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I've had a Visa card with Chase for twenty years. That's a long time to be with any one credit company. Personally I don't like having a huge fanfold of cards. I know plenty of people that do - they have one for Paypal and one for Amazon, one for Ebay and one for Shell, an American Express and maybe a department store or two... who knows? I don't know if many people realize it, but the more cards you hold, the less actual credit you can draw. Thus if you make, lets say 40k per year, and have lets say seven credit cards with a $5000 limit, that means you only have 5k worth of borrowing power (add in rent and other things like car insurance means you actually have less). So when you go to buy that new car chances are you won't get a great rate (not to mention if you want a mortgage).

I know people are fascinated by getting the nth of a percent back here and there but I don't see the value. Oh wow - so Discover gives you 5% back for gas purchases... up to the first $100. Well considering the cost of gas these days is the five bucks really worth it? Actually, if you don't e-pay them, and you extract the cost of postage then you're only getting a whole 8 cents (since a year's worth of postage is $4.92). Eh.

Back to Chase however, some of the highlights of the positive experiences I've had with them includes:

• Calls when they suspect fraudulent activities (hasn't ever happened, but I appreciate their concern)
• A one day replacement of my card when I had to take a flight and had left my card at a mall
• Copies of actual receipts when a transaction was in question
• Excellent customer service - all well spoken, intelligent individuals who were willing and able to help me
• Being amenable to changing my credit limit down (or up) as I liked

My one and only beef with them is that I have called repeatedly to have the extra crappola and advertisements that come with my bill removed. Typically this lasts for about six months and then I start getting the junk in my bill again. I've decided to put up with it because I do appreciate their service and plan on being their customer for a decent long while.

It amuses me when people come up to a cashier and then have to pick and choose amongst their cards... how much on this or that they have left. Sounds like a disaster to me, if you have only one it's much easier to be aware what you've spent and what you owe.