How many credit cards (personal) do you have?

[afpaff]

I'm wondering how many active personal credit cards everyone has (and their combined credit limit).

What would be like a safe limit to have at once before you would likely get rejected when applying for another one? I'm just trying to get a sense of how many at once I can have all the time to churn through points.

And how does combined credit limit factor in compared to the number of credit cards?

Is having 2 credit cards totalling 10k limit the same/worse than 1 credit card with 10k limit?

 

[SYD]

I'm wondering how many active personal credit cards everyone has.

What would be like a safe limit to have at once before you would likely get rejected when applying for another one? I'm just trying to get a sense of how many at once I can have all the time to churn through points.

I’m not a churner but I’d suspect the combined credit limit is as much a factor as number of cards.

 

[aikman]

I have 3.

 

[AIRwin]

I have 3.

Same and all fee free for life

 

[afpaff]

Same and all fee free for life

How do you have this? But I'm assuming once you cancel it, you lose the fee free benefit. Don't most people cancel the cards to churn through the initial bonus points?

 

[SYD]

For the record, 3 also…. (AMEX, VISA, MC…)!

 

[afpaff]

I have 3 including the amex platinum charge, not sure if that counts as credit card

 

[asterix]

Four AMEX cards including Platinum Charge and two Mastercards.

 

[AIRwin]

How do you have this? But I'm assuming once you cancel it, you lose the fee free benefit. Don't most people cancel the cards to churn through the initial bonus points?

My main is:

Who else still holds the Citibank Free For Life Premier Card?

Hi, I still hold the Citibank free for life card from ages ago - it has been upgraded over the years and is currently a Citibank Word Premier Mastercard. Its reward program is not very good, and I only use it for certain small spending (under $20k per year). Recently I applied for a Citibank...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Another (with a low credit limit which I use only for VA flights) is:

Velocity Escape Credit Card | Amex AU

The Velocity Escape Card by American Express offers great rewards and perks. Earn Velocity points with every purchase. Apply online today.

www.americanexpress.com

And finally another Amex from 2006.

I also apply for new cards with bonus points particularly when annual fees are waived in the first year and then churn it but haven't done so since 2020...

 

[Colin 2905]

Just three these days, with a combined limit of $51K. When I used to churn cards, I think I peaked at around eight, with a combined limit somewhere in the $70K's. When I was churning, I'd always opt for the lowest possible limit. When I gave up, but an Amex Explorer offer came along that seemed too good to pass up, I let Amex determine the limit. They gave me $30K.

I'm not sure that I'll keep the Amex Explorer longer term. Whilst on the surface the $400 travel credit covers the $395 annual fee, actually getting $400 worth of value out of it is getting harder. It's also been a long time since any of the offers have been attractive to me.

The other two cards are the free-for-life Citi Premier and a Bankwest Zero Platinum, useful for avoiding those pesky international transaction fees. If I could only keep one card, that would be it. Screw the points, I'm over them.

 

[Ade]

I used to have 4 or 5 (one AMEX, combination of VISA & MC) with a combined limit of over $150K, but nowadays, I have one AMEX with a $3K limit.

Re: safe limit - It all depends on your income. I work as a contractor, I'm single and had no other loans (home, car, personal etc), so banks were happy to give me a card. I also was spending enough to rake up bonus points within days of card approval/arrival and close the card.

My current situation is - I have been trying hard for the past few months to cancel my AMEX, but couldn't get myself to do it. I keep saying to myself that I will cancel after I use the $450 credit, but I end up not cancelling. Someday, I will.

 

[aikman]

This reminds me of an article OMAAT did last month where he says he has 30 active credit cards. How you would even manage that many cards is beyond me.

 

[daft009]

3 Amex including the charge card
And 2 Visa.

I don't churn

 

[mrsterryn]

I have three combined is about $50,000
No churning as my income source isn't really liked by banks (defined benefit pensions )
Used and paid in full each month.

 

[SYD]

This reminds me of an article OMAAT did last month where he says he has 30 active credit cards. How you would even manage that many cards is beyond me.

He could well have some foreign currency cards?

I just have 28° for non AUD purchases, especially hotels and car rentals that take large preauthorisations! No points earn but no 3% forex charge either. But I did get a random cash back the other day for a hotel stay in NZ!

 

[Pete98765432]

I have three combined is about $50,000
No churning as my income source isn't really liked by banks (defined benefit pensions )
Used and paid in full each month.

I also have a defined benefit pension and have successfully applied for credit cards from ANZ, Citibank, Bankwest and St George. The only bank to reject me was ING because I didn’t meet their requirement of having PAYG payslips. (I thought it was rather odd that they’d give a card to someone with much lower income than me who could get retrenched next week because they had PAYG payslips but not me with a guaranteed income for life).

 

[mrsterryn]

I also have a defined benefit pension and have successfully applied for credit cards from ANZ, Citibank, Bankwest and St George. The only bank to reject me was ING because I didn’t meet their requirement of having PAYG payslips. (I thought it was rather odd that they’d give a card to someone with much lower income than me who could get retrenched next week because they had PAYG payslips but not me with a guaranteed income for life).

I found it very odd that it causes issues to have income of defined benefit which as you say is for as long a so am alive. Admittedly we don't have a need to have huge credit cards nowadays. Husband has a Qantas card for flights and suchlike.
Though , sacrilegious, my st George platinum has absolutely no points or benefits lol. It is used very rarely

 

[exceladdict]

And how does combined credit limit factor in compared to the number of credit cards?

Is having 2 credit cards totalling 10k limit the same/worse than 1 credit card with 10k limit?

I think that the number of accounts, and length of accounts being open, is starting to factor into credit scores under CCR. But for servicing assessments, I seem to observe that the total limit (and therefore the monthly minimum repayment obligation) is what credit assessors are most interested in.

No churning as my income source isn't really liked by banks (defined benefit pensions )

Salary sacrifice and other arrangements also seem to confuse credit assessors and deter me from more applications.

 

[Daver6]

I think the single biggest factor is combined credit limit rather than number of cards. In fact, not just credit card limits but all debt and the ability to service it.

For example, I don't think there is much difference in having 3 cards with a $5k limit or one card with a $15k limit.

 

[RooFlyer]

Three cards; I'm retired

28 Degrees/Latitude (only use overseas/non AUD)
NAB - active card; was Qantas rewards now their generic point card (for Virgin)
CBA - spare & no fee

Made a mistake in not having an AMEX before I retired