Originally Posted by pinniped

I used to dabble in the "everyday spend" type cards but realized that the total incremental gain in rewards over a month's worth of spending wasn't worth the hassle. The main reason: I don't drive much, and the biggest opportunity for those cards for a single consumer user seems to be gasoline.

The main reasons I can think of for holding many cards:

(a) Your primary-spending needs have changed over time, but your original round of cards is what keeps your average account age up. Then canceling all of those old cards could actually result in a negative impact to your credit score.

(b) You charge enough to hit three or four of the big threshold perks that are out there. Say you charge $200-300k a year. Why not run through a couple different BA Visas for extra award certificates, the HH Amex for Diamond status, and a couple of EQM-bearing cards for your favorite airlines? So then I could see holding 5-6 cards for threshold spending, plus a couple other hotel cards, plus a no-FX card and maybe 1-2 others...quickly you're at 10-15 cards.

(c) You really do spend a lot in the "everyday spending" categories. Gassing up a fleet of vehicles, maybe buying a lot in bulk from a home improvement store, paying for cell phones for all of your small business's employees, etc. Then I'd be likely to carry specific cards and require my employees to carry them too, if applicable.