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Is it a bad idea to have more than 1 CC?

Ns1

Ns1

No Lifer
Will it do bad things to your credit rating or keep it from going as high as it can go?

I currently have a Capital One Visa, and I'm thinking about signing up for the Amex Blue Student card.

How widely accepted are AMEX cards nowadays? I can't shake off those damn Visa commercials, damn things are embedded in my mind for life.

Stick with the Capital One? Get both? Get the Amex and cancel the Visa? Any recommendations?
 
get an amex and a visa. use the amex, keep the visa for when the amex isnt usable. that's all you need.

the more cards you have the worse. other forms of credit can be better (like if you had a revolving line of credit, etc., but credit cards rate low on the totem pole of financial goodstuff).

nothing wrong with having 2 cards, and it shouldnt hurt your score (no one really knows as the formulas are "secret"). im sure that having an amex and a visa is much better than having 2 visas. or so one would think...

getting 3+ would be pushing it.
 
Which reminds me, is this right?

I've been with Capital One for 15 months, with a credit limit of 750.

I've put over 5 grand on the card, and paid off the balance in full every time early, so I haven't paid a cent of interest.

I'm not eligible for a credit limit increase.
 


<< Your credit limit's only 750? How old are you?

I'm only 17, and my credit limit is 1000 >>



im 22 and my limit is 20,000; whats your point?


i have 3 cards i wont get another one.
 


<<

<< Your credit limit's only 750? How old are you?

I'm only 17, and my credit limit is 1000 >>



im 22 and my limit is 20,000; whats your point?


i have 3 cards i wont get another one. >>



are you serious?
 
Neuro,

That's because they're not making any money off of you. That's pretty much the way it works. They want you to spend and then pay off in small payments so that they make interest off of you.
 
actually, I spoke with a CSR to cancel one of my CCs because I had it just idling away for like a year. It was up to a GOLD status but I saw no point in keeping it.

Anyways, they always try to point you in the other direction to keep you from cancelling it. Well, the lady explained to me that despite it being inactive for a year, it was doing wonders for my credit. Each month, Capital One kept giving my credit a "good" status. So, if/when I try to buy a house/car, creditors will see this and think good things of me😉.

so if you were to have more than 2 cards, you might think about keeping one idle to build your credit (if you are young that is. if you've already got an established credit history, why bother right? 😉)
 
Check out the amex blue student benefits vs the normal amex blue...they are different especially if you want to use it for pricematching. And I don't know about the credit question on Capital One but they were raising my limit every 6 months or so when I had one.
 


<< the only problem with two CC is if you use one to pay off the other >>



not neccessarily. If you have a card at 20% interest and one at 12% interest, i think you should pay off the 20% with the 13%
 
capone just increase my limit after almost 2yrs... i use it, pay it off, use it, pay it off, occationally i'll leave a balance, pay it off... and i'm still at $400. all i want is a really good points card 🙂
 
It's a good idea to have two cards so you can cancel one and still be able to order stuff.

I had to cancel one of my cards and get a new number after my number somehow got on a mailing list under my mom's name. The company's with this list were the "we're gonna send you crap and if you don't say you don't want it we're gonna charge you". They did that even after we said "no" and getting the charges fixed wasn't always a short deal.
 
I have a few of comments:
1) The ideal number of credit cards is 2 if you pay them off each month. Reasons: (A) too many cards hurts your credit rating, (B) sticking to just one makes increasing your credit slow since you only prove that you pay 1 bill per month on time, (C) having two makes it easier if you happen to max one out in a time of need, (D) having two lets you keep one safe at home while you take the other out - thieves cannot do much harm by stealing all your credit cards - you will have one to spare while you wait for replacements to be mailed to you.

2) If you don't pay them off each month, the ideal number of cards is zero. You are paying way too much in interest so you are wasting your money.

3) Credit card companies make money in two ways: (A) they earn roughly 4% on each purchase. If you buy $100 of goods, the store then owes the CC company about $104. This 4% is how credit card companies can afford to give cash back, airline tickets, discounts, and other forms of benefits. This 4% also guarantees that the CC company makes money even from customers who pay their bills off completely each month. Remember the 4% gas discount for paying in cash that was so popular a few years ago? That was the gas stations passing the savings on to the customers (now they perfer to have as little cash as possible to stop theives so that discount is not common anymore). (B) CC companies earn interest on unpaid balances.

4) A CC company loses money in one major way: unpaid bills (bankruptcy, going into hiding, death, etc.) Thus CC companies love to get money each month that proves you haven't died, aren't hiding from your bills, aren't delcaring bankruptcy, etc.

5) If you only pay the minimum balance each month, then you can't charge much on the card. In this case the CC company loses out on the 4% profit per purchase.

6) Combining thoughts (3-5) you can quickly see the ideal customer: purchases lots each month (earns the 4% profit), and pays a lot of the balance each month but not all (earns the interest plus allows more 4% purchases). However I would never suggest that you pay less than the maximum since a little more credit isn't worth the hundreds of dollars you will waste paying the interest.

7) The number one credit increasing tactic: pay every bill on time for as long of a stretch as you can. Since you are 18, you haven't payed that many bills yet. Just sit back and wait. You should get steady increases over time. I tend to get an average of $9 credit increase every day per card (they come in large increases every 3 months) just from paying the complete bill on time every month. I'm 24 and got my two (and only two) $1000 cards at the age of 19. The math is easy: each now has roughly a $1000 + $9*5*365 = $17,000 limit.
 


<< the only problem with two CC is if you use one to pay off the other

not neccessarily. If you have a card at 20% interest and one at 12% interest, i think you should pay off the 20% with the 13% >>



Be careful doing this. Quite a few cards have added a new hidden fee. They often now charge up to 25% to transfer the balance to a different CC company. For example if you had a $1000 balance paying 20% interest, you would pay $200 in interest in a year. If you transfered the $1000 balance and your card had that hidden fee you will be charged up to $250. Thus the new card will charge you 13%*$1250 = $162/year. It will then take you nearly 7 years for that lower interest card to finally save you that $250!

Transfer balances IF you DON'T have that hidden fee. If you do, do NOT transfer balances.
 
Will it do bad things to your credit rating or keep it from going as high as it can go?

I currently have a Capital One Visa, and I'm thinking about signing up for the Amex Blue Student card.

How widely accepted are AMEX cards nowadays? I can't shake off those damn Visa commercials, damn things are embedded in my mind for life.

Stick with the Capital One? Get both? Get the Amex and cancel the Visa? Any recommendations?

I?ve heard the Amex Blue student doesn?t have all the perks and advantages (such as BVG Best Value Guarantee) that the regular Amex Blue offers. So before applying for ANY Amex card please read this excellent thread which lists the various Amex cards and what benefits each offers.

Amex isn?t as widely accepted as VISA or MasterCard is, and they never will be.

I would ONLY use an Amex (if I had one) for the BVG (you can get some mad crazy Hot Deals for instance a Canon S110 for well under $300 with a free $50 800.com GC), that's it. Everything else I'd use a VISA or MasterCard for.

get an amex and a visa. use the amex, keep the visa for when the amex isnt usable. that's all you need.

the more cards you have the worse. other forms of credit can be better (like if you had a revolving line of credit, etc., but credit cards rate low on the totem pole of financial goodstuff).

nothing wrong with having 2 cards, and it shouldnt hurt your score (no one really knows as the formulas are "secret"). im sure that having an amex and a visa is much better than having 2 visas. or so one would think...

getting 3+ would be pushing it.

That?s what I would do. Assuming you?ve had your Capital One VISA for at least 1 year (pref 2 years) and have made all your payments on time, have a steady job, lived at the same place for a while and make a decent income then apply for the regular Amex Blue.

Which reminds me, is this right?

I've been with Capital One for 15 months, with a credit limit of 750.

I've put over 5 grand on the card, and paid off the balance in full every time early, so I haven't paid a cent of interest.

I'm not eligible for a credit limit increase.

Without knowing all the facts it?s hard to say, but it doesn?t sound right. You should have received a decline letter stating why you were denied your credit limit increase. A lot of people don?t understand that establishing and maintaining good credit takes a lot of patience, it ain?t gonna happen overnight.

With your decline letter you?re entitled to a free copy of your credit report which I would encourage you to get.

<< Your credit limit's only 750? How old are you?

I'm only 17, and my credit limit is 1000 >>



im 22 and my limit is 20,000; whats your point?


i have 3 cards i wont get another one.

I?ll be 27 Thursday and my total available credit is just shy of $40,000.

It?s nothing that I?m proud of 😀
 
I'm not eligible for a regular Amex Blue, I don't make 20k/year

Hell I don't make 10k/year
 
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