Here’s What Happens When You Have 15 Credit Cards

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There’s a lot of debate about how many credit cards you should have. Most people agree you need at least one, but there’s some argument over how many cards are too many.

In my book, there’s no perfect number for everyone. If you want a one-card wallet, do it. You want more than a dozen cards to cover every single purchase you could ever make? Do that, too.

Personally, I went the latter path, with a collection of cards well into the double-digits. I’ll be the first to tell you that having 15+ cards isn’t for the faint of heart (or weak of wallet). But it’s also not necessarily the credit deathtrap some people might fear. Here’s what it’s really like.

Excellent credit can be yours

I can tell you from experience that your credit score doesn’t have to die just because you have a lot of cards. I have both tons of credit cards and excellent credit.

And I don’t want you to think it’s despite having a lot of cards. I believe having all those cards has helped my credit score overall. This is due to a few factors:

• Payment history: While I have a lot of cards, I stay on top of my due dates, so I have a lot of positive payment history. Since this is one of the biggest factors in your credit score, this has helped keep my scores high.
• Amounts owed: Even though I have a few cards with low limits (a few store cards, specifically), the sheer number of cards means my total available credit is very high. This keeps my credit utilization ratio low even when I have high spending months.
• Credit mix: Creditors like to see that you can handle multiple types of credit at once. On the surface, it might seem like having a lot of credit cards wouldn’t add to this. However, they’re not all traditional credit cards; I also have several store cards, as well as some charge cards, which actually adds to my credit diversity. Plus, I’m showing I can responsibly handle multiple credit lines at once.

At the same time, there are some potential credit drawbacks I have to keep in mind:

• Average account age: I have a few cards that are quite old, as I opened them many years ago. But I also open new accounts regularly (usually for the sign-up bonuses), so my average account age is much lower. This is one factor that counts against me.
• New accounts: Each new credit card application comes with a hard credit inquiry. These can hurt your credit score, especially if you have multiple hard inquiries in your reports. I try to space out new card applications to help minimize the impacts.

A big part of keeping my credit in good shape while juggling all these cards is staying on top of the details. Next I’ll explain how I keep track of everything.

Smart management is key

One of the biggest questions I get asked about my card collection is how I manage everything. For instance, people often seem surprised that I’ve never missed a card payment. Others wonder how I keep track of which card offers which benefits. Here’s how I handle a few of the most important tasks.

Making on-time payments

Every two weeks, I go through all of my card accounts to make payments, verify transactions, and take care of other housekeeping tasks. This is made easier by the fact that while I have 15+ cards, they aren’t all from different issuers, so I have fewer places to log into.

Of course, even I am subject to life’s little surprises that can throw me off schedule. So I’ve set up autopay on all of my cards to make sure at least the minimum payment is made by the due date every month.

Tracking annual fees

Only about half of my cards have no annual fee — which means the other half have fees, some of them quite high. I have calendar reminders set up for all of my annual fee cards to ensure I’m never blind-sided by a three-digit card fee without the means to pay it off.

Staying on top of perks and rewards

The best way I’ve found to track each card’s perks and purchase rewards is with a spreadsheet. I have a master document with each card, its perks, its rewards, and other pertinent data. This helps remind me what card to use when, and which benefits I have yet to use for the month or year.

That said, there isn’t as much to keep track of as you might think in this regard. I only keep a handful of cards in my wallet for everyday purchases. The rest are either set to autopay — for example, the card I use for utilities stays at home and takes care of things automatically — or are only used for specific purchases, like my hotel and airline credit cards.

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Having a ton of credit cards isn’t for everyone. But if it’s something you want to do, it’s absolutely possible to do it while still maintaining your credit — and your sanity.

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