How Many Credit Cards (or Total Card Limit) Would I Be Able to Sustain Given My Scenario

TwentyTwoCarats on 16/01/2025 - 16:11

So I'm talking about churning credit cards. My salary is about $174k with some small bonuses and if it matters my partner is on about $90k but I'm the one doing all the credit card applications. Have PPOR mortgage. My history is not really of a churner, as I've slowly closed cards. E.g. closed Amex Platinum after a full year, closed a free coles CC after 1.5 years, currently have a NAB Signature (15k limit, want to keep) and an Amplify (6k limit, want to churn). So current total limit is $21k. I do not have any negative history with credit whatsoever.

Should I wait until April when I can close my Amplify or do you think I'm good to keep applying for other CCs? And if so should I stick to ~$6k limit cards or am I in a good enough scenario to go for $15k limit cards for higher sign up bonuses? Also do you guys look into what parent bank issues cards for certain banks and try not to double up with them (e.g. Virgin and Citi cards are typically issued by NAB)?

Thanks and let me know your experiences :)

Financial Credit Card

Comments

  • simplystu on 16/01/2025 - 16:17
    +1

    Considering you are on $174k income … (you are yet to say if have house mortgage) …

    Then keep applying/going.

    Eg. Currently on $110,000 - $130,000 (with roughly $90,000 still to go on mortgage) … Yet total on all CC's == $55,000 limit.

    • TwentyTwoCarats on 16/01/2025 - 16:25

      I clarified that I have a PPOR mortgage owing between 500-600k

  • askbargain on 16/01/2025 - 17:48

    20k limit is peanuts

    • onceupon8 on 16/01/2025 - 17:57
      +1

      It's not anymore. Credit card limits these days are much lower than the "good old days". For a salary of $174k, if I was regularly churning cards, I would try and keep my credit card limits under $30k and ideally under $20k. Whilst you may be able to have $60k credit limits if you weren't churning, you don't want to risk getting declined in an application based on having too high existing limits. Some banks are fussier than others. And they need to assume you have maxed out your card and are making minimum repayments with ~20% pa interest.

      Should I wait until April when I can close my Amplify or do you think I'm good to keep applying for other CCs?

      I think you would be Ok to sign up to cards with <$10k limits, but to be safe I wouldn't sign up to premium cards that have a minimum $15k limit.

      • askbargain on 16/01/2025 - 18:12

        Household income of 174+90

        He can easily get 2 premium cards

        If he cared that much, just get his partner to apply for cards he wants to keep and he can keep churning

        • onceupon8 on 16/01/2025 - 18:24

          He said that he is doing them all under his name, so his partners income is irrelevant.

          I agree that he should also use his partner for churning. eg. For Amex cards, swap cards between partners to lessen the impact of the 18 month rule.

          • TwentyTwoCarats on 16/01/2025 - 18:55

            @onceupon8: Bro she has an apostrophe in her name and my god that creates so many difficulties in ID checks and stuff, she almost always has to go to a bank IRL which is a pain in the bum lol.

            The same banks verify me in 2 seconds haha.

          • askbargain on 16/01/2025 - 19:08

            @onceupon8: even if he did it under his name, credit cards ask about household income.

            he should use his partners for holding since it's a pain for them to apply

    • boomramada on 16/01/2025 - 20:11

      Once upon a time AMEX/CBA have gaven me 80k+limit 😂 and I don't even earned $174k, those were the days lol

      • freefall101 on 16/01/2025 - 23:02

        I had credit card limits and personal loans roughly the same as my annual income a few years ago, in my mind it was my rainy day fund (although it might have only been useful if I was fleeing to Venezuela).

        These days I'm down to $12k and I any extra they seem to want to give me a rectal exam to support it.

      • AussieDaddy on 16/01/2025 - 23:39

        What criteria do CC providers use to determine what the limit is for an applicant? I took my first CC last year from CommBank and my limit is $35K, while making just under $100K a year. But I've been with CommBank for 20 years when I applied for the card, with no debt or missing any bill payments etc in the past, so not sure if that makes any difference.

        • boomramada on 17/01/2025 - 15:23
          +1

          That was ages ago, all the info I provided them was accurate, but now I don't think I can get even $50K, due to the home loan/family etc
          Those were the days when I bought a car via card and accumulated like $1k worth of points as well lol

          The government put a stamp on banks for offering free-for-all limits.

    • Cyphar on 17/01/2025 - 09:36

      I earn around $200k and only have 1 credit card with a $2k limit. I use it purely for my car rental & hotel bonds. $20k sounds sufficient for people who basically live off it, pay it back in full every month and collect/churn points.

  • bk1973 on 16/01/2025 - 19:18
    +1

    Thanks for the post OP. I've been curious about such things after my recent interaction getting an ANZ Platinum card. Even though I am mortgage-less (and own my PPoR) and have a salary higher than yours, I still felt like they were quite critical on the phone of the almost 40k total from credit cards and credit lines that I had at the time. I was only asking for about an 8k credit limit too.

    I've since cancelled a Virgin card and am about to cancel a Citi Prestige (20k limit) and a 5k Citi Lending line, bringing me down to just 2 cards. I will be ready for another card (or 2!) when a good deal pops up.

    I also wonder if there is any advantage/disadvantage to applying for two different cards (different banks) at the same time? (as opposed to getting one card first, then applying for another one)

    • TwentyTwoCarats on 16/01/2025 - 19:24

      Hmm I see, thanks for providing your own experiences, I guess we will never know the true math as every bank’s process varies.

      If asked, would it be a good justification to tell them that this card is for cash flow while doing minor home renos? That’s what I’d use it for, but don’t need cash flow just need VFF haha.

      • bk1973 on 16/01/2025 - 19:54

        I told the ANZ guy I was cancelling one of them (erasing 8k of credit). I had submitted by ATO notice of assessment when applying, and I owed money (about 2k). The guy on the phone asked if I paid it yet, and I replied 'No, because it wasn't quite due yet'. So, he told me he was adding the owed amount to my debt total. Nice! I think ANZ is just annoying like this, and other banks may be more laid back. Without going into details, it even got worse with ANZ once I got the card and I had to visit a local branch to sort the mess out. If it wasn't for the velocity points deal at the time (gone now), I would have cancelled the card the same day it arrived.

        I've never explained why I had card X or card Y. I guess you could say something like, "Card X has a good travel perk, so I just use it for flights"

  • Drakesy on 16/01/2025 - 21:34

    Similar situation,

    Have made it to 4 credit cards at 1 time, admittedly it was only a combined $33k credit.

    Keep my black cards to a minimum, although the ANZ rewards and Frequent flyer are too hard to avoid.

  • AustriaBargain on 17/01/2025 - 01:35
    +1

    My salary is about $174k

    Marry me and I'll stay up all night for months researching this for you.

  • cuy on 17/01/2025 - 05:58

    Very similar situation except a churner. Current credit limits are 61K (2x15K, 1x20K, 1x6K). Citi / ANZ / NAB / Daily Driver.

    Max 3 Signature / Prestige held at any one time.

    Keeping Citi because of benefits (4th Night free, Priority Pass, will close straight after trip).

    Waiting for NAB / ANZ points (already met) and will close ASAP

    • Edgecrusher on 17/01/2025 - 19:06

      That prestige was a hell of a card when you also put Payall on top.

  • Danstar on 17/01/2025 - 08:10

    Tip: Don't put a limit on your cards. Let the bank decide your limit and you will find you'll get approved more

    • Autonomic on 17/01/2025 - 09:57

      Why would that be better than selecting the lowest limit?

      • TwentyTwoCarats on 17/01/2025 - 10:57

        Nah they’re right, I’m just going to shoot for the stars I reckon.

        • Autonomic on 17/01/2025 - 15:36

          I agree. I earn much less than you but I've had $41k credit with no issues. ($20k + $15k + $6k). No mortgage however.

  • Edgecrusher on 17/01/2025 - 19:02

    I earn less than you by about 30k. My parter earns less than your partner by half. We have a couple of hundred k in mortgage.

    For the past six months I’ve held a minimum of 3 cards with a total of 45k minimum across all majors except com bank and Amex.

    So I think you will be ok with the higher cards, you probably should have two on the go, one being spent as you are then applying for the next one.

    It’s up to you but I always have a card I don’t churn, it gets used for a lot of automatic transactions, and is a fall back if you find applications getting rejected, mine is with my home loan provider fee free.

    For clarity I’ve been through these providers in the past six months:
    ANZ, St George, westpac, Citi, Nab and Suncorp (Citi) - all at their top level products.

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