Two Credit Cards: Twice the Problems?

The answer to this question is yes and no! It all depends on how you are going to use them and if they have a particular purpose.A simple reason is because there are a few places that do not accept all credit cards. This is the most common reason why someone would want a visa card and a master card credit card.

I have two credit cards one for my small home base business and one for personal purchases. I use the advanta business credit card, which is a mastercard and good for all kinds of purchases and the chase points visa card. For me these two cards work well together and I am assured that I can use them anywhere.

Other reasons that you should have two cards

If you use a credit card to budget or to track all your expenses you do need two cards. This type of accounting does take more dedication on your part but it does work.

A friend of mine who owns a home renovation company uses two types of personal credit cards and really cleans up on his rewards. What he does is he uses his chase gas rewards card for all personal items and gas purchases so he can reduce expenses and then he uses his chase home improvement credit card to buy items for his home renovation company. He also uses it when his wife is redecorating their home. This works very well and he gets a great deal of rewards out of it. These are a few of the benefits to having two credit cards. Keep reading about the drawbacks of having too many credit cards.

If you miss the payment on one card it will affect you credit on all your cards because all credit companies report to the same credit reporting agencies. This can lower your score and increase your interest on all your accounts, so you need to be very careful. In the long run it may cost you more money than any benefit you would get from any credit card rewards.

Having more than one card makes it easier to mix things up and create account problems for your account if you use your business credit card for personal purchases. The IRS may take a second look at your books if you do mess up and they see it.

Another problem that is becoming more frequent and alarming is identity theft. People do this by stealing the information from either your debit card or credit card or both. Thieves are getting very good and finding new ways to do this. One of the more popular ways is by stealing pin pads and replacing them with blue chip technology that then gathers all your financial information. So the more times you use your cards the riskier it can be. It would be a good idea to signup with one of the credit monitoring services, if you have more than one card.

If you don’t already have a card then I would not apply for two cards right away. Wait until you have secured one card and used it a few times and have a 0 balance. Then review all card offers which you can do here at billsadup.com . You need to take your time so that you can match up the offer and rewards with your other card. They should compliment each other and match your shopping habits. By this I mean don’t apply for two cards that offer the same rewards. One should be a shopping rewards card that also covers gas purchases and the other should match your business or travel situations. You can review the best credit cards for shopping here.

In case you were wondering I also have 2 debit cards from different banks. One account only holds a hundred dollars and this is just used in case one bank has it’s debit machine down and I don"t have any cash with me. I have been caught in this situation a couple of times.