Thread: Why have multiple cards from the same issuer?

I have 3 cards. American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card which I use 99% of the time, Bank of America Visa which I use 1% of the time, and my Discover which I never use. I was thinking of applying for the Costco True Earnings from American Express as it acts as my membership card as well but I can't think of a time where I would use that over my Gold Card. I use the Gold to earn as many points possible so I can't justify getting another American Express card in my head.

I was just curious why some may have a few cards from American Express, or a few from Visa. Is it that you are using different cards at certain times for the best cash back bonus'? Also, say I did get the Costco Card, would that blend with my Gold card on the line item on the credit report since they are both American Express, or would they be two separate items?

I have multiple cards from multiple credit card co's. 2 from Amex and 2 from Citi. To get the best rewards it takes multiple credit cards. That way you got something in your back pocket for different types of spending

The negative from having multiple credit cards from the same bank is it may result in reduced credit limits. Each bank allocates a set amount of risk to a given cardholder. When there are several lines of credit the limits their limits may be reduced in order to keep the total credit extended below a certain threshold.

Originally Posted by Mogul of Pineapples

Visa and MasterCard are payment networks and don't issue cards. When there is a Visa logo it means that the tranasction is processed over the Visa payment network but that's all Visa has to do with it, everything else is the responsibility of Bank of America or whoever issued the card. That's means if you have multiple Visas or MasterCards, the only thing the cards have in common is where you can use them and other than that they are completely different credit cards.

Amex issues most of their cards but they also operate as a processing network to a lesser degree. For example the Asiana Amex from B of A is truly a B of A card. The only thing Amex has to do with it is processing the transactions over their network when the card is used for a purchase.

Now in your example of getting a Costco and a Gold, both would show up as completely seperate items on your credit report. Really the payment network of the card is irrevelent for payment networks.

Did I explain this in a way that makes sense?

Yeah actually that does narrow it down quite a bit.

The only part still open really a personal preference question, such as if you have a Chase and Citi Visa or two different American Express Cards what leads to putting certain purchases on each card. In my mind I put a majority of purchases on the Gold Card to get my points on that card, (I use my Visa where AmEx isn't accepted and sometimes for smaller purchases) which is a reason I haven't bothered applying for another American Express card, or another Visa because I don't know when I would actually use them. I would feel that I am losing out on collecting points on the Gold Card.

Originally Posted by ligio

I have multiple cards from multiple credit card co's. 2 from Amex and 2 from Citi. To get the best rewards it takes multiple credit cards. That way you got something in your back pocket for different types of spending

Yeah I figured if you are doing cash back or different cards have different categories it's the best way to maximize rewards.

Originally Posted by infomaniac

The negative from having multiple credit cards from the same bank is it may result in reduced credit limits. Each bank allocates a set amount of risk to a given cardholder. When there are several lines of credit the limits their limits may be reduced in order to keep the total credit extended below a certain threshold.

This is a valid point and something I have definitely heard. People either closing accounts and merging their credit limit on one card, or having their limit split across other cards.

The Costco card the Aqua is a very bad idea. My dad has this card and I did some looking into this card. this card has a very bad cancellation policy.
Let's say for example the costco employees service goes down, the food isn't as fresh as it use to be. items out of place.
Now let's say for example you have membership on your costco card of 1989 let's say you had Blue from American express, so when you signed up with costco you have a red card that let's you in the store with your photo and your amex/costco to pay.
But the service has gone down , so now you want to cancel the red card with your photo on it, go to customer service.
But now you want to keep your Aqua card what do you think will happen next, let's say you want to go to models and buy a Charro
shirt with costco/amex card what do you think would happen?

Let's say you get the card and you go to the Natic Mall or Burlington Mall and your Aqua Costco/amex get's stolen 4 or 5 times , and you want to change over to the Blue , Blue cash or clear what do you think American express would say?

Let's say your company relocates to Oregon and there's no Costco's within 300 miles of where you will be living and working.
you have a 1989 member since on the card , you also have a red card that let's you in the store, a 50.00 fee for being a member. once you get a chance you can call american express and ask them to cancel your red card with your photo on it I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem being your 300 miles away after you relocated from Mass to Oregon. But now you want to keep your Aqua Amex/costco, after all it's accepted all over Oregon gas stations, restaurants, department stores But what do you think would happen?