The results are not surprising given the nature of the participants in the survey. I look at my own situation and it is pretty similar to what you report: 4 cards, no balances, Amex Blue & Citibank reward cards – used wherever credit cards are accepted to increase the cash back. I never actually checked my credit score – I can’t bring myself to pay for the privilege – but I check our credit reports every 6 months or so to make sure all is well (it is). Since we have never missed a payment on anything (except for a couple of 2 or 3 day delays when we forgot to make a payment), I expect the score is at least decent.

Good job on the detailed report.

This was pretty cool to look at though, thanks!

Thanks for your comments. After reading what you wrote, I checked my data again and realized there was an error in the post. Yes, there were a couple of bloggers that do not use any credit cards. I have made the changes in the charts for the first question to reflect that.

I still stand by my conclusion. Making use of credit cards at gas stations to earn rewards for example is IMO making good use of credit cards.

Mr CC

Regardless, this was a very thurough and well researched report and offers a very interesting glimpse into the varying habits of personal finance bloggers!

I have to speak up and say that I take issue on a few points here…

1> Under “How Many Credit Cards do you have?”, zero is not an option? So for folks who have none, were those results thrown out? It’s ok if they were, but that should be noted.

2> Under “Executive Summary”, maybe the intent is correct but not the wording. You note that “Most PF bloggers who carry a balance and have credit card debt take advantage of 0% APR teaser deals to help them lower their interest cost.” By my count, your chart shows 6 with 0% and 8 with an APR > 0. 0% is the most in one category, but not the majority overall, which seems more important here. In fact, you show 4 bloggers carrying a balance with an APR 10% or more, which seems like a much more interesting finding.

3> Also under “Executive Summary”, you note that “…most only carry two credit cards and do not go crazy over having many credit cards.” The second part of that statement is an opinion, and doesn’t belong there. Two cards IS crazy to me, let alone 3 or 4. Once again, 2 credit cards is the most of any one category, but the majority actually have 3 or more. In fact, the amount that have 2 cards is equal to the amount that have 4 to 10 cards. Also where is the line of having gone “crazy over having many credit cards”? 3? 4? 10?

In light of those things, I’m really not sure that I understand the main conclusion of “…from this survey is that most pf bloggers make good use of their credit cards and could teach us a thing or two about credit cards.”
Maybe I just look at the results differently.