How Many CC's should one person have

learningaboutinsurance

just a general thought i had. I used to have 3 but successfully brang it down to 2 (one is BT and the other for general shopping, always paid in full)

I only ask because i was at the Checkout yesterday and the lady in front brandished about 12 CC's :eek: to find the one she want to pay for her item. got me thinking should (on average) a person have more than 1 CC's

any thoughts?

funkychick11

I personally have 2, with a view to a 3rd (want a better cashback one) and one day, I might need a balance transfer one... but think I'd stop at 4...

CLAPTON

do you use CCs a lot?
do you ever use them abroad?
do you have cashback or rewards?

what would the consequence of one being refused (for an unexplained reason?)

As I rely of CCs for virtually every purchase (and pay in full each month) 3 or 4 are about right to ensure they will always be accepted and of course I use the 'right' one for the best cashback.

gglaze

Yes, it depends how heavy a CC user you are. Also, if you are a savvy CC user, you know that different CC's serve different purposes. Some are for cashback, some are for BTs, some for rewards, some for specific store usage, some are for foreign purchases, etc. So I could easily imagine having for example 2 BT cards, 2 cashback cards, 1 foreign purchase card, 2 store cards, etc. Of course I wouldn't be carrying all these cards around in my wallet - for example the BT cards stay at home and never come out.

If you are not such an extreme CC user, then yes I would say max 3 to 4 are ideal, in any case at least 2, since you never know when one might get blocked for whatever reason, and you might need a backup one.

InsideInsurance

I would say in most cases around 3 would be sensible but may be a bit more or less for various reasons.

Personally I have an AmEx for main shopping and then a second reward non-Amex card for those places that don't accept AmEx

I then have a card that was originally gotten for a balance transfer but has a high limit on it and so was retained for emergencies. At times I may have one or two other cards for introductory offers or balance transfers but they get cancelled as soon as they've served their purpose

lisyloo

I have 3 and I think that's about right.
One is for foreign spending, one is good for cashback and you shoudl always have a back up.
I'd want a minimum of two.

michaels

I work on the basis of about 4-6 new financial products each year where each credit search should bring me a gain of at least £100 (be it opening offer for cashback/points, BT offer, TopCashBack or whatever). Most of these products are then closed once 'cashed out' (BT ends, intro cashback received) so that I can be a new customer again after then minimum wait requirement.

I did use to hold a few high limits credit cards for repat offers but of late these have not be very profitable so I have switched to mostly targeting new customer offers and closed these cards to improve my credit profile.

carslet

I think 3 or 4 is ideal,

I have 4 at the moment, 2 are empty and i am hoping they will offer a BT deal on one of them soon.

ic

I have three - cashback (high rate but capped), cashback (low rate) with extras, and card for use abroad. I also like to know I'm carrying both Visa and Mastercard, with different banks - so if there's a problem with one I've always a backup.

learningaboutinsurance

CLAPTON wrote: »

do you use CCs a lot? - I only use CCs as and when need to
do you ever use them abroad? - not really (mostly because of the fraud fear factor)
do you have cashback or rewards? - i don't understand them,

what would the consequence of one being refused (for an unexplained reason?) - don't know haven't been refused

I guess people do have various needs for CCs, but as mentioned in the case of the lady with 12- you do have to wonder what limits are on the cards

darkcloudi

I also got 3.

One being my main card providing cashback and the other providing loyalty points which I am in the process of closing soon as the 0% on purchases is close to an end so need to replace this with another 0% on purchases The third is for abroad use.