Several months ago, one of my friends told me that he were suffering from the number of credit cards. He said that his current debt is pretty low – $6000 in student loans and about $2500 left on his car, which would be paid off next spring. At the same time, he was in no rush on the student loans as the payments are only 110 at 6.5%. So, he just wanted to gain some advice about how many credit cards should he have.

So, what is your own situation? How many credit cards is reasonable?

Some people hold the idea that the less credit cards the better. But for other people, it may depend on each individual. But the general recommendation is to carry somewhere between two and six different credit cards at the most, and they should be the top issuers- Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express.

Besides, you should also have a goal to pay off your credit card statements in full each month, so keep that in mind when deciding how many cards you should have in your wallet.  If you know you have a tendency to carry a balance from one month to the next, look for cards with no or low interest rates, and you should be receiving some sort of rewards from using your credit card, whether it’s in the form of cash back or airline miles or something else. If not, the interest really adds up, especially over time. The credit card company really wants you to pay them interest but, even if you don’t, they still get paid by the store or entity that you made a purchase from, each time you make a purchase.

So, to answer the question, one credit card and possibly a second as a spare for emergencies. More than that, may get you into trouble. The more credit cards you have, the harder it is to remember when each of the payments come due.

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