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How Many Credit Card Deals Should You Have?

2007-11-13

Every day we get tons of credit card applications in our mail boxes. Credit card companies and banks offer us credit card deals that can fit everyone: rewards credit card deals, business credit card deals, students credit cards and what not! No matter if you have a good credit history or a bad one, there is a credit card for you.

With their help we can get cash back, movie tickets, discounts, free flights, etc. No doubt, almost every one feels the temptation to apply for one more credit card deal. But how many credit cards do you need to have? Do the quantity of cards you have affect you financial future and credit history?

Did you know that most Americans carry from five up to ten credit cards in their wallets? The average family owes credit card companies $12000! The average U.S. household is about $50,000 that means credit card debt is 24% of an annual income and it is without taking into consideration car loans and mortgages! Doesn't it sound alarming?

So the question is: How many credit cards should you have? There is no exact number of credit cards you should owe, but two or three are usually considered as enough.

Remember that the most important is not the number of credit cards you have, but your outstanding balance. Your outstanding balance should be between 25% and 50% of the available credit on each credit card you owe. If it is more, the potential creditors will not have too much trust in you!

Take into consideration the fact that the fewer number of credit cards you owe, the easier it is for you to keep track of them! Just imagine having 3 rewards credit card deal, 2 gasoline credit cards and one business card at the same time - it will be very hard to control your debt on all these cards at the same time! However, if you have two or three cards, you will be very well aware of your spendings and will know exactly where you stand with your balances!

I have 2 credit cards and feel absolutely comfortable! I have hotel rewards credit card and Disney Visa credit card. My hotel rewards credit card helps me to save money on hotel stays. I travel a lot all over America as well as outside the country; this credit card deal is simply perfect for me as it helps me save some cash not only on hotel stays, but I can save on my plane tickets with this card as well!

Disney Visa credit card helps me to make my children happy with various rewards programs. I use this card for daily purchases and almost every month I go to Disney parks to spend a weekend. I think this card is really great as it helps families to get together.

I think that my financial future is safe as long as I don't use too many credit cards. I really feel that my credit cards are working for me, not I am working for them!

So the next time you get a credit card application, think twice: Do you really need another card?

I always thought its good to have many credit cards and now i see it's not. Thank you for the info