How Many Credit Cards

[Larry Frank]

They got me again....I got a notice from my Visa card that someone tried to use it on the west coast. Now, I have to get a replacement card.

This will be the third time in less than two years. One was someone in New York trying to buy expensive jewelry, another was the Target fiasco, and then now someone on the west coast. Each time, you have to get a new card and change any online accounts that you use it for.

This time I got an email from Chase Bank about it and almost ignored it as it really looked alike a phishing email. I did call the number on the back of my card and found out what was going on. I get way to many emails trying to tell me that my card is bad, I owe the toll road, or similar things that look way to close to the real thing.

I must say that the people at Chase Bank were very professional about the entire thing and getting it straightened out. It was kind of a pain as they asked a lot of questions to make certain that I was who I said I was but that is really a good thing. They also are great at getting new cards to me quickly.

So......My real question is how many credit cards is reasonable. I have two now which is in case one card is bad because of fraud and then I have a back up. I am considering if it would be reasonable to have one that only attaches to certain online accounts because those are the most vulnerable. I do not see this problem with fraud getting any better and expect that there will continue to be an increase in the fraud levels.

One last thing that I have found which helps is that if you are taking a vacation somewhere it is a good thing to call the credit card company and tell them where you are going to be so that they do not think it is fraud and cancel the card while you are on vacation. It can really make a difference if you are going to be out of the country.

[George Bokros]

I have three. One is a Home Depot card that is only good at HD I believe. Got it only because opening the account got me 10% off a large appliance purchase a few years ago. I use only two credit cards to keep them both open. One has a feature attached to it that I use to create a one time use account number for on-line purchases. It is only good for one merchant, and you can set an expiration date of as little as two months and you set a credit limit on that account number. Once a merchant charges the account it will bounce if the number is attempted to be used at another merchant.

As far as travel I used to go to Mexico on business and my card issuer never bounced my charges while in Mexico but I believe ti was because I charged the airline ticket to that card. Today things on travel may be much different. I once used may card in person at a merchant then used it again at another merchant 60 miles away and they called and asked it the charge was ok. I also used that card and a restaurant for a business lunch and someone at the restaurant tried to use it when they were running my card for the meal for some iTunes and the card issuer caught it and bounced the iTunes charge. I love this card issuer.

[Shawn Pixley]

Three here. One is dedicated to work expenses. The other two are personal. There is no balance on any of them. Amex caught a fraud on a card 2 months ago. I had a new card the next day. Amex is very good at protecting you (and themselves). That was the first fraud on any of my cards in 15 years.

[Sam Murdoch]

If you have to have CCards (and I do -3) I firmly believe that you are most safe if you DO NOT do any online banking or paying of bills. Sorry, but there is no evidence that this is a secure practice - no matter what we are told. I know we get a lot of pressure from the banks who prefer not to send us any paper but too bad for them. I don't really care about their profits.

YES - I know there is no way to insure complete secure financial privacy in this world but not keeping credit card accounts on line is one important level of making yourself less available and vulnerable.

My personal preference is to call in my payment on the day before or on the due date. They already have my bank routing number the 1st time I sent them a check and so this works well for me and it allows me to pay at my leisure without concerns about mail delays.

Your last point about informing your credit card company about your travel plans is a good one.

[Matt Day]

I have three (one is a target card). One is my main card I use for everything (visa), and the other is a MasterCard I use only if for some reason I can't use the visa.

I use my main card for online purchases all the time and have paperless statements, and pay it automatically from my bank account. Online banking and paperless statements are the way the world is going (or has gone already for a lot of people). The card has built in fraud protection, so you're not responsible for the fraudulent charges, you just have to deal with the hassle of changing auto payments and such. Ive have had my card number stolen 3 or 4 times so far.

The main point I'd like to make is that it might be a good idea to have one card that is not shared with your significant other. No, not to make tool purchases without her knowing, but because if she looses her wallet and you have to cancel all the cards, you don't have any cc's to use for 5-10 days. If you each have a card the other does not, you'll have one to use.

[Steve Peterson]

I have only 1 primary card, but really need a backup card since my card has been compromised twice in the past 2 years. I only use my card for online purchases and occasional large local purchases.

I think the biggest risk of having the card stolen are restaurants and small stores with hard copy paper slips to sign. The restaurant server disappears with your card for 5-10 minutes and may have a scanner to copy your card, so I usually pay cash. I try to keep a few 5's and 1's in my wallet so I don't have to wait for change. Small store credit card readers can print paper slips with your name and card number. All they need to do is remember the security code on the back and they have all the info they need to use your card for online purchases.

It makes me wonder how the credit card companies can stay profitable with all the theft that is going on lately. Both times I was hit had several thousand dollars of online purchases before I received the statement and reported the theft.

Steve

[John Pratt]

Ok, I will be "that guy". I have zero, nil, nadda, zip credit cards. I have two different debit cards. One is an emergency only account and the other I keep very little money in at any one time (more money is a simple ATM transfer or phone call away). I have also set up fraud alerts with my banks so they know my spending habits and block purchases from out of state unless I call them to let them know when I am traveling.

[Brian Elfert]

I have quite a few credit cards because I get bonuses of between $300 and $500 for signing up for them. Most of them are stored safely at home, but I have three main credit cards I rotate between because they have various bonuses for different types of purchases. I know some will say it isn't worth the hassle, but I don't mind getting some extra tax free income for very little work. (The IRS has ruled that bonuses and rewards from credit cards are not taxable.)

[paul cottingham]

One Visa, carry a small balance on it. We wouldn't have one at all, but we need it to buy clothes online for our daughter (very specific needs for school and sensory issues with cloth) and make reservations if we are travelling. I learned my lesson when my first wife ran up a huge (to me) amount of credit card debt on a bunch of cards before she moved out.

[John Huds0n]

Two - One is AmEx that gets used mainly for the extended warranty, 90 day accidental damage and the annual rebate check. For the places that don't take AmEx, I still have a Visa. I even have most of my utility bills auto payed through AmEx - and if there is ever a problem, I am confident that AmEx will take care of me...

Note - if you are the victim of credit card fraud, you should be filing a police report and then notifying the credit agencies and asking for an EXTENDED fraud alert. Then get your free copies of your credit report and check them over carefully and monitor them every now and then.

With an extended alert on your record - if anyone tries to take out credit (even you) they would need to answer a series of questions about your personal history - past addresses where you have lived or worked, etc

Here is some more info
http://idtheft.utah.gov/education/educationpages/extended7yearfraudalert_001.html

[Mike Henderson]

Like others, I have three. One I use only for online purchases, one for all in person purchases, and one for my woodworking (to make tracking expenses easier).

I disagree with the poster who was afraid of on-line banking. I've never had a problem with on-line banking and since I don't have my credit card through the bank, they could not compromise my credit card. I spent some time talking with a banker friend about compromises and he commented that the problem they have is that someone will give their bank debit card (and pin) to someone else, allow that person to "steal" some money, then report the card as stolen. However, he said that if the card is used with the proper pin, they generally will not reimburse the account holder. They've seen that scam done way too many times.

Mike

[Charles Wiggins]

One Visa, carry a small balance on it. We wouldn't have one at all, but we need it to buy clothes online for our daughter (very specific needs for school and sensory issues with cloth) and make reservations if we are travelling.

You can do those things with a debit card, so if you want to ditch that last credit card you have an out. Also, more and more online retailers are taking PayPal. You can tie your PayPal account directly to a particular bank account without any card.

We have one credit card left, and the ONLY reason I keep it is because of travel for work, specifically hotel charges, because on so many occasions the hotel charges took FOREVER to actually post and it messed with the running balance on the checking account tied to my debit card. I have actually gotten my reimbursement check from work before the charges showed up on the account. I found it annoying. I always pay it off each month so have not payed any interest in YEARS. If there were ever any down side to that credit card I would ditch it in a minute.

I pay all of our monthly bills online and frequently buy online and NEVER use a credit card. It's all done with direct draft, the debit card, or PayPal.

We also have ID theft protection through ID Experts. They are not as big on the prevention side like LifeLock, but if you have a breach they assign a caseworker who spends THEIR time cleaning up the mess for you. If your identity is stolen you aren't liable for the fraudulent charges, but proving that, and restoring your accounts is where they big losses of time and money are for the consumer.

Cheers,
Charles

[Chris Padilla]

Let's see:

One AMEX (BTW, shared with my wife but hers has a different number; put everything under the sun on it; yearly rebates hit $600-700)
One VISA (shared with wife)
One Discover (shared with wife...rarely use these days)

One Target (shared with wife)
Just recently got a Walmart card due to $25 rebate if I spent $75...I spent $77. :) I don't have a physical card for this but one might arrive...dunno.

I shop online constantly and I use the AMEX and VISA all the time.

I had once case of fraud on the AMEX...AMEX took care of it straight away...new card in a day or two. No biggie.

[Greg R Bradley]

Ok, I will be "that guy". I have zero, nil, nadda, zip credit cards. I have two different debit cards. One is an emergency only account and the other I keep very little money in at any one time (more money is a simple ATM transfer or phone call away). I have also set up fraud alerts with my banks so they know my spending habits and block purchases from out of state unless I call them to let them know when I am traveling.
And I'll be the other guy - with 28.

If you don't count one for a private fuel station plus two customer cards, used for their purchases, still leaves 25 for 3 businesses and personal.

They are a great way to track purchases and most of them earn some kind of rewards or come with some benefit.
Lowes and Home Depot business cards gets you 5% off on each purchase.

One Amex card could be cancelled but there is no advantage to do so and a 40 year old account helps your AAoA (Average Age of Accounts) on credit scoring systems. I just have to remember to use it a couple times a year so they don't cancel it.

I try to use Amex Business for online purchases. I get my choice of email or text notification of each online purchase. The one I have setup for texts gives me a text within 15 seconds of buying something online.

[John Huds0n]

Y

...I pay all of our monthly bills online and frequently buy online and NEVER use a credit card. It's all done with direct draft, the debit card, or PayPal...


Cheers,
Charles

Charles - You are really missing out on some of the benefits from using a credit card. I have used the AmEx 90 day accidental damage
protection a number of times. Just recently we purchased a new EZ-Up for around $200. Set it up and went inside for lunch. Unfortunately, a gust of wind caught it and flipped it over up against a planter wall while we were inside. The top got ripped and the scissor frame had several links bent. AmEx refunded our money in full in just a couple of days. They also extend you warranty on something for another year. I have had a couple of computer monitors stop working in the 4th year of a manufacturer's 3 year warranty, filed the claim with AmEx - and full refund.

The annual rebate checks are a nice bonus

Another thing I have done recently - Chase was offering 50,000 reward points for a new account with the Southwest Reward program if you charged $2,000 in 3 months on the card. 50,000 points can be converted to $500 in Amazon gift cards instead of using air miles, and Amazon sells a lot of tools....

[Moses Yoder]

I inherited my father's spending habits, which are terrible. If I have money, I spend it. I have been without a credit card now for about 10 years I would say. My wife has several, one for Amazon and one for emergencies. We had to replace one once and I think to have a backup in case your card is compromised is taking planning to an extreme; it would really not be that hard to go without a card for a few days. With the proximity of ATMs, I would say if you need a credit card the most you would really need is one good one. More than that is a luxury.

[Mike Henderson]

I inherited my father's spending habits, which are terrible. If I have money, I spend it. I have been without a credit card now for about 10 years I would say. My wife has several, one for Amazon and one for emergencies. We had to replace one once and I think to have a backup in case your card is compromised is taking planning to an extreme; it would really not be that hard to go without a card for a few days. With the proximity of ATMs, I would say if you need a credit card the most you would really need is one good one. More than that is a luxury.
The problem is if you are traveling. You're in some other town and your card has been cut off. It's really nice to have a backup card.

Or, you go to buy gas and your card is rejected. You don't know why but you need gas and you don't have a bunch of money in your pocket. Maybe you can go find an ATM to get some cash but that takes time and sometimes you're in a hurry.

I have a backup credit card and I think it's a good idea.

Mike

[paul cottingham]

You can do those things with a debit card, so if you want to ditch that last credit card you have an out. Also, more and more online retailers are taking PayPal. You can tie your PayPal account directly to a particular bank account without any card.

We have one credit card left, and the ONLY reason I keep it is because of travel for work, specifically hotel charges, because on so many occasions the hotel charges took FOREVER to actually post and it messed with the running balance on the checking account tied to my debit card. I have actually gotten my reimbursement check from work before the charges showed up on the account. I found it annoying. I always pay it off each month so have not payed any interest in YEARS. If there were ever any down side to that credit card I would ditch it in a minute.

I pay all of our monthly bills online and frequently buy online and NEVER use a credit card. It's all done with direct draft, the debit card, or PayPal.

We also have ID theft protection through ID Experts. They are not as big on the prevention side like LifeLock, but if you have a breach they assign a caseworker who spends THEIR time cleaning up the mess for you. If your identity is stolen you aren't liable for the fraudulent charges, but proving that, and restoring your accounts is where they big losses of time and money are for the consumer.

Cheers,
Charles

Yeah, I've tried to tie PayPal to a bank account but it doesn't seem to work in Canada. Should try again.
i also have I'd theft protection thru my house insurance. Would love love love to be rid of the credit card, as we are on a fixed income, and the card scares me. :-)

[Mike Henderson]

Just in case anyone doesn't know, your liability for use of your card by theft of your card is limited to $50 - and most of the time, that is waived. If the thief only steals your credit card number, and not the card itself, you have $0 liability. Of course, that is dependent upon you reporting the loss as soon as you become aware of it. See here (http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/unauthorized-credit-debit-card-charges-29654.html)and here (http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0213-lost-or-stolen-credit-atm-and-debit-cards)for some details on that.

Debit cards do not have the same level of protection - check the two above links for details on debit cards. The net is that you're sometimes better protected if you use a credit card instead of a debit card.

Mike

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

. We had to replace one once and I think to have a backup in case your card is compromised is taking planning to an extreme; it would really not be that hard to go without a card for a few days. With the proximity of ATMs, I would say if you need a credit card the most you would really need is one good one. More than that is a luxury.

I still only have the one credit card, but one summer, my credit card got closed for being compromised, the same time I was without an ATM card because it surprisingly expired. (Even my bank was surprised it expired - the card was a non debit ATM card old enough no one at the bank remembered when they stopped giving them out. ). Working nights, it was tough to be able to get to banks during regular hours, and I only had two checks left, that I needed for rent and bills. Waiting for something (ATM, credit or checks ) to come in, it was an interesting couple of weeks, and I was glad I was spendthrift. Made me appreciate modern conveniences. The other times a credit card has been cancelled, I've lived with it easily.

[Jim Matthews]

Note - if you are the victim of credit card fraud, you should be filing a police report and then notifying the credit agencies and asking for an EXTENDED fraud alert. Then get your free copies of your credit report and check them over carefully and monitor them every now and then.

With an extended alert on your record - if anyone tries to take out credit (even you) they would need to answer a series of questions about your personal history - past addresses where you have lived or worked, etc

Here is some more info
http://idtheft.utah.gov/education/educationpages/extended7yearfraudalert_001.html

Excellent, useful post.

Thank you.

[Jim Matthews]

One Discover card, shared with SWMBO.

Balance paid, in full each month.
Groceries, gas and clothing all go on this.

VISA Debit card for the places that don't accept Discover.
(My cash back costs them money.)

Small wedge of folding cash.
If it costs less than $10, most stores around here decline credit card purchases.

What can I say, I live in a backwater.

[Matt Meiser]

Amex and a Mastercard for backup use. Not fun to be out traveling and have one compromised regardless, but having a second takes away some of the risk. Since rental car companies and hotels will do a preauthorization for a significant sum, you really don't want to be using debit there.

[Curt Harms]

Just in case anyone doesn't know, your liability for use of your card by theft of your card is limited to $50 - and most of the time, that is waived. If the thief only steals your credit card number, and not the card itself, you have $0 liability. Of course, that is dependent upon you reporting the loss as soon as you become aware of it. See here (http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/unauthorized-credit-debit-card-charges-29654.html)and here (http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0213-lost-or-stolen-credit-atm-and-debit-cards)for some details on that.

Debit cards do not have the same level of protection - check the two above links for details on debit cards. The net is that you're sometimes better protected if you use a credit card instead of a debit card.

Mike

I wonder if the limited/no liability is going to change. According to a European forum, once their banks went to 'chip & pin' (chip in the card, pin required) the banks were no longer responsible for any fraudulent transaction where the chip card & pin were used. Thieves have used inconspicuous cameras and rigged ATMs to harvest stripe reader and pin info. I wonder if something similar is possible. I'm sure it'd be harder to duplicate the chip than to read the magnetic stripe but criminals can be a resourceful bunch.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have quite a few credit cards because I get bonuses of between $300 and $500 for signing up for them.That way more generous than I ever managed to score!
I'll have to start looking back into that.

Right now I'm trying to find some bank that will give me free money ($100 to $300) for opening an account - - - that doesn't require me to have a direct deposit or use a debit card X number of times a month.
The direct deposit thing my be doable, but, I despise debit cards.
We only have one because it's tied to a bank account we opened as a condition of opening the account. That and one store we shop at only takes debit cards &/or cash.

[Brian Elfert]

That way more generous than I ever managed to score!
I'll have to start looking back into that.


There are entire websites dedicated to credit card offers. A lot of them are more for cards that give out airline miles or hotel rewards points, but even most of those allow you to trade the points for cash or gift cards. I already have all of the cards with the best offers. Some of the cards you can cancel and then sign up again a year later, but they are starting to state you can't get the bonus offer more than once.

The only card out there that I don't have right now is the Wells Fargo American Express which I think is a $400 offer. I have to wait until my house purchase closes before I do another credit card.

[Rich Engelhardt]

When we bought one of our rentals, I knew we were going to put a lot of $$ into it. I opened a Home Depot card account - one that paid reward points - and stuck as much stuff on there as possible. I got XXX number of reward points for opening the account, and xxxx more points for what I put on the card (plywood, drywall, 2x4's, paint, stuff like that).
Bottom line is I managed to pile up enough points to where I could buy my TS3660 table saw for some ridiculous price like $240 something dollars.

I sort of envy you the position you're in with the new house and all the expenses. Well not so much the expenses - but - you know what I mean ;).
You're going to spend it anyhow and you might as well get something for nothing right?

I'll have to get back to looking for some of those CC sites.Oh jeeze - I forgot also - someone mentioned to look into buying gift cards also for places like Lowes and HD at places that discount gasoline prices based on what you buy at the store. That's another good way to have your cake and eat it too!

[Charles Wiggins]

Charles - You are really missing out on some of the benefits from using a credit card. I have used the AmEx 90 day accidental damage protection a number of times. Just recently we purchased a new EZ-Up for around $200. Set it up and went inside for lunch. Unfortunately, a gust of wind caught it and flipped it over up against a planter wall while we were inside. The top got ripped and the scissor frame had several links bent. AmEx refunded our money in full in just a couple of days. They also extend you warranty on something for another year. I have had a couple of computer monitors stop working in the 4th year of a manufacturer's 3 year warranty, filed the claim with AmEx - and full refund.

The annual rebate checks are a nice bonus

Another thing I have done recently - Chase was offering 50,000 reward points for a new account with the Southwest Reward program if you charged $2,000 in 3 months on the card. 50,000 points can be converted to $500 in Amazon gift cards instead of using air miles, and Amazon sells a lot of tools....

How much to you pay AmEx per year to have this "privilege"? They're making money somewhere. Maybe not on you, but they're making the money up somewhere else or they wouldn't offer the service. There are other reasons not to use cards, the main one being that if you don't play with snakes you don't get bit.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/20333-guide-to-credit-cards-how-credit-cards-encourage-you-to-overspend

http://www.moneycrashers.com/you-spend-more-money-when-you-use-a-credit-card/

http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2012/04/26/the-myth-of-good-debt

[Mike Henderson]

How much to you pay AmEx per year to have this "privilege"? They're making money somewhere. Maybe not on you, but they're making the money up somewhere else or they wouldn't offer the service.
Of course, every time you use the card, the merchant pays a fee. Actually, the fee is deducted from the amount of the purchase. So if you buy something for $100, the merchant doesn't get $100 from the credit card company, the merchant gets less - maybe $95. So the credit card company makes money even if you pay off your balance each month. They make more, of course, if you don't pay off the balance, because then they charge you very high interest to carry the balance.

Mike

[Greg R Bradley]

Mike,
There are some CC programs for credit challenged merchants that work that way. People accepting Paypal use that system. All normal CC Merchant programs that I've seen give you the complete deposit and then charge you the fees later. Most of the fees for the month hit a couple days after the close of the month and some other fees hit a month later. I was just reviewing the two accounts that accept CC to make sure there is enough money to cover the charges that will hit on the second or the third. It will be a couple thousand dollars in fees.

That is where they make a big chunk of money. People that don't PIF (Pay in Full by the due date) will pay interest and they make more money there.

[Chuck Wintle]

I have 2 credit cards, an MC and a Visa. i use the mastercard almost exclusively except for online purchases. There have been a few problems but MC fixed these pronto everytime.

[Chris Padilla]

I forgot that I recently got a Southwest Airlines VISA. You get 10,000 points for signing up and they give you $100 towards your first purchase of tickets but then immediately deduct $99 for the card so you make a whole buck there but the real gravy is the ~two free plane tickets you get with those points.

[Brian Elfert]

I forgot that I recently got a Southwest Airlines VISA. You get 10,000 points for signing up and they give you $100 towards your first purchase of tickets but then immediately deduct $99 for the card so you make a whole buck there but the real gravy is the ~two free plane tickets you get with those points.

Where are you flying to that is only 5,000 points round trip with Southwest? That is a steal of a deal. I just checked and Minneapolis to Chicago Midway is almost 10,000 points for one ticket. The Southwest Visa is often available with a 40,000 or 50,000 point bonus. I've already had this card twice so I got at least 80,000 bonus points. I used most of the points for gift cards although I did fly to Chicago.

[Chris Padilla]

Early bird stuff is pretty cheap with points.