How many credit cards do you have?

[moneymatters]

I have 2 - a chase cash rewards mastercard and an american express blue. I hardly ever use either one of them, but when i do it is only when i know i can pay it off right away.

[mgbman11]

Discover and Chase Visa. Moving toward ridding myself of them, too. Made it way too easy to spend money I don't have!

[normalchildhood]

Technically, I have four credit cards. All but one of them are shredded. I kept one for emergency purposes, and the balance is zero. When I was younger I got excited about the free miles, points, cash back, whatever, but I didn't like the mentality I got into as I used them. I want to live simply and within my means, and I doubt that anyone got rich off of credit card points. So I paid them all off and shredded three of them.

[The Honest Dollar]

Originally Posted by lucille

If my options are a savings account, a safe or a credit card to have some emergency money I would opt for the safe, then savings account and credit card would be last. That might sound odd but so many banks find creative ways to ding your savings account with fees. I would reconsider using one if the bank in question was not one that would be incurring fees. A credit card is an eroding form of money, too many fees and negative interest. You may not get any interest sticking your money in a safe or your mattress but your also not losing it to fees that in some situations can be far more than you might gain in interest income.

You may not be losing your money to fees, but you're losing it to inflation. If you put $1,000 in your safe, then at 3% inflation (slightly lower than average), your money would only be worth $675 in 10 years.

The solution to bank fees isn't to stick your money under a mattress but to understand and avoid bank fees. There are plenty of reputable banks that offer free checking and high yield savings accounts. They won't charge you fees if you don't sign up for accounts that have fees attached.

[Gootsy]

word up. A bank w/o fees (might require you to sign up for a few free things for a monthly refund at the worst case) is a beautiful thing.

A friend of mine actually got broken into a week ago. His security alarm went off, the burglar(s?) went right to his bedroom and got the safe. Sadly the security company didn't even bother to notify the cops which pissed him off. He claims that there were only a few meaningless papers in the safe... Secured it with another cord/wire to some pipe, but wasn't enough.

[hermione]

We have a total of 4 credit cards:

American Express Blue cash card that gets us 5% cash back on grocery, drugstore and gas purchases, and 1.5.% on everything else. We always pay in full and we earned over $300 cash back last year. Though to get the 5%, you have to have charged $6,500 first (before the $6,500 you get 1.5% and .5%)

We just got an Amazon credit card this week because we do most of our online shopping on Amazon now. It earns 3% cash back at Amazon and 1% everywhere else. Another reason we got the Amazon Visa is because our utilities companies don't take AMEX and we had been using a PayPal Debit card, but have recently decided to stop using PayPal and eBay.

We have a Bank of America Platinum Visa account that we never use and keep open just in case of emergency.

I also have an Old Navy card account that I opened when I was in college but have never used it. I keep it open because it shows up as "excellent" standing on my credit report, which I figure can't hurt.

We never use our bank account debit cards, but prefer to put everything on the AMEX if possible to earn cash back. Once our Amazon card arrives, we'll put our cable, gas and water bills on it. I find it much easier to keep track of spending with credit card statements. With cash it often just disappears and you wonder where it all went. All our credit cards have no annual fee, and since we pay in full, it doesn't cost us anything.

[Kathryn]

I've got 3 cards: a Discover card that's my go-to card (the cashback program is pretty decent--I basically use it to get discounted giftcards for extended family at Christmas), an Amazon/Chase Visa that I use at Amz/places that don't accept Discover, and the Citi card that I've had for 21 years now--I don't use it, and I'd cancel it now, except it's the longest piece of credit history on my credit record.

Husband has an AmEx, a Chase card, and a courtesy copy of my Discover. We'd discussed consolidating credit cards when we got married and getting down to 2 accounts, but never got around to it. We pay all our bills online through our bank site, so it's really not that much more difficult to keep track of 4 active cards than 2.

Absolutely everything that can be billed to the CCs gets billed to the CCs. Between the two of us we earn about $600 in rebate rewards a year. I haven't carried a balance in about a decade. Our total credit limit is pretty high, but we're both frugal by nature and it doesn't tempt us to spend money that we otherwise wouldn't.

I do wonder how it affects credit scores for people who refuse to carry or carry only a single small-limit card. Husband used to work for a cash-only guy who got denied a mortgage when he was in his 40s (despite making an excellent income and a 25-year employment history with the same company)--just because his credit record was basically blank.

[Megan]

Originally Posted by Kathryn

Absolutely everything that can be billed to the CCs gets billed to the CCs. Between the two of us we earn about $600 in rebate rewards a year. I haven't carried a balance in about a decade. Our total credit limit is pretty high, but we're both frugal by nature and it doesn't tempt us to spend money that we otherwise wouldn't.

I'm the same way. Everything I can put on the CC does get put on the CC. I pay the balance every month. I like earning rewards, and I find that putting everything on my card actually helps me control my spending. Watching the amount on my card go up can be eye opening.

I have a few different rewards cards, but mainly use my Amazon/Chase Visa. I buy a lot of things on Amazon, from books and movies to groceries, so gift certificates there are a great reward. Sometimes they're used in the monthly budget, sometimes I use them to treat myself to a new book.

[Milehimama]

We don't have any. I do have a debit card. I use paypal for online transactions.

[habh44]

I have one credit card-visa and my debit-visa cards in my wallet. I use the credit card for hotels, airplane tickets, gifts of significant monitary value, rental car, and any online purchases. The debit card is for all else, local stores, gas, and groceries. You should never use a debit card for an online purchase! I try and explain this to people and many do not see the difference.
I get solicitations daily for fancy mastercards, but I don't fall for it. I pay my cc each month too.