Poll

How many credit cards do you have?

1-2: I keep it simple
11 (22.9%)
3-5
16 (33.3%)
6-10
8 (16.7%)
11-15
6 (12.5%)
16-20
2 (4.2%)
20+: I'm a churner to the max!
5 (10.4%)
NONE: credit cards are the worst.
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 48

Author Topic: How many credit cards do you have?  (Read 17418 times)

VAR

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #50 on: March 17, 2016, 05:48:30 AM »
I have 5 right now but just applied to 2 BoA for sign up bonuses.
I'm also not buying a house any time soon and my job is very unlikely to ever be affected by my credit score.

I don't see how you could get burned by it - other than if you can't stop yourself from spending more.
I was already putting all expenses on my amazon card before I ever heard of churning.
So why not put expenses on a variety of cards to get more bonuses?
My 3 chase cards are all on the same login so there's nothing really extra to monitor.
My mother thinks I'm crazy but she has always been one to run up spending to her limits. So to her applying for cards means spending all that $$ then paying the min. forever.

kendallf

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #51 on: March 17, 2016, 07:01:52 AM »
I'm not even sure, I'd have to go home and look.. but around 20.  Opened maybe 6-8 in the past year, closed a few that had annual fees and wouldn't waive them.  My credit score is currently 797 and has gone up since I started churning. 

I generally keep a balance on one or two 0% APR cards but keep my overall utilization low, less than 10%.  This is pretty easy when you have this many cards, I think last year I calculated that I had more than $180k in available credit limits, which is insane. 

tomatops

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #52 on: March 17, 2016, 07:41:05 AM »
Add a poll!

I have 4 and wife has 3. We recently cancelled a total of 4 cards after they refused to waive the annual fee.

If you value AA miles at $0.01/mile, we got >8% cash back on our purchases in 2015 and I'm sure others did way better. If you're going to optimize expenses, you might as well optimize earnings and free money is hard to beat.

Poll added. To risk not making it an extremely lengthy list of options, I broke down 1-5 and then did increments of 5 thereafter.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2016, 07:42:36 AM by tomatops »

neo von retorch

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #53 on: March 17, 2016, 07:51:25 AM »
According to my home-spun financial software, I've burned through 21 total credit card accounts. I have four in active use now, though:

* American Express Blue Cash ($75/year) 6% on groceries, 3% on gas (used primarily for groceries)
* Chase Ink ($0) 5% on internet / cell phone
* Citi Double Cash ($0) 2% on everything else
* Sallie Mae ($0) 5% on gas, 5% on Amazon (book stores), 5% on groceries - limit $250/mo. (used primarily for gas)
« Last Edit: March 17, 2016, 10:04:07 AM by neogodless »

Inaya

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #54 on: March 17, 2016, 08:50:39 AM »
6:
Discover It for daily use, 1% on everything except 5% rotating (but all doubled for the 12 months starting last June b/c their Double Cashback promo)
Amex Blue Preferred for 6% groceries. Might cancel; not sure if it's worth the $75 annual fee
BofA Cash Rewards for "We don't accept Discover/Amex."
Target RedCard for... Target
Best Buy for interest-free financing on technology purchases
Sears for interest-free financing on appliance/furniture purchases

Thinking about swapping to Discover Miles once my Double Cashback year is over on the It. Assuming they're still doing their Double Miles promo at that point.

I couldn't get a credit card until I was 26. I had no credit history and NOBODY would give me even a low-limit student card (and I was too cheap to pay an annual fee on a secured card). I finally got a nibble from BofA once I was out of school and had worked 6 months. Was $500 cash back on $1500, which was easy since I needed the card in the first place to buy a new $1500 laptop.

neo von retorch

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #55 on: March 17, 2016, 09:23:58 AM »
Inaya

You can calculate whether it's worth it, based on your alternatives. For example, if you have the no fee 5% Sallie Mae, it's great for low spenders, but the $250 / month limit means you reach a point ($3900) where it's worth it to pay the $75 to continue getting cashback: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/2e7efa/i_made_a_graph_comparing_blue_cash_everyday_blue/

If you spend $3750 / year on groceries, you'll net $150 ($225 cashback minus $75 fee.) This is still net 4%. Even at $2000 / year, you're earning 2.25% after the fee. So if you're comparing to a 2% for everything, you don't have to spend much at all on groceries to come out on top.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2016, 10:05:55 AM by neogodless »

Vanguards and Lentils

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #56 on: March 17, 2016, 09:58:08 AM »
According to my home-spun financial software, I've burned through 21 total credit card accounts. I have four in active use now, though:

* American Express Blue Cash ($75/year) 6% on groceries, 3% on gas (used primarily for groceries)
* Sallie Mae ($0) 5% on gas, 5% on Amazon (book stores), 5% on groceries (used primarily for gas)

Wouldn't it be better for you to downgrade the blue cash to a free one? It gets you only 1% more on groceries than the Sallie Mae. The way I'm figuring it is, if you spend X per year on groceries, then
Sallie Mae earnings = .05X
Blue Cash earnings = .06X - 75

So the breakeven point would require you to spend 75/.01, or $7500(!) on groceries per year

BTW envioius of your Sallie Mae card - looks like it's not available anymore.

neo von retorch

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #57 on: March 17, 2016, 10:03:40 AM »
Actually the break even point is $3900. Below that, the Sallie Mae is better. Above that, the Preferred is better. Mistake - Sallie Mae limit is $250 for groceries, $750 for bookstores. We currently spend closer to $5000 / year on groceries, so it makes sense for us.

NextTime

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #58 on: March 17, 2016, 10:47:49 AM »
I wish I could get cashback on groceries, but that card would make no sense to me. We buy 90% of our groceries at Sam's Club and Aldi. Aldi doesn't accept credit cards and credit card companies don't consider Sam's Club a grocery store.

My wife and I started churning in October. We go one at a time and are currently on our 3rd card (halfway there). So far we've racked up 120,000 Chase UR points and are working on the 35,000 Starwood SPG points.

For those who say how do you meet the high limits:

These cards have some high limits (Chase Sapphire is $4,000 in 3 months), we had some pretty major expenses over the last few months such as a new garage door, study materials and exam fees for my wife's licensing exam (over $600 fee for that fucking exam!!!), other remodeling expenses. I also used the card for a rather large medical bill and instead of using the HSA debit card, I just filled out a reimbursement form for them to send an automatic deposit. I also have the family AT&T plan under my name which totals around $300/month, and am able to pay the utility bills with the credit cards.

We probably won't be able to churn them this quickly from now on, but I figure we should be able to do 3-5 per year (depending on the limit) going forward. That's should be a couple thousand dollars worth of passive income per year. Of course I would prefer to keep them as airline miles, but many have the option to be turned into cash/statement credit.


RetirementDreaming

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #59 on: March 17, 2016, 10:55:02 AM »
I have 1 (same card since 1991) and my husband has 1. 

Revelry

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #60 on: March 17, 2016, 12:46:36 PM »
Actually the break even point is $3900. Below that, the Sallie Mae is better. Above that, the Preferred is better. Mistake - Sallie Mae limit is $250 for groceries, $750 for bookstores. We currently spend closer to $5000 / year on groceries, so it makes sense for us.

For those just following along, you're referring to the old version of the Sallie Mae.  They stopped accepting applications for the version that got 5% on groceries back in Dec/Jan.  The current version open for signup gets 5% on restaurants and shopping through the Upromise portal, and basically sucks.

Inaya

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #61 on: March 17, 2016, 12:50:32 PM »
For those just following along, you're referring to the old version of the Sallie Mae.  They stopped accepting applications for the version that got 5% on groceries back in Dec/Jan.  The current version open for signup gets 5% on restaurants and shopping through the Upromise portal, and basically sucks.

Thanks for that. I kept going to the Sallie Mae site and was super confused why I wasn't seeing anything about groceries. Thought I was missing some big super secret credit card.

neo von retorch

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #62 on: March 17, 2016, 01:00:31 PM »
Yes sorry for the confusion there! Overall point is that unless you can get 3-5% on groceries elsewhere, it might still be worth the $75 annual fee. Sounds like you can still get 3% on groceries if you downgrade to the "Everyday" and drop the annual fee. So if your spending is at or below $2500 annually at qualified supermarkets, go ahead and downgrade. (At this point, either card lands you $75 for the year.) Above that, you should keep it.

Revelry

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #63 on: March 17, 2016, 01:11:47 PM »
I wish I could get cashback on groceries, but that card would make no sense to me. We buy 90% of our groceries at Sam's Club and Aldi. Aldi doesn't accept credit cards and credit card companies don't consider Sam's Club a grocery store.
Sam's Club will get 5x on Chase Freedom during Q2 if you have/want that card.  And Aldi's started accepting credit cards last week.


PatronWizard11

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #64 on: March 17, 2016, 01:35:54 PM »
a ton, i keep them in a binder that has business card sheets for organization purposes.

Vertical Mode

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #65 on: March 17, 2016, 01:56:08 PM »
6-10. I opened a few new ones last year in anticipation of spending more than usual because of a cavalcade of weddings, figured I'd harvest the cash signup bonuses for money I'd be spending anyways. After that, I've opened a few for travel rewards, and will be closing a few others, working toward a consistent core of 7 cards:

- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Chase Freedom
- Hyatt Chase Visa
- IHG Chase Visa
- SPG Amex
- Bank Americard Cash Rewards
- CITI Double Cash

I may occasionally execute a round of churning if I have a big expense coming up and I can take advantage of a lucrative offer (hence the range, I don't envision keeping more than 10, though).

NextTime

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #66 on: March 17, 2016, 02:09:54 PM »
I wish I could get cashback on groceries, but that card would make no sense to me. We buy 90% of our groceries at Sam's Club and Aldi. Aldi doesn't accept credit cards and credit card companies don't consider Sam's Club a grocery store.
Sam's Club will get 5x on Chase Freedom during Q2 if you have/want that card.  And Aldi's started accepting credit cards last week.


Nice! I was just there on Tuesday and didn't notice that.

slappy

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Re: How many credit cards do you have?
« Reply #67 on: March 17, 2016, 02:27:32 PM »
I wish I could get cashback on groceries, but that card would make no sense to me. We buy 90% of our groceries at Sam's Club and Aldi. Aldi doesn't accept credit cards and credit card companies don't consider Sam's Club a grocery store.
Sam's Club will get 5x on Chase Freedom during Q2 if you have/want that card.  And Aldi's started accepting credit cards last week.


Nice! I was just there on Tuesday and didn't notice that.

It doesn't start until April. If you don't already have the card, there is a sign up bonus of $150.