Are you the type of person who likes to use a single credit card, or do you have closer to a dozen? Likely, you fall somewhere in between. But how many should you have? Is there some magic number that’s the “right” number of credit cards for the average Australian? Unfortunately, no.

On the other hand, here are several things to consider when deciding the right number of credit cards for your needs:

How much can you afford to pay off?

It’s often suggested that you never charge more than 30-50% of your credit limit on any given card. This has to do with maintaining your “debt ratio” (your balance compared to your credit limit–ideally you’ll never come close to maxing out your total available credit). Therefore, if you expect to use your credit cards to pay $5000 in bills and expenses each month (also paying them off every month), you might want to consider getting two or three credit cards with a combined available limit of $10,000 – $15,000 (assuming you’re eligible for the cards). This decreases your risk of being hit with over-the-limit fees and shows future potential lenders that you don’t rely on your credit limit as a “crutch” to constantly lean on without significantly paying it down.

Do you need (or want) cards that offer different rewards?

It may be worth keeping more than one open credit card if you’ll actively take advantage of different rewards programmes. For example, you might use the Citibank BP credit card specifically to save 5% on your petrol purchases at BP, while you use your Qantas American Express Premium card for most of your other purchases in order to accrue more frequent flyer points. Remember though–if you spread out your spending across too many cards, it may take a much longer time to build up enough rewards points on any given card to actually trade in for your rewards.

Do you travel often?

If you’re a frequent traveller, keeping more than one credit card account open could be a safer option. With multiple credit cards (and if you store them separately), you won’t have to worry about being stranded without funds if one of your cards is lost or stolen while on your trip. Even if you don’t travel, that strategy can keep your credit availability better protected at home as well.

While there are benefits to having more than one credit card, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need many of them. If you keep a large number of credit cards open, you may find other credit opportunities are closed to you in the future if lenders feel you already have too much available credit (making you a bigger risk of accruing a lot of debt that you can’t afford to pay back).

Keep enough credit cards on-hand to cover your routine expenses (to be paid off each month), while still leaving enough of an available balance to serve as an emergency fund if needed. While the total balance and the “right” number of credit cards will vary from one person to the next, there is always danger in having too many cards at your disposal. Knowing your own limits is the best way to avoid the temptation of too much credit, and the long-term debt it can lead to.