This is one of those "it must be true, I saw it on the internet" things. If you pay your bills you can have literally dozens of credit cards. I sure do. Including, for example, three Marriott cards and six AA cards.

As with pushback, I have gotten tons of credit cards over the last couple of years (Thanks FT for the inspiration and the miles ). And my credit score is fine. I just applied for three more airline cards and had no problem getting all three. The biggest problem is figuring out which cards to take out of my overstuffed wallet!

One way to keep credit problems from developing is, when you close an account, don't really close it. Instead, have the credit limit consolidated with a remaining account which will protect your credit score for a variety of dumb reasons related to the irrational world of credit scores.

Meanwhile, keep those free bonus miles coming in! ^

How long can this madness continue? Gotta love the more irrational aspects of marketing in a quasi-monoply setup.