Comments on: Credit Card Overload http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/credit-card-overload/ feeding your credit card addiction... Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:46:14 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Brack http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/credit-card-overload/comment-page-1/#comment-1109 Brack Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:57:43 +0000 http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/credit-card-overload/#comment-1109 I have 4 "department store" type cards and 11 other credit cards that I can think of off-hand (no gas cards in there). Only two of the cards have a balance on them now, but back in the day, I used every one of them to transfer balances to, or charge to, etc. There's probably a few that I missed, simply because I don't ever use them. And I'm not counting my wife's cards - those are just the ones in my name. I have 4 “department store” type cards and 11 other credit cards that I can think of off-hand (no gas cards in there). Only two of the cards have a balance on them now, but back in the day, I used every one of them to transfer balances to, or charge to, etc.

There’s probably a few that I missed, simply because I don’t ever use them. And I’m not counting my wife’s cards – those are just the ones in my name.

]]> By: Dan Ray http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/credit-card-overload/comment-page-1/#comment-1108 Dan Ray Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:58:18 +0000 http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/credit-card-overload/#comment-1108 Smart Money is ordinarily a fine publication, but if they say the average American has 14 credit cards, they got hold of some bad data. The best data comes from the Federal Reserves triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. The last one was that has been released was done in '04, so it's dated, but the data have been consistent throughout the years. See chart 1158 on this page: http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/08statab/banking.pdf The median number of general purpose credit cards is 2. The number is certainly higher when you count in gas cards and department store cards, but not by 12. Smart Money is ordinarily a fine publication, but if they say the average American has 14 credit cards, they got hold of some bad data.
The best data comes from the Federal Reserves triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. The last one was that has been released was done in ‘04, so it’s dated, but the data have been consistent throughout the years.
See chart 1158 on this page: http://www.census.gov/prod/200.....anking.pdf
The median number of general purpose credit cards is 2. The number is certainly higher when you count in gas cards and department store cards, but not by 12.

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