How many credit cards do you have?

w00519772

I am thinking about registering for three credit cards:

1) Tesco Bank - for supermarket purchases
2) Sainsburys - for supermarket purchases
3) American Express Credit Card - for a few big purchases e.g. new PC

I can afford everything outright i.e. the balance on each credit card will be £0 at the end of every month.

Is it a bad idea to have three credit cards? How many credit cards do you have? How is your credit card rating affected? Do you pay everything off at the end of each month?

YorkshireBoy

1. Not necessarily.
2. 9 (was 10 but closed one last month).
3. Don't need credit, so don't care (Noddle think I'm 3/5 FWIW)
4. Only if I have to!

HappyMJ

I've got Capital One life of balance transfer card. I've had it for years and only ever made the minimum repayment.

I've got a Santander balance transfer card and a Santander Reward card which both charge 0% interest. I make the minimum repayments on these.

I've also got a Halifax credit card and a Barclaycard which are both rarely used and paid in full.

So that's 5.

[Deleted User]

I have no cards, and don't want any.

I learned my lesson years ago, when I got myself into serious debt with them.

BTW. I'm pretty sure, there' no such thing as a "credit card rating".

redpete

Is it a bad idea to have three credit cards? Not necessarily.
How many credit cards do you have? Something between 3 and 5.
How is your credit card rating affected? No idea.
Do you pay everything off at the end of each month? Yes.

A4445

I've got 3 credit cards.
I made serious mistakes when I was young and learnt a hard lesson, I don't need credit I pay in full every month, I like the security of paying by credit card. I think credit card providers give out to much credit!

m4rc

I have 5 cards, if I could pay in full every month I wouldn't bother having credit unless I was hoping to be able to build up my history so I could get a mortgage and currently had a bad or non-existent credit history.

I use my credit cards to spread the cost of things when I need to, the interest I pay is minimal, a few pounds here and there at most, it buys me the benefit of having things today I couldn't afford otherwise - like a mortgage or a loan or a car finance deal.

Some people make out credit cards are evil and paying interest is like selling your body, if that's what you want to think then that's fine but if it bothered me that much I wouldn't boer having a credit card. A debit card is much more useful as the money comes straight out, less things to deal with, less things to go wrong, no chance of ever missing a payment, only one card to cancel if you lose a wallet.

I doubt everyone who pays it off every month does it because they protection a credit card can offer, firstly as its rarely and issue and secondly because it's a pain to get things sorted even if it does go wrong.

I use credit cards because they give me some credit and they are very useful, if I was as well off as so many on here and didn't need them and I could pay in full every month I really wouldn't bother with them apart from any with 0% deals, and then it would be pointless to be paying in full every month.

I don't care what my credit rating says, I have no credit history issues, I just don't have a lot of credit history so it would be harder for me to get the best deals week in week out, if I was chasing a mortgage then I would be a bit more interested but I'm not.

chattychappy

w00519772 wrote: »

Is it a bad idea to have three credit cards? How many credit cards do you have? How is your credit card rating affected? Do you pay everything off at the end of each month?

1) For me, it would be a bad idea to have so few. I travel quite a bit and use different cards in different situations plus I need backups. I also have a BT deal running and a 0% purchase card.

2) 10. I'm using 5. (Ie from month-to-month, I have a balance of some sort on 5.)

3) Experian give me 999 via the free service on Barclaycard. These scores are pretty meaningless in my view. I never have problems getting the credit I need. Have had CCs for 30 years and never missed a payment etc.

4) No. I have a BT running (£6K) and am currently putting UK spend onto a 0% purchase card (about £3K). In both cases I pay £1 more than the minimum each month. Both balances are relatively small compared with my limits and income. Most of my spend is foreign and I pay off the cards concerned in full each month. Where I draw cash, I pay that off within days.

d70cw6

I think I have about 5 currently
2 of which I actively use: AMEX and ASDA mastercard
the others were for some promotion or other including balance transfers.
i'll close those at some point

SnowTiger

w00519772 wrote: »

I am thinking about registering for three credit cards:

1) Tesco Bank - for supermarket purchases
2) Sainsburys - for supermarket purchases
3) American Express Credit Card - for a few big purchases e.g. new PC

I can afford everything outright i.e. the balance on each credit card will be £0 at the end of every month.

Is it a bad idea to have three credit cards? How many credit cards do you have? How is your credit card rating affected? Do you pay everything off at the end of each month?

I'm guessing you don't have a credit card at the moment.

Having three isn't a bad idea - it's useful to have at least one backup.

You might find it difficult to go from having zero to three mainstream ones within a short period of time.

Tesco Bank's debit card seems to offer the same number of points for things as their credit card does, which isn't a lot. Therefore, you could earn the same points, plus 3% on your account balance, with a Tesco Bank debit card. You would, of course, lose out on the interest free period that credit cards offer.

planteria

i went down from 24 to 3 and last month increased back to 7, all for Balance Transfer or Purchasing deals..

of those 3, all for spending, i wouldn't bother with either Tesco or Sainsbury's. i would just go the Amex Cashback and earn cashback spending with either of those retailers, rather than more Clubcard or Nectar points, which i would collect at the same time.