Why have so many cards?

[ravingren]

Hi, am new to this forum and new to the world of credit card enthusiasts. I saw the threads where people are sharing their portfolios, and was very surprised to see people with so many cards. I have around 7 or 8 and I was considering trimming them down! Could someone enlighten me on the benefits on having so many cards? Even if each card has a specific utility (like Airtel payments or Amazon cashbacks for example) doesn't it make sense to just use one card with a good rewards program to maximize benefits? 🤔

Apologies if this question has been answered before, if it has, please point it out to me because I couldn't find it. Happy to be here.

 

[helloworld]

My version: According to me, you don't need more than 5 or 6 cards nowadays. That depends if you're eligible for premium cards from some banks. If you're a beginner with not eligible to premium cards, you can only need 3 or 4 cards because of limited usage (based on income in my assumption).

Why people have more cards? Some for benefits because of bank offers or to use their feature most of the times, some for just collection without any usage, they belive once a year 10% discount need own card from bank and get multiple cards from same bank because they providing it, not because of needed (this needs assessment and unless those are useful, you can ignore them).

My take: If you're aiming for premium/super premium cards from their bank, consider using their cards actively (if income not supported) which makes the progress easier.

Before all of that, consider your usage and if you know it will mostly cover by 5 or 6 cards, remaining just lying in a corner.

 

[ravingren]

My version: According to me, you don't need more than 5 or 6 cards nowadays. That depends if you're eligible for premium cards from some banks. If you're a beginner with not eligible to premium cards, you can only need 3 or 4 cards because of limited usage (based on income in my assumption).

Why people have more cards? Some for benefits because of bank offers or to use their feature most of the times, some for just collection without any usage, they belive once a year 10% discount need own card from bank and get multiple cards from same bank because they providing it, not because of needed (this needs assessment and unless those are useful, you can ignore them).

My take: If you're aiming for premium/super premium cards from their bank, consider using their cards actively (if income not supported) which makes the progress easier.

Before all of that, consider your usage and if you know it will mostly cover by 5 or 6 cards, remaining just lying in a corner.

Thank you, this makes sense!

My spends are approx 3.3 Lakhs a month, and I fly a fair bit - a domestic trip at least once a month and an international trip every two months. Cards I've been using are the Citibank premier miles, Amazon ICICI, SCB Digismart and IDFC Select. I just got the Amex Platinum (figured I'll try it out for at least a year) and a Magnus is on the way. I was planning to get rid of Amazon ICICI and SCB Digismart, and focus most of my spends on the Magnus.

Note - I have unlimited priority pass as an add-on to my wife's Infinia card, so that's not priority for me, pun intended. The IDFC card is useful to get into certain domestic airport lounges.