Credit cards offer lots of benefits, from cash back rewards to airline miles and more. But some of the most enticing credit cards offer you no-interest financing for a period of time. It may be tempting to apply only for zero interest credit cards, but how many of those can you have at once?
Number of cards: no limit
There’s no official limit on how many credit cards you’re allowed to have at once — at least, not technically — whether they’re of the 0% interest variety or not.
In reality, each lender has its own limits on how much credit they will extend to any individual. For example, a bank might accept multiple credit card applications from you, but they’ll cap your total credit, thereby limiting your total account balances.
Balance transfer limitations
No interest credit card offers are attractive for those interested in balance transfers — that is, transferring the balance of another card to your 0% APR credit card so you can pay it off interest-free. It’s a great way to save some money while paying down your debt, especially if there’s no balance transfer fee. If there is a fee, make sure it doesn’t cancel out the savings on interest over the introductory period.
Some credit card issuers may not allow you to transfer balances between two of their cards, so you’d probably have to apply for a card from another issuer. Pay special attention to the length of the 0% offer — free credit doesn’t last. If it’s not realistic for you to pay the transferred balance down before the introductory period runs out, you might end up spending more money on interest than you would with a low interest credit card. Check out the best credit cards for balance transfers
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What about your credit score?
Before you apply for several 0% credit cards at once, consider your credit score. You can only have so many inquiries into your credit history before your score starts to take a hit. Additionally, the length of your credit history counts for 15% of your credit score. If you take out multiple new accounts, it can lower that portion of the score.
If you’re getting 0% interest credit card offers already, you probably have above average credit, and that’s a great asset. You might want to think long and hard about how having many credit cards can affect it.
The takeaway
Yes, in theory you can have as many 0% interest credit cards as your heart desires, so long as your applications are approved. Whether or not that’s a good thing for your credit and finances long term is another thing entirely.
