What is the appropriate number of credit cards to have to limit the potential risks in unauthorized use and yet maximize the rewards different cards offer? Every time I see a program about the internet and credit card scams, I think about the number of cards I have and the risk of some of these being compromised. I don't necessary carry all of the cards I have nor do I use them too much in transacting over the internet, but I do pay on line and therefore connect to the card account and my bank account.

Has anyone done an analysis to determine the optimum number of cards to have? I see many posts suggesting not to cancel cards even if they are not utilized but can not see any discussion on risks vs. rewards for holding on to numerous cards.

Why do you worry about unauthorized use of the cards ? Let the issuer worry about it and take care of that if anything happens.

You should always remember: it is not your money that is taken out by fraud, it's the issuer's money, the issuer has to figure out how to recover lost money not you. As a consumer you are 100% protected. So go ahead and carry as many as you want.

There is no risk at all, just rewards.

The only risk is not going after the rewards!

I must have had over a hundred cards since I was educated by FTers. Never had any security issues. In fact, aside from a fraudulent charge on a Chase Debit card a few years ago which was quickly resolved the toughest part of getting millions of miles was lugging those Mint boxes around.

+1

I can't remember the last time I saw a card without $0 liability for fraudulent charges. Do they even exist any more?

mrsmicah's wallet was lifted a few months ago and within a couple hours the thieves ran up several thousand dollars in charges on at least 5-6 of our cards. All it cost us was a little time to dispute the charges, get new cards issued and notify merchants of new account numbers for recurring charges.

Unless I use a card frequently, it goes away in a desk drawer and stays there. The monthly balances are $0 on these cards. Anything else (with appropriate purchase email warnings set with each issuer) and I'd raise an eyebrow.

Agree with the above posts. . . I don't believe having more credit cards really gives you a greater risk. As long as you can at least view the statements, then you shouldn't have to worry about errant charges.

The real "risk" is that you may start to run up charges on the various cards, not be able to pay them off, start running up greater and greater interest charges, etc. But, if you are confident you have a handle on your spending, I'd say go for it. (carefully!)

There is no concern about spending too much because of credit cards. Its more of bad guys scamming the IDs and PINs, data bases with my numbers in it. What about thieves coming in and doing damage to my cards or taking same even when I keep these at home when not in use.

It really does not matter in which way someone else uses your cards or account numbers. As long as they are obtained by fraud you are protected 100%. All you have to do is to tell your card issuer that it was fraud. It's simple as that.

I have had 2 fraud issues with two chase cards in the last year, both cards were in my drawer not even in wallet, chase contacted meabout the fraud within 1 hour of the charges, reversed all the charges, issued me new cards and had them overnighted. no hassel for me
on a side note my wife did have citi suspect fraud on one of her cards due ot over use and they temporarly shut down her card. she called the number on back of card and confirmed she was the one charging like a madwoman and they unfroze the account, come to think of it i wish they would do that more often i might not have as many miles but i would have more money in the bank.

Thank you for your comments so far.

I've had three fraud incidents in the past few years. One involved a girl I (regrettably) dated who stole a credit card; Chase waived all charges. One involved an ATM/Debit card where I had a bit of a hassle but nothing too bad, and after filling out the appropriate forms I had the charges returned to me. The third involved Amex calling me and saying "Is this charge yours?" and me saying "Goodness no, that card has been sitting in a drawer for years, I never use it."

I work for a large software company which makes, among other things, fraud detection software. The credit card companies spend millions to flag suspicious transactions. Mostly it's their problem to deal with, not yours. I probably net $1000-$2000 a year in value of bonuses, I would never give that up just to avoid the annoyance of dealing with a possible fraud case every few years.

I use Quicken on a daily basis to download all my financial data. Twice over the past few years this alerted me to fraudulent charges on my credit cards. The charges were removed promptly when I contacted banks.