QOTD 3/13

minionlover

According to a quick google search the average number of credit cards an American has is anywhere between 2.6 and 9.5. Most of the numbers I found were between 3 and 4.

Since you can't have a fraction of a credit card, if we say that the average is 4 cards, are you above, below or simply average?

Willy1020

Just below. We have three. 

islandmonkey8

Store cards count?

ramstein1027

Below.  We don't really finance things and we pay the cards off as we use them.  We only have them to keep our credit score high.

mpjf1001

Average if we are talking major cards, above if we are including store, I think I have a card to everywhere at this point!

ETA: none of our cards have balances on them, we also have the Target check card for the 5% off, we always use debit for everything and if we use a card, it gets paid off right away!

kittenwine

Way below! I have 1 card I use for online purchases. D also has 1 for online stuff and hotel rentals. We barely use them though.

Willy1020

And, I will add, that only one of the three has a balance. It's a low interest card we use for home improvement stuff. 

mana8503

I have more, but I only use 2. One for gas we get points that pays for our aaa membership. We put almost everything else (groceries, eating out, etc) on the other for cash back.

islandmonkey8

We have 1 Visa, 1 Discover, and 1 AmEx. I have store cards to Kohls and Macys that are only used if that is the only way to get a discount. That's it. None of them have balances. We use them like cash and pay them off each month. I like getting points/cash back.

ramstein1027

Ok as usual I read my original post and thought it sounded dickish.  We are just super paranoid about extra debt bc of our law school loans and bc DH is a bankruptcy attorney and you wouldn't BELIEVE the messes that people get themselves into, it's incredible. 

mrshall1027

We are above, but we only use two.  We have a Home Depot card, a Lowes card, some furniture store cards, a few Visa's, a Discover, a couple MC's and an Amex.  Jesus, that's a lot now that I'm typing it out, but we have them for specific reasons and they don't all have balances.  Some of the Visa's H got when he was traveling a lot and he got some great rewards through them.  Those no longer have balances.  The Home Depot, Lowes and furniture cards don't have balances either.  We used those for home improvements and when we first moved into our old house.  The one we use the most is the Amex.  We put everything on that and we've gotten a lot of rewards points because of it.  We've been using one of the Visa's for some of the new home expenses, but they get paid off every month.  We don't have the option to carry balances right now since we're building, so everything is either paid off or has extremely low balances.

sjs1013

We're below average.  H and I each have 1, with the other having a card on the other's account..  We each use the card we can into the relationship with, not the other card..  We don't carry balances and only charge things we need to, like E-Z Pass. 

That sounds confusing.  H and I each had our own credit card.  When we got married, we requested cards for the other.  I only use my account and H only uses his. 

I had a Capital One card years ago, but I haven't used it in about 8 years and I'm not sure the account is still active.  I keep forgetting to call to inquire/close out the account.

I have a Macy's card from when we registered there.  I also don't use it and keep forgetting to call to cancel. 

I know it's good to keep cards open to help your credit, but I think with the 2 credit cards that we have, that should be good enough.  Hopefully we never need another mortgage and I am not concerned with getting a car loan, I know we would have no problem if we get new cars.

ETA- clarity.

consciousdear88

We're both at the average individually. 

I have 4--three store cards (Victoria's Secret, Macy's, and Sears) and one normal one. The store cards only get used for the most part on small purchases where I'd be getting some sort of discount/perk AND feel comfortable paying it off. 

The normal one I only have because of a medical emergency I wound up having to apply for it because my health insurance when I was still in college rejected me and I had a pretty hefty dental bill. That was their recommendation since they were able to do a no interest thing if I had it paid off within a certain time frame. I'm only hesitant to cancel it because I'm not sure if that will impact my credit or not.

H has 4--two store, two normal.

Our credit is still fantastic at least based off what they told us when we got preapproved for the house loan. 

goatlady12

2, we have a standard credit card and then I have an Amazon card for those purchases.  

I do have a target check card, but that doesn't count because it's a debit card.  I only have it for the 5% off, because lets face it, I'm at target all.the.time.

xxjen015

@goatlady12 we have the Target REDcard for the exact same reason! We realized we were shopping there enough that it made no sense not to have it.

We have 1 AmEx, 1 Discover, and 1 Visa. I think we may each have another Visa open that we haven't used in forever. All of these carry low balances that we pay off every month. We have an Amazon card and furniture card we're paying on. We have zero balance Sears and jewelry.