Too much of a good
thing

Credit cardholders in the UK have on average two cards, while 22
percent hold three or more. Many have decided it’s too much of a
good thing and, according to UK bank Abbey National, 23 percent of
the UK’s 33.5 million credit cardholders plan to consolidate their
cards onto a single card over the next year. Adding to the desire
to consolidate, the average credit cardholder has 1.24 cards that
have not been used in the past year.

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“Unless a person is using all of their credit cards, many don’t
want to keep them up and running,” said Roger Lovering, MD of
Santander Cards UK. “In the current climate, people are becoming
more and more savvy about the impact numerous cards have on their
credit rating.”

Abbey is a unit of Spanish bank Grupo Santander.

Abbey’s research also revealed that customer preference plays a key
role in selecting a single card. Top of the list is cashback, with
20 percent of cardholders choosing this as the feature they value
most. Abbey, for example, offers a 5 percent cashback on the first
£1,000 ($2,033) of purchases from supermarkets.

The trend towards a one-card-only preference comes at a time when
UK consumer body the National Consumer Council (NCC) has warned
that many consumers face a PIN and pass-code overload.

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In a survey, the NCC found that one-quarter of adults must remember
eight PINs and passwords while one in 20 must remember more than 14
PINs and passwords. The NCC also noted that more than one-half of
those surveyed had made all their PINs and passwords the
same.