How Many Credit Cards Are in Your Wallet? Tips for Knowing Your Limit

Posted by: Lizzy

Tagged in: Untagged 

altWhen it comes to the number of credit cards you have, more is not necessarily better. Any factors should be considered when you decide how many credit cards are best for you and your situation.

Many credit card holders are suffering due to having too many credit cards with high balances and an inability to pay more than the minimum payment. This causes the cardholder to spend way more than necessary on interest charges and can lead to overwhelming debt. That’s why we here at CreditCardsProfessor.com are going to share a few tips and tricks for knowing your limits and how to determine the correct amount of credit cards for you.

Many cardholders simply need one credit card but for certain situations, more than one card may be required. This is true of business owners, those with children, or someone that wants to maximize rewards by utilizing multiple rewards card categories. The problem with the latter is that you’ll want to be absolutely sure you can easily manage and pay off balances in a short time.

So how do you know which category you fall into? Well the answer is quite simple really. If you are only able to pay the minimum payment on one card, you definitely should just stick with the one card. Anything more will only get you into more debt which could get you into a serious hole. Those that can easily maintain a balance of less than 30% of their available credit and those that can pay significantly more or all of their balance off each month can opt for more than one credit card.

If you fall into this category, than the next step is to determine why you want additional cards and how you will manage them once they are there. Parents and spouses may want to opt for additional credit cards to track spending for each member of their family while business owners can benefit from an additional business credit card to keep those expenses separate from personal card balances.

Then there are the rewards credit card enthusiasts who want to use one card for shopping online, another for travel expenses and one for grocery shopping to maximize rewards from their expenses. This is all fine and dandy as long as the revolving balance can be kept below 30% or are completely paid off each month.

Four credit cards are more than enough for the average person with an average income. It is not recommended to exceed this amount because things can get out of hand very quickly. Start out with one card and see how things go, adding one card at a time to test how much you can handle.

Remember, as long as you stick to the under 30% rule and pay significantly more than the minimum payments, it should be safe for you to have an additional card or two.

As always, please stay tuned to CreditCardsProfessor.com for more of the latest credit card news, special credit card offers and important cardholder updates.