• By: JOHNNIE ADAMSON

  3360

  
  People applying for credit cards pretty often: at the gas station, at retail stores. But how they can know, how many credit cards is enough for a person? There is no clear answer on this question. When you sit down and do your monthly budget what percentage of your income is taken away by credit card payments. If it is more than 50 percent, chances are you have got too many credit cards.

  There are other disadvantages of having too many credit cards. For one each credit card that you apply, it takes 20 points off of your credit score, that recovers only several months later. Needless to say that your credit score is very important in terms of getting good interest rate for your future purchases like house or car. If you are a young person just starting out don't go overboard with the credit cards. Trust me when I say you are going to have to use that same credit history all your life and destroying it when you are young can lead you into a life of debt and heartache.

  Many credit cards now require you to have a personal identification number (PIN). If you have too many credit cards its very hard to remember all you PINs and its not good idea to have the same PIN for several cards.

  But there is one positive point in having many credit cards: you have a lot of 'available credit'. This parameter is being used when calculating your credit score. In the eyes of the banks, more credit is available for you - better. But it's important not to use all available credit more than 50%. Be careful.

  Statistics say that average American has 8-10 credit cards. Keep tracking all of them can be tricky. Many credit card companies offer service of credit card consolidation, when you pay only one bill for all you cards. Well, taking this route can be a good idea as long as you cut up the ones you pay off and don't take them and go on a shopping spree maxing them out again. Many credit cards offer introductory rates for the short period of time. Then after the introductory period is over then you have a credit card you can't handle. Then you end up missing payments then are charged late payment fees and whatever other fee the credit card company wants to charge. Also missing payments hurts your credit score and prevents you from getting good interest rate while applying for mortgage or buying a car.

  Credit cards can be a great thing to have. Many things that we do these days require a credit card, but having a credit card also comes with a great sense of responsibility. Having too many credit cards can be confusing and you may loose track of your expenses. Then we have trouble making the payments which leads to additional charges. My opinion is that if you are going to have a credit card, make it only one or two and make sure you only spend what you are going to be able to pay off as soon as you get the bill.

  Compare credit cards at http://www.credit-card-accepted.com

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