Why you need multiple credit cards

Davidson says the most important aspect of your credit scores is the debt-to-limit ratio. This is a ratio indicating how much debt you have in relation to your credit limit. As a result, you will have a higher score if you have lots of available credit and pay your bills on time.

Held's experience supports this argument. With all of her credit cards and credit card activity, her good credit allowed her to purchase a home in 2005. "I've never had a problem with loans or anything else I've needed," Held says.

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Finally, Davidson says, many banks are closing credit card accounts as a part of cost-cutting measures. Whether it is the consumer's choice or not, a closed credit card account will adversely affect that person's credit scores. If an account gets closed, the impact will be more severe to someone who just has one or two cards, as opposed to someone who has six to eight credit cards.

Staggered bill paying

Consumers with multiple credit cards can plan their spending so that it coincides with their bill cycles. "You can line up your credit card bills with your income periods," Rutgers' O'Neill says.

For example, a consumer can arrange it so one of his or her credit cards has a billing cycle that ends on the 10th of the month and another that ends on the 25th. If you pay careful attention, you can use the first card for purchases shortly after the 10th and the second one for purchases shortly after the 25th, maximizing the amount of time between the purchase and when the bill must be paid.

Easier bookkeeping

Often, people use their credit cards for work expenses that their employers eventually will reimburse. O'Neill notes that a person with multiple credit cards could set aside one credit card for work purchases, which would save them the trouble of going through credit card bills each month, trying to separate personal expenditures from work expenditures.

The same principle can be useful if you're self-employed. When tax season rolls around, you could easily identify work-related expenses for tax deductions if you used a credit card specifically for work expenses, making the tax-preparation process that much easier.

Leverage

If you have multiple credit cards, you can play one bank against another -- for your business -- to give you the best interest rate and for the best perks.

"Having multiple credit cards means you have options," says Bilker, of Debtsmart.com. It gives you "the option to fire one bank and hire another if you don't like the job the bank's doing."

Having options can give you leverage in getting lower interest rates. "You can simply call and say, 'Hey, I'll transfer my balance to you if you give me a good deal,'" Bilker says.

This article was reported by Fritz Esker for Bankrate.com.

Updated March 20, 2009

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