Additional credit card with different limit on same account?
You can look into getting a business credit card. When I had my Chase business credit card, I could add authorized users to the main account and set a spending limit on each card. "Generally not.  Since authorized user cards are the same account and the difference between the two (the original and the AU card) are minimal. Note, there's nothing technically stopping banks from offering this as a feature, two cards do have identifiers that indicate they're separate cards, but the banks concern for your needs stops at how much they can bleed from you, and ""helping you control your spending"" is not part of that."
Correct. By putting expenses on to a credit card which does not charge interest during the grace period, and paying that balance every month, in effect you earn interest on money you've already spent. However, first, savings account interest is something like .05% right now depending on your bank. Yeah it's money, but seriously, that's 4 cents per month on $1000.  Second, two things can make this very wrong. If you carry a balance, you'll pay much more in interest than you'd get from practically any investment you could make with the cash in the meantime. Second, a debit card can be used to get cash you already have from an ATM (not everyone takes credit, you know), and it'll cost you little or nothing. Use a credit card for the same purpose and you're paying 40% from the second the money comes out of the machine. Also correct. Rewards cards earn you more the more they're used. That's because the card issuer makes money based on usage; they get 3% of each transaction. They're happy to turn 1% of that, up to a limit or subject to a spending floor, back around to you. Again, check the terms and conditions. Most cards have a limit on total rewards. Many of them also have fees, either while you hold the card or when you try to redeem the rewards. Look for a card with high limits or no limits on rewards from spending, and with no annual fee or reward redemption fee. In addition to the above, you build good credit history with good spending patterns. However, your credit score can fluctuate wildly, because on one day you have very low leverage (percent of credit limit used), and on the next you've bought $200 in groceries and so your leverage went up 20% on a card with a $1000 limit. Leverage under 10% is good, leverage under 40% is OK and leverage over that starts looking bad. With a $1000 limit, with you maxing it out and then paying it off, your credit score can fluctuate by 30 points on any given day. "A credit card is a way to borrow money. That's all. Sometimes the loans are very small - $5 - and sometimes they are larger. You can have a credit card with a company (bank or whatever) that you have no other relationship with. They're not a property of a bank account, they are their own thing. The card you describe sounds exactly like a debit card here, and you can treat your Canadian debit card like your French credit card - you pay for things directly from your bank account, assuming the money is in there. In Canada, many small stores take debit but not credit, so do be sure to get a debit card and not only a credit card. Now as to your specific concerns. You aren't going to ""forget to make a wire."" You're going to get a bill - perhaps a paper one, perhaps an email - and it will say ""here is everything you charged on your credit card this month"" along with a date, which will be perhaps 21 days from the statement date, not the date you used the card. Pay the entire balance (not just the minimum payment) by that date and you'll pay no interest. The bill date will be a specific date each month (eg the 23rd) so you can set yourself a reminder to check and pay your bill once a month. Building a credit history has value if you want to borrow a larger amount of money to buy a car or a house, or to start a business. Unlike the US, it doesn't really have an impact on things like getting a job. If you use your card for groceries, you use it enough, no worries. In 5 years it is nice to look back and see ""never paid late; mostly paid the entire amount each month; never went over limit; never went into collections"" and so on. In my experience you can tell they like you because they keep raising your limit without you asking them to. If you want to buy a $2500 item and your credit limit is $1500 you could prepay $1000 onto the credit card and then use it. Or you could tell the vendor you'd rather use your debit card. Or you could pay $1500 on the credit card and then rest with your debit card. Lots of options. In my experience once you get up to that kind of money they'd rather not use a credit card because of the merchant fees they pay." The two things are materially different. Point number 1.  With a credit card, the bank (and card network) earn a fee every time you spend on your card.  You swipe a $100 dinner, the credit card company makes about $3.  You pay it back, they may not make any interest but they've made their $3.  Additionally, if you have a $1,000,000 credit limit, you've only actually borrowed $100; which brings me to point number 2.   Point number 2.  A credit limit of $X is not in any way the same as a loan for $X.  When you seek a personal loan, the lender hands you money in equal amount to your loan, less any origination fees that may apply.  Your loan for $8,000 results in $8,000 being wired to your account.  Your credit limit is only a loan when you actually charge something.  Until then its a simple (adjustable) risk limit set by the bank's underwriters. Point number 3.  Your credit report contains no income information.  It's up to the lender to determine what sort of risk they're willing to take.  Some personal lenders are just fine with stated income and employer contact information.  Some lenders want to see some pay-stubs.  Some lenders will lend $X on stated income but won't lend $X+1 without income verification.  Some will lend the money at a lower interest rate if you do prove your income and employment.  It's all lender specific.  Credit card issuers are clearly lax on the income verification piece of the equation because of points number 1 and 2. Point number 4.  If you're getting a loan for your required mortgage down-payment you are a much bigger repayment risk than you realize. "Better suggestion: Refinance into a lower rate mortgage. In the US right now you could cut that rate substantially with very little effort, unless you are a bad credit risk. Also: Not all mortgages permit use as a ""line of credit"" without additional fees, in addition to credit card transfer fees. (There is often a different kind of house loan, at a higher interest rate, if you really need that flexibility.) So this idea may not even be possible, or those fees may kill it, even before considering costs and risks on the credit card side. Generally, gimmicks don't work." "I'm not sure that OP was asking if he/she personally should have more available credit, so I will answer the other interpretation: should that particular card have a higher limit? The answer is ""no.""  The range varies vastly by issuer.  Starting limits vary widely from issuer to issuer even with identical credit histories.  Some issuers never automatically increase the limit, some periodically conduct account reviews to determine if an increase is warranted.  Some like to see higher spending habits each month.  Personally, my cards range from $500 to $25000, and the high and low extremes are the same age. You can search for tips on how often to request increases for your particular card, or what kind of spending habits the issuer prefers.  An important note: You do not need to carry a balance to make the issuer happy.  You never need to pay a cent in credit card interest." Hits to your credit rating for canceling one of the newer cards will be a small hit for a few months.  You do have some options.  I also believe that a person with good credit should have multiple cards: I like having a cash back card for the majority of our transactions. Unfortunately that card isn't accepted everywhere, so I have two other cards with broad market coverage to make sure we always have an option if the vendor doesn't take the main card.  Also having multiple cards makes sure that if there is an issue with one card you are never caught without a card. One time the main card was rejected by a gas station because my wife just used the same account to buy gas across town. When we got home their was a fraud alert message on our phone. Many banks will let you generate a temporary credit card number to use in this situation.  You can set the credit limit and the expiration date yourself so that the second transaction won't be accepted. I don't know of any that will let you set the credit limit to $0, but you can set it to a value under the monthly subscription fee. An answer to this question suggests that banks sometimes let the charge go through even if it exceeds the limit or the expiration date, so the plan might not work. If I were you, I would pay one of them off completely, then cut the card up and close the account. I have the feeling that you would be better off with just one card. That's all I've ever had and I've never needed a second one. It can help keep you out of trouble, too. Then I'd apply $1000 to $1500 towards the other card, and blow the rest on something stupid. Win-win.