How Many Credit Cards Do You Use?

Two. One strictly for gas purchases as this one has a nice cash back deal on fuel. The other for all other purchases which has other incentives. Both paid off monthly.
 

SeaBreeze said:
Same here QS, rather use a credit card, more secure. I still use checks when it comes to using money in my bank account.
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Checks have nearly been totally phased out here. And this will happen in the US as well. Merchants don't even accept checks as far as I can tell. Many bank branches are closing as no one goes in much.
 
I use one for groceries and gas (get 6x rewards - American Express Everyday Cash Back) and I use the other for dining and travel (3x points - Chase Sapphire Preferred). The chase is cool because its made of metal and noticeably heavier than any other normal credit card. Closing thing to a black card I will ever own.
 
I have about 8-9 of them. I dunno, i just like the early deals and then never use them again. I use 2 regularly and then a third when going overseas (just in case). I have no balance and pay off in full every month.
 
I have 2, use 1 most of the time....use the other occassionally to keep it active and maintain a decent FICO.

Just once I'd love to see someone say:
"I have 11, they are all maxed out, and I can barely pay minimum payment amount every month." Scarey thing is there are people like that.
 
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Hubby and I have separate but joint accounts. We each have a debit card for our account plus one each for the other's account to use in an emergency.
Can't see any reason to have more than one card in my wallet. It allows me to make purchases, take cash out at an ATM or shop register, shop online etc.

No loyalty points attached and very small annual fee. I like to keep this part of my life very simple. I probably have zero credit rating by now but I have no intention of ever borrowing money again in this lifetime. These days if I don't have enough money then I'm not in the market.
 
Back in the 50's & 60' banks & others were encouraging consumers to spend. The IRS gave you a tax break for the amount of interest you paid each year. Even today the push is on to use the cards for everything from vacations to running a business. As with tobacco advertisements, they should have put warnings on the back of the cards to spend wisely because overuse of credit was detrimental to your financial health.

I was brought up with the idea that you can beat the game of credit and live large as the many you have heard about have done. But for the 52% of the population who are in a credit vortex it is a shame that more time and energy wasn't spent on personal financial education. You don't read too much about the average credit card debt ($8,000 plus) or the unemployed who are living hand to mouth using credit cards to live. Credit card debt rose 4.3% in the fourth quarter of 2014. Auto loans are skyrocketing, homes are once again selling like there's no tomorrow. Doesn't anyone remember 2007 and on? Unemployment is dropping, but they don't count the 93 million aged 16 or over who are not in the labor force. The only age group who gained last year was the 55 and over.

I agree with applecruncher where are the ones using credit cards above and beyond their limits to impress the neighbors or just survive. The Fed's interest rate is near 0% and there's actual talk of going below 0% to stimulate the economy, credit card interest rates are north of 25%. You will then be able to make money by borrowing it, crazy!

The rewards programs are great for some and a trap for others. I avoid them because I'm an impulse buyer and will easily spend the extra 20% using credit cards entice us to spend. Our total living budget is just over $12,000 annually for basic necessities (excluding rent). So if I was to get 1.5% back for everything I would realize $180 a year back for just my necessities and spend an additional $2,400 for unnecessary purchases, doing the math shows it doesn't work for me. I use cash or debit cards exclusively for day to day expenses. I don't have a 'credit' card, that's my frugal wife's responsibility, I'm the poster boy for credit card abuse. My hero's were Charles Givens, Robert Allen and all the other OPM guru's, I blindly followed them to near financial disaster.
 
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I recall watching an episode of Oprah several years ago with people who had huge credit card debt. Susie Orman was trying to help.

One woman had $70k in cc debt. Her husband made a good salary but they had a large mortgage, 2 new cars, and “lived the good life” ….and no savings. What struck me was the woman said she had to go to Starbucks everyday, hair salon and mani-pedis and she seemed to feel she needed to do these things as ‘therapy’. WHAT?! She seemed to view a lot of her frivolous spending as a necessity even though they could barely make the minimum payments.

People like this make me wanna
puke.gif


Furthermore, I remember telling a friend about that show and she had the nerve to say that Oprah should have paid off the woman’s bills. HUH??!! :rolleyes: Seriously?
 
I have two, one for everything in the UK and it gets paid off in full every month, the other one I use when travelling as it gives me the inter-bank exchange rate (higher than the tourist rate) and no charges for using foreign ATMs, again paid off every month. I just counted another 18 in my drawer here, which I don't use but have had various offers on in the past.

I did back in the 90's (in a mid life crisis, one of many) once buy a property on credit cards for £38,000 on 0% interest offers, I then constantly moved them to another 0% card after the offer ended, and managed to pay them off after a few years.

I did have a friend who amazingly ran up £97,000 on credit cards, and had to declare bankruptcy in the end. The average debt on loans and credit cards in the UK is about £9,000.
 
Quite a few folks mention paying their balance(s) in full each month. I've been paying my three cards (Discover, B of A Visa and Capital One Visa) in full each month for as long as I've had credit cards. I always thought that because of this practice my credit score should have been better than it was.
 
We have 10 bank cards. One is used for almost everything because we like their points program. The others are used in varying degrees to keep the accounts active - for a while, banks were closing accounts that had no activity after two years. I put my NYTimes subscription on one card, for example, but my WSJournal subscription on a different one. My spouse's comfort level is having several charge cards to choose from, and since we don't pay fees on most of them, I'm fine with this.

And yes, we do pay them all off monthly. I do carry a balance once in a while for a couple of months, although not often. We have a lot of disposable income to play with.

We are carrying a balance from last month because we're remodeling and the flooring bill went on the card. It will be paid off next month, however. Labor costs are killer here in California!
 
One credit card - pay off monthly. Wish I could say that's how it was in my younger years though! I was on a credit card merry-go-round - paying minimum each month. Once I realized that my minimum was less than the interest the light bulb finally went off ;) - finally got off that dizzy ride.
Lu
 
We use three. Amex, for our Costco purchases. A "rewards" Visa card that we use towards hotels and a relatively new Visa that we got when making a large purchase last year. Financially it was worth it to open the account for the discount that we got, but now it is not used that much. We pay them off in full each month. The Amex is likely going away once Costco ends its relationship with the card.
 
I had an Amex in the 70s, it had an annual fee and was required to be paid in full every month.

I never use a debit card, I don't need people rummaging around in my bank account.

Annual fees are throwing money away.
 
I have been an advocate of not using credit cards, one because I self-destruct when I carry one in my wallet and two I want to leave this life without owing a soul & leaving my wife with unnecessary financial burdens. I pay cash for almost everything I buy the only exceptions are paying my bills online for the convenience & record keeping for my budget. A few years back my credit union began a rewards program for our VISA debit card. I get an occasional notice in the mail that shows my balance of points. This morning I decided to see what I could possibly get by redeeming my 142 points. NOTHING! nada, zelch. I think the paper it was printed on cost more than my points are worth. I looked at a $25 gift card at Texas Roadhouse, one of my favorites, only needed 3,500 points. At this rate I'll need to survive until I'm 560 years old to qualify, by then a steak will cost in the millions.
 
One needs to learn self-discipline in using credit cards, that's for sure. But rewards programs can be useful if you are going to use cards. Since we use one card for almost everything, points accumulate very quickly. Because we applied for our card through Barnes & Noble booksellers, B&N also gives us an additional 10% off purchase price, even on discounted or remainder/sale books, when we use our card there.

Over the past several years we've gotten $4K in book gift cards from them. We go up to the counter with a dozen books and seldom have to pay any money at all, between the 10% discount and the gift cards. If I'm pressed for time the gift cards sometimes are actually given as gifts to friends/family, when I don't have time to go out and find a present!
 
Lethe200 said:
One needs to learn self-discipline in using credit cards, that's for sure. But rewards programs can be useful if you are going to use cards. Since we use one card for almost everything, points accumulate very quickly. Because we applied for our card through Barnes & Noble booksellers, B&N also gives us an additional 10% off purchase price, even on discounted or remainder/sale books, when we use our card there.

Over the past several years we've gotten $4K in book gift cards from them. We go up to the counter with a dozen books and seldom have to pay any money at all, between the 10% discount and the gift cards. If I'm pressed for time the gift cards sometimes are actually given as gifts to friends/family, when I don't have time to go out and find a present!
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I think everyone except myself seems to handle credit cards and the rewards programs beautifully. I never hear anyone getting themselves into the fix I did several years ago. According to credit.com, 56% of credit card users get into trouble. If I had been guaranteed a 56% accuracy in my football bets back when I was playing the Sportsbooks in Vegas I would have retired a millionaire by now. I guess the losers never want to boast of their failings.
 
Oh no, I can assure you we misused cards in our younger days! Of course, for much of that one could deduct credit card interest on the tax returns (remember that? Ah, the "old days", LOL). It took several decades before we managed to acquire the self-discipline to handle chargecards properly.

Now, why we can manage our credit easier than our weight....well, that's our weakness! :p
 

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