How Many Credit Cards Should You Have

The plain answer

You need as many cards as you can pay in full every month and still understand. One or two is enough for most people. More cards can add a little rewards coverage and extra credit limit, and they also add passwords, fees, and chances to miss a due date.

There is no prize for a large number of accounts. A score can be healthy with a short, well-paid list.

How it actually works

Each new card is a new inquiry and a new account. Inquiries can lower a score for a while. New accounts can lower average age. Those effects fade if you pay on time.

More open limits can lower utilization if balances stay the same. That helps only if you do not fill the new limits with new spending.

Rewards math gets worse as you add cards you forget to use. A category bonus you never swipe is not a bonus.

What this means for you

Start with one card you will pay in full. Add a second only if it covers a large spending category the first card handles poorly, or if you want a backup for travel or a declined chip. Stop adding cards when the next one would exist only for a signup bonus.

If you already have several, keep the free ones you use, product-change the fee ones that no longer pay, and close only the accounts that cost you after that review.

Common mistakes

Opening cards on a schedule to hit bonuses, then missing a payment on one of them.

Keeping every card forever because “it might help your score” while paying fees.

Using a new limit as permission to spend more.

Related pages

• When Should You Get a Credit Card
• When to Close a Credit Card
• The Case for Simple Cashback