How many is TOO MANY open credit cards? Every month I have to log into 12 different issuers accounts to update my tracking and make payments across 39 open credit cards with $560,200 total credit line. I track this carefully to make sure I don’t miss something. The reality is that this can be a hassle to manage, and has more than on one occasion resulted in me missing a payment (there are in these 39 accounts, 12 with annual fees!)
The pros (there are many)
- I really do like rewards, and as a result of all these relationships I have SO MANY REWARDS, it’s almost too many for even I to leverage effectively.
- While I am not loyal to any, I do greatly value loyalty programs, and having so many on deck means there are always options (3 of these cards give “free” hotel nights annually!)
- There are so many offers, promotions, and benefits available, there are good deals at every turn
- I can take advantage of many new card sign up bonuses, and as a result of having such a solid credit foundation, the impact of trade openings/closures is highly muted
The cons (there are also many!)
- Managing this is hard, and has resulted in mistakes and missed payments (although so infrequent, these are waived with a phone call to the bank)
- There are A LOT of cards with annual fees! I currently pay $2,794 in annual fees across a number of cards, although I get far more than that in value back
- Physically, this is challenging. I have a literal binder with all the credit cards to keep them centrally available (see the photo to the right here!)
- There is so much credit availability, if I were to actually borrow and revolve on these cards, it would be wholly unsustainable (what would the minimum payment even be for $500,000 of credit card debt?!)
How do I stay on top of all of this?
The good thing is I really do love spreadsheets (or “not this game again” as my wife likes to say.) I keep track of payment due dates and balances (as typically I will use ~ a dozen of these cards over the course of a month). This has worked reasonably well, and typically the only issues I have had is when I am on vacation and didn’t take care of everything I need in advance.
I’m about at the limits of scalability and reasonable management here. If I add more cards with these same issuers, the incremental risk of error is low. If I add another half dozen elsewhere, that hassle may not be offset by the incremental rewards/value.
Just for fun, the total counts by issuer (as of 2/8/26) are:
- 8 x Chase
- 6 x American Express
- 6 x Bank of America
- 5 x US Bank
- 4 x Capital One
- 3 x Citi
- 2 x Discover (now owned by Capital One)
- 1 x USAA
- 1 x Truist
- 1 x Bread Financial
- 1 x Wells Fargo
- 1 x TD Bank
Necessary post-ending gif
