Does Having More Than One Credit Card Decline Your Credit Card Application?

So, here's something that's been happening lately to those who have been applying for credit cards - Their applications get declined for no reason. There are many cases being reported where credit card applications are rejected even though their case if fool proof, boasts great credit score and great background. But there's one glitch. Most of them have more than one or sometimes even more than 4 credit cards. Having many credit cards is a bit of concern for credit agencies and banks. Because they think that even though your credit history is great, you might be doing some "funny business" rolling over cash, consolidating one card with another kind of strategy. So this raises eye brows. So, even if you have a great credit history (which is easier to game if you have more than one credit card and you know the ways how to), and a great profile, banks and credit agencies can actually decline your credit card application citing "too many credit cards". But of course, most of the time banks wouldn't explicitly mention that you were rejected because you have too many credit cards. It is an assumption at this point, considering everything else is perfect on your profile.

How many cards is too many?

Now, this is a very good question. How many cards should you have? Well, this is a personal question. I have 5 cards but I don't use all of them all the time. They are all for different purposes. For example, a travel card I use only for booking tickets etc. A cashback card, pretty much all the time for regular shopping. A fuel card, obviously for fuel. I make it a point to not use cards to consolidate amounts to each other. For example, if I have an outstanding bill of Rs.10,000 on one card, I wouldn't take another credit card to pay it off. Which is actually a good strategy if the second credit card offers less interest on cash advances or for consolidation. But I simply, don't subscribe to that principle and use credit card wisely only. So, if you have a good credit score & history and a neat background, there are no reasons why your credit card application should be denied. But if it does, one of the reasons could be that you have too many credit cards. So, there. Questions?