How many credit cards?
Discussion
I've got one only.
I said to Barclaycard about 15 years ago that I would use their card exclusively if they would give me the sum of my other credit limits as my Barclaycard limit. They agreed, and I've done just that. I have no idea if they would know or care if I took a second card. But a deal is a deal.
Dealing with India, when there is a problem, is a bit of a bind, But once I've been transferred to someone in the UK they have always dealt with things.
1 card, £500 limit - sits between the internet and my current account, gets paid off every month.
No other cards at all.
Thank f
k.
Been there - £15k etc etc, no more, ever again.
Waking up in the morning knowing the only debt you have is the mortgage is the BEST feeling ever....
Never again,
No other cards at all.
Thank f
k.Been there - £15k etc etc, no more, ever again.
Waking up in the morning knowing the only debt you have is the mortgage is the BEST feeling ever....
Never again,
Turn7 said:
1 card, £500 limit - sits between the internet and my current account, gets paid off every month.
No other cards at all.
Thank fk.
Been there - £15k etc etc, no more, ever again.
Waking up in the morning knowing the only debt you have is the mortgage is the BEST feeling ever....
Never again,
I have 37k of credit limits across four cards. Never carry a balance.No other cards at all.
Thank f
k.Been there - £15k etc etc, no more, ever again.
Waking up in the morning knowing the only debt you have is the mortgage is the BEST feeling ever....
Never again,
I have two cards, one with a £2k limit and one with a £7.5k limit. Nothing on either of them and I've never even used the one with the higher limit. No 'cashback' or anything, just there in case of emergency. I don't have much day-to-day spending so cashback deals wouldn't really generate me much.
Funk said:
I have two cards, one with a £2k limit and one with a £7.5k limit. Nothing on either of them and I've never even used the one with the higher limit. No 'cashback' or anything, just there in case of emergency. I don't have much day-to-day spending so cashback deals wouldn't really generate me much.
Jus a cautionary tale - once upon a time when I had little to my name, I had a barclaycard which lived in the glove box of my car (PH slant; E30 M3. Shouldn’t have sold it.) for emergencies and fuel when I still had month left at the end of the money. It hadn’t been used for a couple of years - but my moment of need came along the A1 in Lincolnshire one dark night.
Filled my car up with premium fizz, waltzed in to the shop, snagged a coffee, a Pepperami wideboy and a double decker for the road.
Went to pay the checkout girl - who looked filthy in a good (yet council) way... and BEEP. Card declined.
I asked the young filthstress to try again... and again... Nothing. She explained that the next step is to fill out a MASSIVE red IOU slip, that I could take to any of their petrol stations and pay up. It looked like what I imagine prison paperwork to look like.
I was utterly mortified. As I was waiting for a hole in the earth to open up and consume me, it also dawned on me that I was also fairly unlikely to woo this motorway maiden to a future liaison in a nearby Harvester and tactically booked room in the co-located Travelodge, so double rubbish.
When I got home, I called barclaycard - to be told that the card was cancelled due to inactivity.
I explained that it would have been good if they’d informed me of this (which in fairness, they probably did) and explained that I’d just been looked upon as a rapist monster in a motorway services.
Still, got the f
kers back for a couple of grand in PPI - so every cloud, and all that. On topic - 2 credit cards in Hong Kong (where I live). Ones an Amex that I try to use for everything. The other a MasterCard for places that don’t take Amex. Hong Kong is ‘loose’ when it comes to credit card limits. Those combined have a limit of £160,000
I have a card in the U.K. for a couple of household bills, and the same in the US - just to keep my credit profile ticking over, for what that’s worth.
All paid of in full each month.
Edited by Testaburger on Sunday 2nd September 05:47
I have 7...
Amex platinum cashback used for day to day spending and paid in full each month.
Barclaycard cashback used in places that don’t take Amex/major purchases and of back each month (or mostly paid back)
5 0% balance transfer cards, 2 with nothing on them, 3 in various stages of repayment.
Total cumulative credit limit of ~£100k (scary I know!)
Amex platinum cashback used for day to day spending and paid in full each month.
Barclaycard cashback used in places that don’t take Amex/major purchases and of back each month (or mostly paid back)
5 0% balance transfer cards, 2 with nothing on them, 3 in various stages of repayment.
Total cumulative credit limit of ~£100k (scary I know!)
None.
I have my debit card and that's it.
Before my personal financial crash I decided the way out of my problem was to collect increasing numbers of cards and use the new ones to support the existing ones while I swapped money to 0% interest accounts. It might be 0% but you still have to pay every month. This worked briefly but required a well paid job and quite a lot of work juggling money between accounts. The crash came when I missed a date and had ten or twelve payments disallowed on the same day. The penalties on both sides, bank and creditors, were huge. Not huge - what am I saying? - about £30 per missed payment but on both sides, so about £600. The £600 that sank the ship. And almost immediately I was laid off. When I approached an Insolvency Practitioner my card debt was £138,000.
The way I rationalized my predicament to myself was that the finance houses had allowed it to happen and as long as I could keep building the pyramid of cards and debt I would be all right. I realised it would eventually become my full time job and be a Falling Down situation where I left for work every morning but actually went somewhere quiet to juggle money and borrow more. Once on that path the rate at which the debt accrues is nightmarish. What kept me going was a quote by J. Paul Getty, "If you owe the bank $100 that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem."
The stress of keeping it going and keeping it away from my wife was extraordinary. A variety of delusional mental illness? Possibly. Stupidity? Definitely.
Then the crash. By using the Insolvency Practioner, and my wife's savings of nearly £20,000, my creditors settled for a few pence in the pound. Don't attempt to do it on your own. The debt collection people are horrible. It's their job. The Insolvency Practitioner was a godsend. We were allowed to keep the house and two cars - which admittedly weren't very valuable - but the writing of a list of assets and their value for possible inclusion in a settlement is sobering. "Do you have a decent watch?" "Yeah, but..." "No, have it valued and include it. Don't conceal anything or you'll finish up inside."
NatWest were the only bank locally who would take my business after I fell out with the others. The young lady who interviewed me was cross. Over the phone I'd explained what had happened and why I needed some form of banking and had been given an appointment. She ushered me into a room and was disapproving, slamming about with papers and smacking the desk. Did I realise? Was I aware? Did I have any idea? Had I thought? Then she asked the amount. I told her £138,000 and the mood changed. I was in the club suddenly. She thought I wanted to throw in the towel for ten grand or so like most insolvents she saw. Over a hundred? Different story. Telling me tales of customers who had gone down for way more than that. Bizarre. A very strange way to qualify for admission to a club. They allowed me a Step Account - "It's for students and bankrupts," she laughed. I was very grateful. Bewildered but grateful.
I won't borrow money again in any form BUT because I keep on top of regular payments these days like mortgage and Council Tax and utility bills I now have an enviable Credit Rating.
My wife was livid of course but calmed down when the dust settled and our lives hadn't changed much. My eldest step daughter was in finance at the time and told me it's just business and recently advised me to look into PPI. I qualified for some even though I had eventually defaulted. The madness is on the other side I think. I honestly believe it. The whole financial world is completely bonkers.
I have my debit card and that's it.
Before my personal financial crash I decided the way out of my problem was to collect increasing numbers of cards and use the new ones to support the existing ones while I swapped money to 0% interest accounts. It might be 0% but you still have to pay every month. This worked briefly but required a well paid job and quite a lot of work juggling money between accounts. The crash came when I missed a date and had ten or twelve payments disallowed on the same day. The penalties on both sides, bank and creditors, were huge. Not huge - what am I saying? - about £30 per missed payment but on both sides, so about £600. The £600 that sank the ship. And almost immediately I was laid off. When I approached an Insolvency Practitioner my card debt was £138,000.
The way I rationalized my predicament to myself was that the finance houses had allowed it to happen and as long as I could keep building the pyramid of cards and debt I would be all right. I realised it would eventually become my full time job and be a Falling Down situation where I left for work every morning but actually went somewhere quiet to juggle money and borrow more. Once on that path the rate at which the debt accrues is nightmarish. What kept me going was a quote by J. Paul Getty, "If you owe the bank $100 that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem."
The stress of keeping it going and keeping it away from my wife was extraordinary. A variety of delusional mental illness? Possibly. Stupidity? Definitely.
Then the crash. By using the Insolvency Practioner, and my wife's savings of nearly £20,000, my creditors settled for a few pence in the pound. Don't attempt to do it on your own. The debt collection people are horrible. It's their job. The Insolvency Practitioner was a godsend. We were allowed to keep the house and two cars - which admittedly weren't very valuable - but the writing of a list of assets and their value for possible inclusion in a settlement is sobering. "Do you have a decent watch?" "Yeah, but..." "No, have it valued and include it. Don't conceal anything or you'll finish up inside."
NatWest were the only bank locally who would take my business after I fell out with the others. The young lady who interviewed me was cross. Over the phone I'd explained what had happened and why I needed some form of banking and had been given an appointment. She ushered me into a room and was disapproving, slamming about with papers and smacking the desk. Did I realise? Was I aware? Did I have any idea? Had I thought? Then she asked the amount. I told her £138,000 and the mood changed. I was in the club suddenly. She thought I wanted to throw in the towel for ten grand or so like most insolvents she saw. Over a hundred? Different story. Telling me tales of customers who had gone down for way more than that. Bizarre. A very strange way to qualify for admission to a club. They allowed me a Step Account - "It's for students and bankrupts," she laughed. I was very grateful. Bewildered but grateful.
I won't borrow money again in any form BUT because I keep on top of regular payments these days like mortgage and Council Tax and utility bills I now have an enviable Credit Rating.
My wife was livid of course but calmed down when the dust settled and our lives hadn't changed much. My eldest step daughter was in finance at the time and told me it's just business and recently advised me to look into PPI. I qualified for some even though I had eventually defaulted. The madness is on the other side I think. I honestly believe it. The whole financial world is completely bonkers.
nikaiyo2 said:
So my thinking is that my current 12 is OTT. So over £100,000 in available balance.
I often buy stuff and transfer to a 0% card then just let the card sit there.
Should I cancel some? Or just leave them. When I paid off a mortgage my clearscore went down!
Depends what you want to do really. Some lenders will view having high amounts of unused credit as risky (you can go from debt-free to £100k in debt overnight), cards you've had open a long time will be beneficial to your credit score as the length of time you've had it shows stability; this is why your score when down when you paid off a mortgage - your average account life decreased. Mine did the same when I remortgaged, albeit temporarily. It's why I've left my card with the lower limit live despite it having a pretty crap interest rate. I've never actually paid any interest on it anyway and the length of time it's been open is a positive factor on a credit file.I often buy stuff and transfer to a 0% card then just let the card sit there.
Should I cancel some? Or just leave them. When I paid off a mortgage my clearscore went down!
If you're looking to reduce them down, get rid of the newest ones first as this will have less of an impact on a score.
nikaiyo2 said:
So my thinking is that my current 12 is OTT. So over £100,000 in available balance.
FredClogs said:
I would agree 12 is too many.
12 is a lot more than most, certainly - but if you have a good reason (i.e. each card offers something you couldn't get elsewhere), then why not?Currently - 7. Which is less than usual!
nikaiyo2 said:
So my thinking is that my current 12 is OTT.
Blimey. Do you employee a credit card manager to look after them? 
I have three, Amex (mainly for work), Mastercard from M&S, that wife likes to use, and I use it for online purchases, and Visa that I use in places that don't take Amex.
Dickie - brave post! Sending you best wishes for a better future.
Me, just the two. One with 15k limit and one with 5k limit. I try to use one each month and pay it off in full to keep the credit score ticking over.
If I have a big purchase, I use one and then transfer the balance to the other for interest (but not fee) free credit. I still get anxious about having any balance and often find myself paying an interest free balance off early, which makes the transfer fee really bad value!
Me, just the two. One with 15k limit and one with 5k limit. I try to use one each month and pay it off in full to keep the credit score ticking over.
If I have a big purchase, I use one and then transfer the balance to the other for interest (but not fee) free credit. I still get anxious about having any balance and often find myself paying an interest free balance off early, which makes the transfer fee really bad value!
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