Too many credit cards

[A HERETIC I AM]

23. You guys are all so wonderful!

LOL....just reading through this makes me smile.......



The smartest, most helpful little group on DU! Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Let's see....I have 6 Credit Cards in my wallet and one Debit card, plus at least 3 other lines of credit I rarely use.

Like Progree, I have a few Chase accounts which includes 3 cards;

1) Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Rewards Visa
I think is my oldest current card. As a trucker, I had the good fortune of working for a few firms over the years that paid for a hotel every night on the road, so my Marriott points balance, while not on par with an executive, has enough points to pay for a weeks stay at a 5 star hotel virtually anywhere.

2) Chase Amazon Prime Visa.
I use this almost exclusively for online purchases, and got it through a promotion with Amazon Prime (duh!) It pays points no matter where I use it, and those points become basically a cash balance that I can redeem with any Amazon purchase.

3) Chase United Airlines Explorer Mileage Plus Visa.
I got this last year when my firm started flying me more often. This is one of those that gives you a points bonus if you spend a given amount in a certain time-frame, in this case it was 40,000 miles after spending $3,000 in 3 months, which was no big deal to do at all. Again, like the Marriott card, this one now has enough points/miles to take a free ride to Europe 1st class or 5 or 6 domestic coach fare flights and like yours, it covers the first checked bag fee.

Then I have;

4) Citibank American Airlines Mastercard
Again, my firm started flying me a bunch last year, so the first Airline card I got was this one. It had a promotion similar to the United card above - this one gave me 50,000 miles after spending $3 grand or so in 3 months. So now this has enough points to get me BACK from Europe (LOL) 1st class or a bunch of domestic flights. This one also gives me a free checked bag, even if I don't use it to pay for the flight.

5) Hilton Honors American Express.
I've been a Hilton Honors member since the late 80's when I first started working in Motor Racing, but this card is fairly recent. I've had AMEX cards in the past; I had a Platinum Card back in the 90's because I flew overseas a few times a year and their benefits for international travel were pretty good. The annual fee was steep, but if I ever needed a life-flight helicopter ride in Queensland, it was a part of the deal (or so I was led to believe)

6) Bloomingdales American Express
I recently got this one as well, and use it primarily for online purchases from Bloomingdales, though it is a regular AMEX and would pay points to my Bloomies "Loyalist" account no matter what. Way back in the olden days, I worked for Bloomingdales in Miami, and I have always liked their store and the way they do business. The nearest one to me is over 160 miles away (Orlando) but they have a robust online presence and tend to carry outstanding quality (OK, ENOUGH of the commercial! LOL)

I have a couple no-interest lines of credit I don't use too often, both issued by Synchrony Bank which is a GE Capital spinoff. One with Ashley Furniture and a "Care Credit" card, These are the type that if you make regular payments and pay it off in whatever the agreed time-frame - 6 mos., 12, 18, whatever, it is no interest at all and no fees. You have to be careful with these however, as they can ding you for all the interest that was deferred if you become delinquent.

I also have a card from Best Buy backed by Citibank. I think the last time I used it was to buy this Apple iMac I am typing on, maybe 3 years now. It also offers no interest programs.

A few of these cards offered interesting promotions during the course of the year due to the pandemic, for instance 4 X points when used at a grocery store, because we were all staying home!

As you mentioned, I too use a couple of them for recurring monthly charges (phone, insurance, etc.) but one must be careful to note whether or not a direct checking account debit saves more than the points are worth. I have found this to be the case on a few occasions. I'm happy to say that I also pay these all off in such a way that I haven't paid a cent in Credit Card Interest charges in like 5 years.

Oh! Yeah...edit here to add this;

The way I look at these lines of credit anymore is, what does it benefit me? I used to (25 years ago) have all of them (Visa, MC, AMEX, Discover, even a Diners Club for a while) but outside of the aforementioned Platinum AMEX, none of those cards really did diddly squat for me, from a points or rewards perspective. They were a convenient way to defer payment or stretch it out, and boy, did I!

Nowadays, if it isn't paying me cash outright, or getting me a free ride to Europe or a week in a nice hotel in Milan, fuck em! I'm not interested.

Again, It is my honor to be the host of this group, as I find some of the most interesting discussions on DU here.

Thanks for your continued participation question everything, and to all the rest who might read this, thank you very much for participating in this tiny little corner of DU.

We can do, and have done real good work here. Truly. Good, solid, no bullshit financial advice and guidance can help people in an immeasurable way.

You regular contributors should be very proud that you have participated in such efforts.