I've noticed that gas stations like Shell and Exxon have great Citi credit cards with discounts on every gas purchase at their own stations.

So, my questions is, does it hurt to have many credit cards as long as you pay them off in time?
For example if I have both Shell and Exxon cards, and fill gas at wherever it's cheaper at time,
if I have $10 bill for Shell and $60 for exxon at the end of the month, and I pay it off by due date
so there are no finance charges, is there anything to worry about by having those cards or no?
Of course responsibility is big issue but I will not have any problem, both cards will be strictly for gas purchase only.

In the long run it probably wouldn't matter, but in the short term it'll hurt your fico score a bit since there will be several lookups of your credit. so it depends on if you're planning to buy a house, car, etc soon or not.

Have you looked into the AAA credit card? Not sure if you have to be AAA member to get it or not, but you get 5% ( I believe) back @ all gas stations. Plus it'll be one or more less cards to carry.

Thanks for reply, yes I saw 5% AA but it lacks 1% on everything else that the shell and exxon cards have.
Discover has 5% back on gas and 1% on everything else but who accepts Discover?

Actually, we have a Discover card and MOST places take it. We use it to pay all of our bills every month (groceries, gas, heating oil, etc.) and pay it off at the end of the month.

I have run into a few places that do not take it, but they are few and far between. In the 10 years I have had it the only places I can think of were my cable company, my hairdresser, and Disney World (only because they have some deal with AmEx).

I highly recommend Discover. Great customer service and a really convenient web site.

Maybe I watch Jay Leno too much, I might just give it a try. THanks for info.

I am not sure about the AAA card. Does it give you real cash back or just some "beans" that you can redeem at the local office for some cheap gifts?

No, it doesn't usually hurt to have too many credit cards. There's a lot that goes into your credit score, and I don't pretend to know it all. However, I do know these things that lower your score:

(1) late payments
(2) recent credit card applications
(3) too high utilization of a card (you have a balance greater than 50% of your limit)

So when you apply for credit cards your score will go down because of the recent inquiry. The score then recovers as those inquiries fall off the report over time. If you pay your cards on time, and don't carry a high balance (relative to your limit), it doesn't hurt to have a lot of cards. I have 6 or 7, and my wife another few. I know people that have in the 10-20 range and more, and have excellent credit.

Now, it is possible that you can get in trouble having too many cards. You'll know it if a lender says that you have too many accounts open, which basically means at your income you can't afford the sum of all your credit limits (if you maxed out all your cards, it would be more than you could pay back). But unless a lender says that, you're probably fine.

One thing that raises your score is a decreased average age of accounts. So keep your oldest cards open, it raises that average age. Another way applying for new cards can bring down your score a bit is by lowering the average account age. But that recovers over time and increases as long as you don't close your oldest cards.

The general rule is to apply for cards very close together in time, either the same day or even the same hour, so that the inquiry from one doesn't affect your application for the other one. So if you're looking at a few cards it's best to apply all at once.

It gets credited directly to your statements.

here's a c&p about it:

§ This 5% Gas Rebate Program (the “Program”) is open to select members of AAA who participate in the AAA Gas Rebate credit card program that is issued and administered by MBNA America Bank, N.A. (“MBNA”). The 5% gas rebate is based on transactions made with an eligible AAA endorsed credit card (“Account”) at any automated fuel dispenser worldwide. To be eligible to receive the benefits of the Program, each participating cardholder’s Account must be in good standing, i.e., open and with charging privileges. You must be at least 18 years of age and either a United States Citizen or permanent resident of the U.S., or at least 21 years of age and a permanent resident of Puerto Rico to enjoy the full benefits of the Program. The benefits of the Program are not available in connection with any retail purchase transaction that may be reimbursable to the cardholder by a business, company, or any other commercial entity. The Program is intended only for the personal use of the credit card Customer. 2. To be eligible to receive a gas rebate, you and your authorized user(s), if any, must use the AAA Visa Credit Card when making an automated fuel dispenser transaction at a gas retail location. A transaction at an automated fuel dispenser is a transaction at a gasoline pump in which the credit card is swiped through a card reader physically attached to that gasoline pump for purposes of authorizing and completing the purchase of the gasoline. The transaction must be assigned the merchant category code of 5542. Purchases made at a Gas Retailer which does not process transactions under this code will not qualify and you will not receive the gas rebate. “You” and “your” refer to the applicant and co-applicant, if any, who individually or jointly apply and are approved for the credit card. 3. The Gas Rebate will be calculated at a rate of 5% multiplied by your total eligible gas volume (merchant category code 5542 transactions) for that billing cycle and limited to 2% of your total net retail purchase transactions (excluding returns) for that billing cycle. The rebate earned for each periodic billing cycle will post on the first day of the next month’s billing cycle statement in the “Payments and Credits” section. The rebate will appear as “MM/YY Statement Gas Rebate.” 4. If any transaction is identified as unauthorized or fraudulent, or is restricted, credited, or otherwise subject to adjustment, MBNA reserves the right to adjust the gas rebate calculation accordingly. MBNA also reserves the right to decline a gas rebate request whenever it is determined that the merchant is not qualified. 5. Gas rebates may not be transferred from one Account to another Account or to any other MBNA-issued credit card account. Gas rebates may not be transferred upon death or as part of a domestic relations matter or legal proceedings. 6. Any violation of the terms of the Program may result in termination of your eligibility to earn gas rebates. 7. MBNA may amend or terminate the Program at any time, with or without notice, even if such actions affect the extent or amount of the gas rebate. 8. Liability for any federal, state, or local taxes, as may be applicable, shall be the sole responsibility of each participating AAA member. 9. The terms of the Program are subject to government approval and are void where prohibited.

Thanks so much ,this really helps :D

sushiosushi: that's a lot of typing! Thank you.

cut and paste.

dewolfxy is correct, I would like to add the lower your utilization the higher your credit score will be, but you dont want 0% utilization. I generally keep my utilization at 5%

also, new tradelines (credit cards, loans, etc.) do not have a significantly positive impact on your credit score until they have been reported for 6 months or more (the longer they age the higher their impact) . Inquires hardly (maybe 1 fico point) influence your credit score after 6 months. I personally have monitored my credit score over a couple weeks and applied for credit. 1 or 2 inquires in a month period is not detrimental, 3 to 5 will cause you to loose ~3 fico points each. although lenders may see you as a risk if you show that you have been applying for several credit lines in such a short amount of time.

what do you mean by this exactly? Are you talking about the balance which iscarried over and accrues a finance charge? What if I use a card as close to maxing it out as possible but pay it in full at the end of the month?

if you pay it off before your statement is issued maxing it out wont affect your credit score, but if your statements show near 100% utilization then it negatively affects your credit score. if you have other cards that bring your total utilization down then thie impact isnt as bad.

a negative entry (such as high utilization) will impact your score for a couple of months with Transunion and equifax b/c they take so long to update your report after the credit provider fowards the credit bureaus with the information. for instance i have an account that has a $0 balance and has been $0 for 22 months but experian is the only credit bureaus reporting it accurately.

Ok, still a little confused...

I have 2 main cards (plus wife has a couple store cards). One is a chase perfect card that I use for 99% of my stuff since it gives a percentage back. It's got a $5000 limit and I often have it at several thousand per month usage, but I ALWAYS pay if off every month.

My other main card is a MBNA with a $15000 limit, but I have maybe $50 per month on it.

Does using the cards this way hurt my score? Would it be better from a credit score standpoint to do most of my charging on the MBNA card to keep both at a lower percent of the limit even though it's all paid off monthly?

I can't say for sure, but here's my guess - if you happen to have something like $4500 charged on your Chase card balance just as you apply for some sort of credit, your scores is probably a little lower than it could be because of the high utilization. I doubt it's really a big difference, though, because you have another card with a big limit. Still, it may matter. If you're going to be applying for a big loan - mortgage, car, etc - where you care a lot about the precise rate and terms, I would be sure to not have your cards more than 50% utilized for the 2 months prior to make sure it shows correctly on your credit report. So if you must spend a lot in those months, I would shift to the MBNA for that time period.

Now, since you pay it off each month you must have a decent bank account balance. I'm sure most loan officers would see that and take it into account. Still, if you can get a few more points on your score you're just a bit more likely to get a better rate and favorable terms. In the end, the loan officer will want to generate a debt to income ratio, and your CC balances, whatever they are, will get figured into that along with your savings. So I don't think it really matters that much. It just depends if you want to worry about those kind of things or not.

There's a FICO score simulator here, if you want to see what it says plug your numbers in and do the experiment.

Thanks for a good answer there... I currently have a GREAT home deal (my inlaws bought a house as an investment property and we rent it from them for CHEAP!) and have 2 good cars, so I don't see any need for major loans in the near future. So for now I'll keep doing as I am to keep getting that 20-30 bucks a month on my chase card

I will play with that score sim later and let you know if I see anything interesting from it.