How many credit cards should a person have? For some, one card may make the most sense, especially if you want to maximize the benefits. For others, multiple cards may be the way to go.

In the video above, Yahoo Finance's Kendall Little explains the criteria you may want to consider when deciding how many credit cards you should be using.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

Editor's note: This article was written by Stephanie Mikulich.

Video Transcript

- One in three Americans have more debt than savings, that's according to a bank rate survey. To paraphrase the Notorious B.I.G, more credit cards, more problems. Nearly half of Americans have at least two credit cards according to Experian. That data coming in. Now to break down how many credit cards make sense for you, we've got Yahoo Finance's very own Kendall Little. What's the real number here?

KENDALL LITTLE: So there's actually a couple reasons why you might want to only use one credit card. If you're worried about those high interest rates when you have a credit card debt, then one card can really help you keep your expenses streamlined throughout the month. If you want to have one account, you can look to see exactly what you're spending, know what your budget is all month long.

There are a couple of other reasons though, too. We love credit card rewards. So one card can help you use maybe a 1.5% or 2% cash back card to make sure you're maximizing every single expense without having to strategize too much where you're using which card.

And then also if you open up a new card and you want to work toward a sign up bonus, then using one card, that single card throughout the intro period so you can meet the spending threshold over the time that you have to score that big bonus.

- So when should people have more than one credit card? What is the determining decision-making factor that they should be thinking about there?

KENDALL LITTLE: I think the biggest reason to use multiple cards is really diversifying your rewards. So again, if rewards are really important to you, maybe you have a travel credit card you use to book your flights and book your hotel rooms when you travel. But that doesn't necessarily reward you at home. So maybe you have a cash-back card that you can use on your groceries and your gas and dining out.

So kind of diversifying those rewards can really help you maximize throughout. But again, you have to make sure if you're using multiple accounts that you're tracking it throughout the month so that you're not taking on those high interest rates.