Minimum credit cards/debit cards to have

When I encounter things I want to post about, I jot them down.  I was cleaning up the scribbled sentences and words on my notebook and saw this one "Need to have 2 credit cards and 2 bank cards"

 

So true.  A couple of situations where having two different credit cards (one from Visa, another from Mastercard) really helped me out.

 

Situation 1: Not a lot but I have run into instances where stores/vendors will take one and not the other.

 

Situation 2: Once I was in Toronto for a visit, I had my MC card rejected twice in two different stores.  I didn't understand why because I know I wasn't over limit and Toronto was a frequent destination then so it's no out of the ordinary.  Turns out they sent me a replacement card with some new feature, which I didn't receive because I was in TO, but they cancelled the old card anyway.   My Visa saved the day.

 

A couple of situations where having two different debit cards would be important.

 

Situation 1: I was looking for a place in Australia.  The place was great, lots of applicants, and the landlords chose me.  But he wanted security deposit and first month rent in cash.  I didn't think it was a problem since I had enough money, until on the day of moving in.  My bank card had a $500 per day withdraw limit.  A second bank account would have been so handy then.  But no I had to scrounge to get the rest of the money in a country I landed on 3 days ago, and knew hardly anyone.

 

Situation 2: This didn't happen to me, but someone else.  They were victim of fraud on their bank account, which then gets locked down during investigation.  In this case having another bank account would make sure you still have funds for everyday expenses.

 

Anyway, I have 2 credit cards but only one chequing account.  Next order of business is to get another account.