As a consumer, you’re targeted day in and day out with credit card offers in your mailbox and email, at the grocery store and on the television, so it’s no wonder that a majority of Americans have debilitating credit card debt riding over their heads. The average adult in America has at least four thousand dollars ($4,000) in credit card debt while the average adult who doesn’t pay down their balances has more than eight thousand dollars ($8,000) in debt.
Get Serious about Your Debt
More Americans are making it a point to downsize when it comes to credit cards, but there are some people that are so wrapped up in their plastic world that they can’t see a way out. It’s already been proven that using a plastic card for purchases creates a dissociation from the monetary value one is racking up, so it almost goes without saying that having multiple cards could only prospectively make the situation worse. Do you recognize signs that you own too many credit cards? Keep reading to learn more about the key signs that you own too many credit cards.
Signs That You Own Too Many Credit Cards
- You’ve got no more free card slots in your wallet. If your favorite wallet comes with six credit card slots, that’s great: but that doesn’t mean you need six credit cards! In fact, you want most of the cards in your wallet to be rewards cards or gift cards: the kinds of cards that don’t come with a line of credit attached. When you have multiple credit cards, it becomes very difficult to keep track of balances, interest rates and which cards were used for what purchases and this could be one of the signs that you own too many credit cards. This will make it more difficult to maintain a budget you can afford. It’s also make it easier for a potential thief to ruin your credit score if you ever lost or misplaced your wallet.
- You can’t keep track of which in-store credit cards you’ve already applied for. It happens all the time: you’re checking out at a store you love to shop at when the clerk asks if you’d like to open up an in-store credit card account. They reel you in with the prospect of saving ten or fifteen percent off of your in-store purchases, and of course that’s going to pique your interest. If you can’t remember if you even have an in-store credit card with that establishment already, that’s one of many signs that you own too many credit cards!
- You’ve already been denied additional credit cards before. If you’ve already got one or two credit cards under your belt and you’ve tried to get another only to be denied, this is one of those signs that you own too many credit cards. Your existing lines of credit and the requirements of eligibility are the reasons for your application being denied. Your spending habits and payment history are sending out warning flares to those credit card providers and they’d rather not take the chance on you.
- Can you remember the mailing address associated with that card? When you’re shopping through an online portal, the mailing and billing addresses need to be provided for a purchase to be completed. If you’re trying to buy something and you can’t seem to remember either of those crucial bits of information, you’re probably facing the signs that you own too many credit cards. Consolidating your balances might be a wise idea for you.
- Your spending is all over the place! If it’s a challenge for you to keep your spending in order, that’s one of the big signs that you own too many credit cards. Having a credit card account requires a certain level of accountability and responsibility. Spreading your expenses around on different cards with different due dates won’t ease your financial burdens. If you can’t organize your credit card balances around your budget, you’re setting yourself up to fall down a rocky slope. You only want to have as many credit cards as you can truly afford to pay off in full each month. You also have to be sure that you’re not missing due dates so you avoid all of those extra fees that can come into play and damaging your credit score.
- You can’t view all of your active credit cards on a single webpage. If you’ve got a budget tool like Mint, you know how useful it can be when setting budgets and staying on track with payments. You might have a problem if your Mint account is chock full of different accounts though. Even if you tend to each account with careful planning, having too many credit cards is like asking for an avoidable disaster. One wrong step or missed payment could derail all of your finances!