How many credit cards do you have?
Jul 30, 2014, 8:15 pm
#31
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Virginia City Highlands
Programs: Nothing anymore after 20 years
Posts: 6,907
It really depends on a country one is living. In Singapore (and in Korea), for example, average person has 12 credit/debit cards, compare this to 4 in States.
FT is not a representative slice of average US (or any other country) households, so having poll here would give a picture of FTers, but not country/region/state/etc.
FT is not a representative slice of average US (or any other country) households, so having poll here would give a picture of FTers, but not country/region/state/etc.
Jul 31, 2014, 9:41 pm
#32
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: TYS/BNA/ATL
Programs: UR, TYP, MR, C1, AA, UA, WN, BA, AS, AV, AC, Choice, Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Wyndham, Marriott
Posts: 1,987
I have 24 open CCs (2 down last few weeks)
I carry with me:
Amex Blue Cash
JCB Marukai Premium
Priceline 2x
Citi Prestige
Citi Forward
Chase Ink x2
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Freedom (not all the time)
Amex SPG
Club Carlson
I carry 2 debit cards:
Citi Bank
Paypal Business debit card
Gift cards:
Amex GC
Prepaid cards:
Serve/Isis x2
When I travel abroad on my own:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Ink
Citi Prestige
Penfed Cash Rewards
Discover It
I carry with me:
Amex Blue Cash
JCB Marukai Premium
Priceline 2x
Citi Prestige
Citi Forward
Chase Ink x2
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Freedom (not all the time)
Amex SPG
Club Carlson
I carry 2 debit cards:
Citi Bank
Paypal Business debit card
Gift cards:
Amex GC
Prepaid cards:
Serve/Isis x2
When I travel abroad on my own:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Ink
Citi Prestige
Penfed Cash Rewards
Discover It
Last edited by yugi; Jul 31, 2014 at 9:51 pm
Aug 1, 2014, 1:14 am
#34
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
I have 20+ cards, but they are with only six or seven banks with multiple cards under each login. Only three or four are in use at any given time, but it is not difficult to monitor the dormant ones for suspicious activity with online banking and email statement.
When I started playing the 0% money game back around 2006 I was horrible about keeping track of paying bills. Since I could not risk missing a payment by a day when I was juggling $50,000 that could jump to 29.9% in a heartbeat.
I use Excel to track everything. Column A is contains every day of the year. Column B is the running balance of my checking account. The next couple columns are my income - salary and expense/miscellaneous, plus a couple more for other accounts I may push money to/from. Each credit card and other bill has its own column across the spreadsheet with basic info like the last four digits and payment day of the month. It is currently out to column AI, but I hide the columns for dormant cards to keep it manageable.
When I get a bill I will enter the payment amount under the appropriate card and on the row for the date due. If I have not yet scheduled the online payment, I color it red. Once the payment is scheduled I change it to blue. When it clears the bank I change it to green. I also color the cell for the first day of the month so I can see at a glance the status of every card. Everything gets rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity. My checking balance is project out at least a month to make sure that there is always money to pay.
When I started playing the 0% money game back around 2006 I was horrible about keeping track of paying bills. Since I could not risk missing a payment by a day when I was juggling $50,000 that could jump to 29.9% in a heartbeat.
I use Excel to track everything. Column A is contains every day of the year. Column B is the running balance of my checking account. The next couple columns are my income - salary and expense/miscellaneous, plus a couple more for other accounts I may push money to/from. Each credit card and other bill has its own column across the spreadsheet with basic info like the last four digits and payment day of the month. It is currently out to column AI, but I hide the columns for dormant cards to keep it manageable.
When I get a bill I will enter the payment amount under the appropriate card and on the row for the date due. If I have not yet scheduled the online payment, I color it red. Once the payment is scheduled I change it to blue. When it clears the bank I change it to green. I also color the cell for the first day of the month so I can see at a glance the status of every card. Everything gets rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity. My checking balance is project out at least a month to make sure that there is always money to pay.
Aug 1, 2014, 9:13 am
#35
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: TYS/BNA/ATL
Programs: UR, TYP, MR, C1, AA, UA, WN, BA, AS, AV, AC, Choice, Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Wyndham, Marriott
Posts: 1,987
https://check.me/
Aug 1, 2014, 10:14 am
#36
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
Interesting app/software. That would tank in Europe since pretty much everybody (under the age of 70) pays bills by electronic direct debit. The only thing that I don't pay that way is my Amex cards (because I like to monitor the statements).
Aug 1, 2014, 11:22 am
#38
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: TYS/BNA/ATL
Programs: UR, TYP, MR, C1, AA, UA, WN, BA, AS, AV, AC, Choice, Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Wyndham, Marriott
Posts: 1,987
You can monitor all the activity via Check app. That's what I do.
Aug 1, 2014, 12:51 pm
#39
Join Date: May 2005
Location: MIA/SJU/MCO
Programs: AA LT PLT; DL GLD, UA nothing, B6 Mosaic; Emerald Club Executive
Posts: 3,331
I have 11 credit, and 2 debits (plus countless other random non debit ATM cards from various credit unions I've joined throughout the years).
Amex x3
BPPR x3
Santander Puerto Rico x1
Barclaycard x1
GECRB x2
Discover x1
Citi x1
Ally x1
Out of these, Amex green, my Discover, and my BPPR debit live in my wallet. Any other card is on an as-needed basis.
ie- if I'm flying B6, I'll bring my Santander Jetblue MC, if I'm on AA, I'll bring my BPPR AA card, or if I need to impress, I'll bring my Amex platinum.
The Ally debit card strictly there for mainland US travel, in case a mainland US atm tries to rip me off from my BPPR card (which many ATM's don't recognize as a US card)
Amex x3
BPPR x3
Santander Puerto Rico x1
Barclaycard x1
GECRB x2
Discover x1
Citi x1
Ally x1
Out of these, Amex green, my Discover, and my BPPR debit live in my wallet. Any other card is on an as-needed basis.
ie- if I'm flying B6, I'll bring my Santander Jetblue MC, if I'm on AA, I'll bring my BPPR AA card, or if I need to impress, I'll bring my Amex platinum.
The Ally debit card strictly there for mainland US travel, in case a mainland US atm tries to rip me off from my BPPR card (which many ATM's don't recognize as a US card)
Aug 1, 2014, 7:26 pm
#41
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
Programs: AA EXP/MM, DL GM, UA Platinum, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 33,857
Aug 1, 2014, 7:34 pm
#42
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: SYD
Programs: TK*G, QR Gold, VA Gold, NZ Gold
Posts: 237
OMG you guys have a lot of Credit Cards. The maximum I had was only 6 and I've gone bizerk. Can't imagine more than 10 really.
Now I only have 1 Signature card that provides heaps of benefits. All that I need. LOL I've entered into monogamous relationship with Visa.
Now I only have 1 Signature card that provides heaps of benefits. All that I need. LOL I've entered into monogamous relationship with Visa.
Aug 2, 2014, 10:11 am
#43
Join Date: May 2005
Location: MIA/SJU/MCO
Programs: AA LT PLT; DL GLD, UA nothing, B6 Mosaic; Emerald Club Executive
Posts: 3,331
Aug 2, 2014, 10:19 am
#44
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 17
Oh my, some of you have quite a lot of cards going on. Here i am with only a Visa DEBIT card.
Seeing that the whole collecting points with credit cards aren't that big in my country i don't see the reason to have one. I pay for my stuff with the actual money i have, straight up.
Seeing that the whole collecting points with credit cards aren't that big in my country i don't see the reason to have one. I pay for my stuff with the actual money i have, straight up.
Aug 2, 2014, 10:30 am
#45
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Bangkok or San Francisco
Programs: United 1k, Marriott Lifetime PE, Former DL Gold, Former SQ Solitaire, HH Gold
Posts: 11,886
We're having a discussion in the TS&S forum about a fraudster who was recently apprehended transiting a checkpoint with 50 credit cards in his carry-on. TSA thought this suspicious and called the police, who subsequently determined that the cards were fraudulent and the man was charged with several crimes.
I'd like to get a sense of how many credit cards the average frequent flier has at any given time. This does not count gift cards or pre-paid cards, just credit and debit cards that actually have a name on them.
Although this is a financial topic, I avoided the forums dedicated to credit and debit card programs, because I want to get an idea of the mean average. Those who frequent the credit and debit forums, I feel, would be more likely to open larger numbers of accounts in order to take advantage of signing bonuses and other programs, which would throw off the results.
So, tell me: How many credit cards do you have at any given time? How many do you carry on your person when traveling? How many do you actually use, as opposed to those you only signed up for to get some bonus miles?
I'd like to get a sense of how many credit cards the average frequent flier has at any given time. This does not count gift cards or pre-paid cards, just credit and debit cards that actually have a name on them.
Although this is a financial topic, I avoided the forums dedicated to credit and debit card programs, because I want to get an idea of the mean average. Those who frequent the credit and debit forums, I feel, would be more likely to open larger numbers of accounts in order to take advantage of signing bonuses and other programs, which would throw off the results.
So, tell me: How many credit cards do you have at any given time? How many do you carry on your person when traveling? How many do you actually use, as opposed to those you only signed up for to get some bonus miles?