Too many credit cards? aka "The Credit Card thread"

SpellowHouse said:
Not really. Well, apart from a mortgage! My father never had any debts. Most of my family have none. We aren't rich, it's just a question of living within our means. I don't even have a mortgage. My debt is absolutely zero. You would be amazed how the "pressure is off" when you don't owe anyone anything.
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Pressure is off here as well yet I still use credit to my advantage. I like free stuff, many people it seems do not..
 
HungryHippos said:
I think people are equating "credit card = debt" and that's not necessarily the case.

If you have a credit card you can use it exactly like you would a debit card, I have an Amex cashback card which I do my regular spending on. It's configured to take the maximum payment each month, there is no possibility for it to build up additional debt.

There are 3 main benefits to doing this over using a debit card:
  1. Better protection on purchases.
  2. I get cashback on money I would be spending anyway.
  3. My bank statement isn't littered with lots of small purchases, it's one monthly outgoing credit card payment.
Given I am always paying for the thing I put on it within 1-30 days of making any purchase, this also means I don't spend money that I don't have.

The only con I can think of is that you need enough of a grip on how much cash you have in your debit account to cover the outstanding balance, but I have a big enough safety net not to worry about that day to day.

If you go into the realms of stacking purchases on interest free cards, then it becomes a little riskier and you need more discipline to use them this way, but for my purposes above, credit card as a debit card works and carries no risk if used this way.
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Exactly, credit card does not equal debt.

Schools need to teach people this kind of financial education, they don’t teach any of it and hence a lot of people get into credit card debt as they don’t even understand the APR.

I treat the whole system as a game, there are ways to beat it, or lose big. The key ingredient is self-discipline. Granted if you don’t trust yourself with one then don’t get one, as they are not for you but understand that that they can be beneficial.
 
Amex chargecard is my card of choice, get the membership rewards (very valuable) and have to clear the balance each month. Got a few CC's as well but those are secondary for big purchases in places that don't take Amex, get a few M&S Vouchers if nothing else with that.
 
robfosters said:
I’ve been recovering a poor credit record over the past few few years. I’ve gradually built up a collection of cards with improving rates each time, and I now have a prime card.

I now have about 8 cards. Now I actually have a decent card, is it worth me binning off some of the credit builders with silly rates or keeping them so my available credit stays up and my utilisation remains low? Can you have too many credit cards? Most of them will never be used again. Grateful for any guidance from you finance savvy bunch.
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Keep your level below 25% of your total credit and you should have a nice credit score.
you dont need to use all the cards, If you learn to master credit cards it can be very beneficial.:D
Do away with those credit card builders and use mainstream credit cards.
Amex is good if used correctly.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
And what about fraud protection? It’s insane to insists paying by cash or debit card is better because you can manage your debit has nothing to do with protecting yourself against fraud. Not having your bank details out there is a good thing, not a bad thing.
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I do a full audit and compliance checks on each business I purchase from, including background checks of all C suite. This ensures fraud isn't an issue.
 
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SpellowHouse said:
Not really. Well, apart from a mortgage! My father never had any debts. Most of my family have none. We aren't rich, it's just a question of living within our means. I don't even have a mortgage. My debt is absolutely zero. You would be amazed how the "pressure is off" when you don't owe anyone anything.
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Have you checked your entire family history? Somebody must have had some debt. Neighbours?
 
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