The 24 Credit Cards In My Wallet Right Now

The 24 Credit Cards In My Wallet Right Now

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Maximizing credit cards is one of the best ways to elevate your travel. This can include getting the credit cards with the best welcome bonuses, using the right credit cards for your everyday spending, maximizing credit card bonus categories, and taking advantage of other credit card perks.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the impact that applying for credit cards can have on your credit score. I have two dozen credit cards, and my credit score is excellent.

In this post I wanted to first share a brief intro regarding how applying for credit cards impacts your credit score, then I’ll talk about what goes into my credit card decision making process, and then I’ll share the cards I have open.

How credit cards impact your credit score

There are a lot of misconceptions about how credit scores work, in particular people thinking that applying for credit cards hurts your credit score. That’s generally not true, and in many cases applying for cards can even help your credit score in the long run.

The beginners guide on the blog has a section about credit cards and credit scores, and should provide some insights on that. For context, I have a lot of credit cards, and my credit score is almost perfect, in the top couple of percent nationwide.

My credit score is great, despite lots of cards

For those of you not familiar, here’s what factors into your credit score:

  • 35% of your score is your payment history (the percentage of payments you’ve made on-time)
  • 30% of your score is your credit utilization (how much credit you’re using compared to your total limits)
  • 15% of your score is your credit age (the average age of your open accounts)
  • 10% of your score is the types of credit you use (how many different types of requests for credit you have)
  • 10% of your score is your requests for new credit (how many times you’ve applied for credit)

What’s most important is that you pay your bills on time, don’t utilize too much of your credit (meaning you want to ideally use 20% or less of your total available credit, and/or pay your credit card bills early), and keep some cards long term, which will help increase your average age of accounts.

The only metric that’s lowered by applying for cards is your requests for new credit, but that makes up just 10% of your score. Furthermore, credit inquiries typically fall off your report after 24 months.

Closing credit cards that are no longer working for you potentially doesn’t harm your credit much either, though alternatively you can also often downgrade credit cards instead.

What I look for in credit cards

For me, there are three things I look for when applying for credit cards:

The 24 credit cards that I have right now

Now let me share what cards I have at the moment. I have 24 open credit cards right now — this is actually significantly fewer cards than I’ve had in the past, as I’ve been in the habit of canceling cards I’m not actively getting value from. As a point of comparison, when I last wrote a post like this around two years ago, I had 30 cards.

Below are the credit cards that I have, broken down by issuer.

My eight American Express cards

I currently have the following eight American Express cards:

See this post for the best credit cards for earning Amex points, and this post for my American Express card strategy.

The information and associated card details on this page for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card and Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

I love the free night certificate with Hilton

My three Capital One cards

I currently have the following three Capital One cards:

See this post for the best credit cards for earning Capital One miles, and this post for my Capital One card strategy.

Access the Capital One Lounge DFW with the Venture X

My nine Chase cards

I currently have the following nine Chase cards:

See this post for the best credit cards for earning Chase points, and this post for my Chase card strategy.

Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to World of Hyatt

My three Citi cards

I currently have the following three Citi cards:

See this post for the best credit cards for earning Citi points, and this post for my Citi card strategy.

The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers an Admirals Club membership

My one Wells Fargo card

I currently have the following one Wells Fargo card:

It’s great to earn rewards for paying rent

Bottom line

Hopefully the above is an interesting rundown of the credit cards I have. I’d like to think that almost all of these credit cards serve a purpose as part of my long-term credit card strategy, either because they offer an excellent rewards structure, or because they offer perks that make the cards worth holding onto.

There are a few cards that I plan on canceling at their account renewal, though I’ll deal with those situations as they arise. As you can see, my credit score is also excellent in spite of how many credit cards I have, which should hopefully put some of you at ease who are considering applying for new cards.

How many credit cards do you have right now?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees), The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), The Business Platinum® Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees), Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), and Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees).

Conversations (17)
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  1. iamhere Guest

    I think this is mostly a paid promotion. There are many great cards from other providers that are rarely, if ever discussed. It is also unrealistic for most people to juggle that many cards. I think most people have a few in their wallet. An example is the Amazon Prime card, if you shop at Amazon or Whole Foods often or if you often use one of the rotating categories to earn 5% cash back....

    I think this is mostly a paid promotion. There are many great cards from other providers that are rarely, if ever discussed. It is also unrealistic for most people to juggle that many cards. I think most people have a few in their wallet. An example is the Amazon Prime card, if you shop at Amazon or Whole Foods often or if you often use one of the rotating categories to earn 5% cash back. The only catch is that while the card is free you need to pay for the Prime membership.

  2. sullyofdoha Guest

    Ben, 24 credit cards is madness. However, I appreciate that it works for you! ;-)

  3. Jason Brandt Lewis Gold

    @Ben -- This is what I don't understand: you tout your Amex Everyday Preferred card for (among other things) 3x MR points at supermarkets. Fine, but the Amex [personal] Gold card gets 4x at supermarkets.

    Meanwhile, Amex [personal} Platinum *does* return 5x on air travel and 5x on hotels (but only if you prepay through Amex travel). In terms of bonus spend, that's it. All of the credits are nice, earning zero points, and...

    @Ben -- This is what I don't understand: you tout your Amex Everyday Preferred card for (among other things) 3x MR points at supermarkets. Fine, but the Amex [personal] Gold card gets 4x at supermarkets.

    Meanwhile, Amex [personal} Platinum *does* return 5x on air travel and 5x on hotels (but only if you prepay through Amex travel). In terms of bonus spend, that's it. All of the credits are nice, earning zero points, and -- yes -- if you can take advantage of them, you essentially can get the card for free. But your Citi Prestige also gets 5x on air travel and 10x -- TEN -- on hotels booked through Citi's travel portal.

    In an earlier article, you wrote that you were going to keep the Prestige card. Now you're thinking of downgrading. Could you explain why?

    1. Mr Vee Guest

      If I may jump in, I recently canceled my Citi Prestige because while the 5x on air travel is great, there is also no travel insurance. I'd much rather take the mere 3x points on the Chase Sapphire - but be covered for luggage delay and flight cancelations.

  4. klsd Guest

    my question - I'm thinking of dropping Business Platinum later in Sept as I will be cruising for several months where AMEX probably won't be taken. I have gotten Blue Business Plus to protect my points balance. and Blue Cash for the 0% interest for the year. I doubt I'll have use for airline credit or other perks for a year.
    If I drop the Plat Bus, will I have a problem getting it...

    my question - I'm thinking of dropping Business Platinum later in Sept as I will be cruising for several months where AMEX probably won't be taken. I have gotten Blue Business Plus to protect my points balance. and Blue Cash for the 0% interest for the year. I doubt I'll have use for airline credit or other perks for a year.
    If I drop the Plat Bus, will I have a problem getting it again in 1.5-2 yrs if i want it then?
    Should I be aware of any 'gotcha' conditions? the finer print?

    I keep reading about canceling + reapplying and 1x lifetime but you keep getting the same cards it seems.

  5. JC1 Guest

    @lucky

    I thought you were just approved for the Flying Blue Credit card from Bank of America to help you reach Flying Blue Platinum Status? Did you not get approved or did you close that card already? Also, based on other posts recently I thought you had a Hyatt Business Card and an Alaska Airlines business card. Did you close both of those. If you did, can you let us know your thought process as I am on the fence about both of those cards.

  6. Beachfan Guest

    Aren’t the ink unlimited and freedom unlimited completely duplicative? Any benefits of having both?

    Surprised you don’t have Chase Hyatt Business card as well given the more powerful elite night earning.

    1. Imbisibol Guest

      Ben’s already Lifetime Globalist with Hyatt.

  7. David Guest

    Did you ever have the Chase Ritz Carlton card? Is it worth acquiring?

  8. Matt Guest

    Which cards did you cancel since the last version of this post? And which cards are you thinking about picking up next?

  9. Mike O. Guest

    Is it a physical wallet or digital?! I just carry one physical card while everything else is in my digital wallet including an ATM card.

  10. Ian Guest

    Can you say what you actually use each card for? There are so many overlapping bonus categories that it would be interesting to see what is for what?

    1. betterbub Diamond

      I bet a lot of the overlap is for when Lucky is low on a certain currency he just swaps over to that one

  11. betterbub Diamond

    Lucky have you ever thought about doing wallet reviews or sharing which wallet you use? That would be really relevant to me

  12. Dave Guest

    Do you find you go a bit “numb down there”sitting on a wallet with all those cards?

    1. henare Diamond

      who would carry all these cards with them whenever they leave the house?

  13. JustinB Diamond

    That is one thick wallet!

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

iamhere Guest

I think this is mostly a paid promotion. There are many great cards from other providers that are rarely, if ever discussed. It is also unrealistic for most people to juggle that many cards. I think most people have a few in their wallet. An example is the Amazon Prime card, if you shop at Amazon or Whole Foods often or if you often use one of the rotating categories to earn 5% cash back. The only catch is that while the card is free you need to pay for the Prime membership.

0
sullyofdoha Guest

Ben, 24 credit cards is madness. However, I appreciate that it works for you! ;-)

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Mr Vee Guest

If I may jump in, I recently canceled my Citi Prestige because while the 5x on air travel is great, there is also no travel insurance. I'd much rather take the mere 3x points on the Chase Sapphire - but be covered for luggage delay and flight cancelations.

0
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