Hi. I'm preparing to do my first App-o-rama (hooray!) and I'd like to clarify some things and get some guidance before I do.
I am between 21 and 24, have a 752 FICO according to my Discover statement and a 729 CK. I've had a nonrewards Visa from my credit union with a $750 limit for about four years, a Quicksilver for about a year and a half with a $750 limit (upgraded from the Journey about a month ago), a Discover it Student with $2K limit for two months and an Amex BlueSky with $3K limit for a bit more than a year and a half. I'll make about $21K this year. If it would be worth mentioning in a recon, I'll be attending Harvard law school this fall.
Here are my questions.
1/ I can apply for both an AF and NF version of the same card (not at the same time) and get the sign up bonus for both, right? So if I applied for the BCP today I could then apply in the future for the BCE and get both signup bonuses?
2/ I should generally not have an issue downgrading from an AF to the NF version of the same card, yes? But I won't get the signup bonus for the NF card when I do that, and I will prevent myself from getting that bonus in the future?
3/ I can expect a 3-5 point drop for each of the applications below, and that should recover within a year, right?
I plan to apply for the following cards:
Amex BCP because I will spend more than $834 on groceries in the next year so it will make more sense to get the BCP than the BCE. After the year I'll either downgrade to the BCE or cancel it. (Side question: I already have Amazon student and will for the foreseeable future. Is there any way to recover value from the year of prime that comes with this card or is it basically a useless bonus in my case?)
Barclaycard Arrival for obvious reasons. I plan to downgrade it before the AF hits, though it is my understanding after poking around here and other places that we're not sure yet if you can do this? Or at least not easily?
VentureOne Rewards I plan to apply for the AF version in a future App-o-Rama, and then close it before the AF hits. Note: I plan to ask for a CLI on my Quicksilver on the same day. Is applying for the card and the CLI so close going to be an issue? The CLI application will be a HP, right?
Chase Sapphire I don't think I would be approved for the CSP (no card with 5K limit, among other reasons) but I plan to get it in the future so I'd like to get my foot in the door with Chase now and also start accumulating UR points which I'll transfer to the CSP once I get it.
Citi Dividend Platinum because why not. None of the Citi points cards make sense for me right now and a NF card with a tiny minimum spend and another rotating 5x card seems worth $100 and a HP.
So, miles masterminds, what do you think about my plan? Is this a good mix and number of cards considering the data I gave above? I will not have a problem meeting the minimum spends with a combination of real and MS.
TYIA 
Welcome to myFICO and the best of luck to you.
There is nothing set in stone as to how many FICO points you will lose for each inquiry the only thing that is known is the higher the score the bigger the point drop will be. When I had a FICO 8 BC score of 803 I lost 22 points just for 1 inquiry, I recovered 12 of those once the new account reported. You have a high enough starting score so getting all should not be that big of a problem IMO. Cap-1 CLIs are SPs.
AMEX is def going to pul EX
Citi & Chase prob EX & EQ
Barclays TU
Cap-1 All 3
App order: Citi, Chase, AMEX, Cap-1, Barclays
@evergreenforest wrote:
If Cap-1 is going to pull all three, wouldn't it make sense to apply for that one last, since they will create three HPs? And I've heard that Barclays dislikes lots of pulls, so I expected them to be first.
Some say first some say last for Barclays, the rational for last is more compelling. They have the choice of auto approving you or not, if denied you are set up to call the backdoor and recon with an explanation of why you apped for multi cards in one day, your explanation is put in your file and when all the other accounts show up that they dont know about from pulls on other CRAs you are likely covered from an AA closure from them. When you get a new acct with Barclays they are going to be hitting you with softs possibly every other day looking for huge sprees....
Amex would be your best bet to get above that $5k limit. Take a look at my old posts. Basically I went from 6 months of US credit history, two cards of $500 limit each to Amex PRG+Delta $2k (apped for PRG, approved and next day apped for Delta. i read that delta gold is the easiest revolver to get, otherwise i wouldn't have gone for it but prob for another card).
61 days later I did the 3x CLI on the Delta, pushing me to $6k. Right after that I did a three card spree: CSP (approved 5k), Amex SPG (Approved 5k), citi exec AA world MC (denied on recon due to limited credit history). A week later i apped and approved for Amex MB Plat.
All in all, because of my short history i took quite a hit on my CR (34 points i believe) but that should recover by year end. So this year I will only have paid Amex Plat $475 fee (less $200 airline credits) while the other cards are free. Good bonus signups being accrued as i am hitting various spend threshholds.
