The good things about my cards is the concierge. They can help you with anything/everything when traveling. Most of us have Roadside Assistance through our Auto Insurance but for those that don't having a Signature Card helps when your car breaks down, you need a tow, possible room if your car can't be fixed that day and a ZAGAT dining feature should you need dining assistance while waiting for repairs.

What I am doing right now is I carry 2 cards with me if I am doing errands. I do that so I don't go hog wild with shopping. Another habitI am getting into is the pay in full method. Then I don't pay interest or financce charges. I did get into the buy now, pay latter mentality and now I am trying to pay off debt.

I like your story CG101. Your right, there is no magic bullet but paying on time, paying more than the minimum if you can, and just one day at a time, one step at a time.

The beginning of 2007 I had decided I wanted a house. After 2 years of repair and rebuild, I had qualified for a mortgage at a "ehhh" rate, then I improved my credit further while making on time payments, and qualified for a refi through BOA.

There are people who get discouraged by being in the high 500s/low 600s. I can only say, I was too. And I did it through the providence of time, no piggybacking, no magical bullet...time.

Anything with an annual fee gives me hives. I can only see the worth in those if you travel a lot or you are a very big spender. I am not either of those, so I cannot justify having an annual fee.

Got my first BOA Platinum Card in 2003. $3200 limit. Thought I was in heaven. Kept paying on time, paying more than the minimum, and asking for CLI's every 3 - 6 months. When I got to a $31K limit (my card now had manifested into a BankAmericard World Points Visa) I thought I had a good relationship with BOA to apply for a Visa Signature. Received that card with a $10k limit. At that point I became a Credit Limit Monger.

My BankAmericard reached $41K and was upgraded to a Visa Signature.

Got a pre approved letter for a Discover and received that card with a $4K limit.

My goal was always to get an AMEX. Meya, HJM331, and others told me because of some baddies I would have to wait. Then a Pre Approved letter came from AMEX and I now have the Gold.

What I want is the Visa Black or BOA's Accolade Card. AMEX's Platinum Card is in reach but I'm rethinking the $450/year membership fee. I currently have more credit than I will ever need and can purchase anything I want but to know that their are better cards, cards with more clout, cards that only the few can carry, keeps me wanting more

When did you really get going for getting more credit/charge cards? For me it pretty much began in very late July/early August of 2007 that I started to get a lot of CC's. The reason being is that in late August of 2007 I was suppoesed to go to Lake Tahoe on a vacation with a freind and his family. My job was to help keep an eye on the grandfather. I was responsible for my food and whatever else I wanted to get. My grandmother said that when you travel, don't go using debit cards, but use CC's (she traveled a lot and worked for an airline). I put off getting a credit card until pretty much lasst minute. My reason was that I had my Sears Master card with a $2,100 limit and had about $700 owed on it. So I needed a credit card or two that had decent limits on it. At that time, I didn't know what my credit score was and was going in blind. I wasn'tt really looking at rewards or what I really wanted out of a CC. Hence, I started with applying for a Chase Freedom Visa over the phone. They didn't give me an approval right away so I didn't know if they would approve me or not. After I got through with the phone call, I decided and try for an Amex card. I went through the questionare part on the Amex site and applied for the Blue. I pulled the trigger and I was approved for a $2,000 limit. Within a day or two, I did call Chase and found out that I was approved for the Freedom and had a $5,000 limit. Thought I was all set for my vacation. Needless, my friend and I didn't go because he said that he developed a health condition and couldn't fly anywhere at the moment. That began my app spree and now have 7 cards total.