Here’s why I now have 11 credit cards, the advantages of credit card churning, and how this helps build your credit score. Enjoy! Add me on Snapchat/Instagram: GPStephan Click “Show More” to see ad disclosure
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Lets talk about why I have 11 cards. The real answer is, WHY NOT? But in all seriousness, there’s no downside to having all these cards, so I may as well get them. The majority of them cost nothing to keep open so I keep them around. The thing is, when you’re building your credit, the credit scoring algorithms look at four major factors when determining how you can get a high credit score:
The first is average length of credit history. The longer you have your credit lines open, the longer you have those accounts established, and the more it weighs in your favor of having a high score.
The second factor credit scoring companies look for is amount of credit available to you. Generally, the more credit at your disposal, the less likely you are to use all of it, and the lower your debt-to-credit ratio is.
This brings me to the third scoring method…how much credit you actually use, compared to how much you have - this is called the utilization rate. Spending $1000 on a $1000 card looks like you’ve just maxed out your credit line, and banks see this as a high risk that you’ll default because you needed to use all the credit available to you. But spending $1000 on a card with a $50,000 limit just means you’ve spent only 2% of what’s available, and therefore you’re a much smaller risk to credit card companies.
Fourth is how often you pay on time. This goes without saying, don’t pay your credit cards off late and pay them in full by the time they’re due.
So because of these four reasons, I see ZERO downsides to keeping multiple cards.
But the real reason I have so many cards isn’t necessarily to have a high credit limit, even though that’s nice…it’s to get those sweet, sweet bonus points, also known as credit card churning. I opened a chase sapphire reserve for 100,000 points. I opened a chase sapphire preferred for 50,000 points. I opened an American Express Gold for 50,000 points, an American Express Platinum for 60,000 points, an American Express Starwood’s Card for 30,000 points, and a Chase Ink Business Preferred for 100,000 points…this equates to 390,000 bonus points just for opening up credit cards.
The trick here is not to be smart once you have all this money available to you on credit. These credit card companies expect that the majority of people will spend extra money on the card, take their time to pay it off, and the interest the customer pays will eventually outweigh the meager 100,000 points the credit card company gives you…that’s how these companies stay in business and lure in customers…but I’d expect we’re all smarter than that. Instead, you’ll meet the minimum spend through your normal spending, you’ll pay it off in full, and you’ll be a responsible citizen with your card by not carrying a balance. In return for being a responsible adult, you’ll get rewarded with a LOT of perks without paying a dime in interest. Use this as an excuse to take a vacation for free, or save them up for something special. It’s free, after all.
Some of the card links and other products that appear on this website are from companies which Graham Stephan will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. Graham Stephan is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This content does not include all credit card companies, or all available credit card offers. The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the card art and offers may no longer be available
The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the card art and offers may no longer be available