. 10k EQM has been irrelevant the past three years (got it too late in '11 to get to $40k in spend, made PLT without it in '12 and nowhere near EXP even with it), but the AC membership is nice, and the no-foreign-fees came in really handy the past two years. Holding it one more year to see if AA follows UA in waiving qualifying spend if you put enough through their top-tier card.

Ocn Vw 1K

Vanessa Howell, we have a special, exclusive, and no-cost offer for you: we'll move this to the dedicated forum on affinity credit cards for more discussion. Thanks! Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

dangw20

Aren't there people on Flyertalk with 15-20 open credit cards? And some with more than that?

Based on everything I've read there's no such thing as too many credit cards. What hurts you is:
-opening too many cards in a short period of time
-not being able to manage so many lines of credit (missed payments, etc.)
-not being able to open a new account with a specific issuer because you've maxed out your exposure with them

I know there are other ways too many cards can hurt you, but they're all self-inflicted reasons. If you manage your credit wisely and don't apply for too many cards at a time there's no such thing as too many cards.

gwar69

I have 20. Ok, 1 is my coporate card from my company with no credit check/not on my credit report. So I really have 19. My Chase UA card just had the annual fee billed, so I figured I would apply for the Chase WN card, and have the reconsideration line close the UA card. Well, I was instantly approved yesterday for the WN card. I have every card set to auto pay the full balance, since it's hard to keep track of all of them, even though I am only using about 5 of them right now.

drminn

I currently have 18 open credit cards, my wife has 14, my son has 4, with a combined credit limit of about $380,000. With the exception of one AMEX, and three Visa cards (CapitalOne, BofA, USBank) all were opened in the last two years. None of us carries a balance, although at any one point we have about $10K in outstanding charges - essentially a 0% credit of $10K.

dangw20

That sounds more like what I'm used to hearing on FT.

FWIW, I have 7 cards, all from the last 1.5 years. My credit score has actually increased a lot in the last 1.5 years too. I didn't get my first card until I graduated college, but I expect in the next couple years I will probably have the 15-20 cards that many other on this forum have.