How many credit cards *should* you have?

YorkshireBoy

guesswho2000 wrote: »

Visa have the chargeback scheme, which provides protection for purchases under £100, whereas S75 only applies to those over £100, Mastercard do not provide this.

Yes they do, for both credit cards and Maestro debit cards.

chanz4

since when can you have progress anc classic from capital one a the same time?

skybluesaver

I think one of each, Mastercard & Visa, both offering cashback or a rewards scheme & both paid off in full every month. :beer:

bouncydog1

Depends on how money savvy you are. If you manage your money very well then it doesn't matter how many cards you have because you will use them to make money for yourself - e.g. pay everything on a points or cashback card during the month, then settle when the bill arrives with money that you have saved for the purpose in your savings account.

Probably at least 4 or 5 all from different providers and that way you can take advantage of any offers available and also have the ability to switch debts between the cards if that is what you wish to do.

If you have difficulty managing then probably no cards at all if you think this would encourage you to increase debt.

Venusflytrap

As said, it all depends on how on top of things one is.

I have three at the mo: Barclaycard plat. for the rewards programme albeit shabby, and the wider acceptance of VISA; Halifax clarity solely for use abroad; and an AMEX Nectar card to amass nectar points across the board.

In addition to my current and savings accounts, don't think I would want manage anymore though.

Nelson01

You can get an excellent FICO score if you have only one or no credit cards. The only key is how you use the credit that you are granted.

izools

Nelson01 wrote: »

You can get an excellent FICO score if you have only one or no credit cards. The only key is how you use the credit that you are granted.

We don't use FICO in the UK, each creditor uses their own unique criteria to assess applicants and score differently to one another

cos_2

I have three, therefore, the answer is three.

kev.s

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Probably two. One Mastercard, one Visa. Both paid off in full each and every month.

1) You get Section 75 coverage on credit cards which you cannot get using any other method of payment.
2) You have a 'spare' in case one fails to work for whatever reason, or you want to buy tickets for the Olympics or some other event that one of them manages to wangle a monopoly on card payment methods for.

^what he said

MichaelCR

MrsKrepsly wrote: »

If there was an ideal amount of credit cards one person should hold, how many would it be?

I currently have classic capital one, progress capital one and natwest. Once I've paid off the classic card I'm going to cancel it and stick with the other two. If I can ever manage to get into mainstream I'm going to cancel the progress card too.

Ideally it would be nice to have 2 decent credit cards.

What is the ideal number of cards though?

I'd say none

But i suppose one is a good idea incase you need to for emergencies.