63% of people in the United Arab Emirates have a credit card, according to a recent survey, with around five million active cards estimated to be in circulation currently. There are considerably more credit cards than debit cards in use in the UAE, which is largely because of the number of benefits that a credit card holder can receive. These benefits can range from points redemption and cashback offers to shop benefits and movie offers.
Many people want to know how many credit cards it is possible or best to have in the UAE, to which there is no simple answer. There are no legal limits on how many credit cards an Emirati is allowed to have, meaning that it all comes down to using said cards in the correct manner. If you know how to make proper use of a credit card, then there is no limit on how many you should have or utilise on a regular basis. Many people believe that holding too many credit cards in the UAE will result in their overall credit card score being marked down, but this is actually nothing more than a myth. In fact, there are a number of advantages to having a lot of credit cards.
For one thing, if you are aware of your credit card usage and always pay off your bills on time, then it can actually be quite a good plan to have multiple cards as it can assist with gaining more credit rewards and maybe even a new card that comes with exclusive features such as shopping benefits, air miles, movie offers and so on. Maintaining up to three credit cards could, therefore, bring you great savings as there are a number of credit cards that provide such offers. In addition to rewards, having multiple cards could actually be beneficial to your overall credit score. Dividing the expenses between different cards could actually be to your benefit if you spend 20% more than the credit limit. Multiple cards can also be helpful to entrepreneurs as it enables them to maintain separate cards for personal and business expenses.
On the downside, having too many cards could become too complicated and result in you losing track of how much you actually owe and to whom, particularly for those who already struggle to fully understand how to make use of them effectively. 60% of credit card users are actually unaware of the interest rates associated with their cards, according to a recent survey. Having an overload of credit cards is also likely to increase the temptation to overspend, which can become burdensome when the time comes to pay the monthly bills.
Many experts still maintain that having just the one credit card is enough for the great majority of people but, in the end, the decision is completely up to the individual as to whether they believe they will be capable of properly maintaining multiple cards with regular payments.
