Hi all. I'm brand new here.
Once upon a time, over a decade ago, I got in the hole pretty bad with a credit card. It ended up getting charged off and I decided then that credit cards were evil and I was never going to touch them again.
Since then I've lived completely within my means, paid for everything out of my checking account, and been pretty responsible. I paid off my student loans and I paid off my car loan early. I even put off buying a house until last year partly because I was enjoying being completely debt free and partly because I was afraid of what my CS would be once I started shopping for a mortgage. To my surprise, my score was a 749 and I got approved for a decent 3.25 rate on my mortgage.
Things got a little bit tight with moving expenses and modifications to the house, so I bit the bullet and applied for a credit card. My old history was gone, so I felt I was starting over. I also figured having just gotten a mortgage my score would've taken a dip. So I didn't want to go big. I applied for a cash rewards Visa from my local bank and got approved with a limit of $1K.
Since then I've been pretty responsible with it. I've paid it down before the closing date to below $100 so my utilization stayed low and always paid off the whole balance after closing. I've been using it on everything just so I could take advantage of the 1% rewards. I've been doing that for 8 months.
I started coveting the higher reward rates advertized on TV so I started looking into big brand cards. I applied for a Cap1 QS on a lark and got approved for $10K. This was an eye opener.
That same day I got on Credit Karma and YouTube and went crazy researching all the cards out there and what they could offer. I saw that Amex BCE was doing a special offer 10% return on restaurants for 6 months, and I figured I could start maximizing my rewards by having multiple tools to work with. Credit Karma rated my odds for that one at "very good" so I applied. I got approved for that one later that same day for $4K. I decided after that gamble paid off it was time to step away from the table.
So my plan is to work these two for now and get the bonus rewards out of the way. I'm going to shelf the old card since the rewards are low but I'll keep it active to help my age of credit.
However, I've been kinda wishing I'd applied for the Citi DC first since that has the biggest bang for the overall buck, and I was also wanting to work in a 5% categories card like Chase Freedom or Discover It, but I'm probably getting ahead of myself.
Would it be too aggresive of me to apply for one of those in about 6 weeks when I've satisfied the bonus requirements on my QS and BCE? Should I just work these two for the next several months? Is it worth going for the Citi DC if I already have a QS? Am I being too cautious? Am I obsessing too much?
Teach me your ways!
Lots of great information here ... so read for hours 
If you really want that Chase card you'll have to app for it first out of the other three, due to their 5/24 rule.
Yeah I read about that. I figured I'd apply for the Chase Freedom next since I'd need to get in on that before I hit 5/24 and that one could be useful if I get into the travel hacking thing later (but not yet). The categories seem to be pretty similar to Discover It so I'm guessing it only makes sense to have one of those.
And yeah, sorry about the OP. I get wordy sometimes.
I thought about that, but I think right now I'm focusing on cash rewards and no AF. I'll move up to higher tier AF cards when I get to where I'm spending money on travel anyway and can justify the AF with travel credits.
Welcome to the forum, Discover would really suite you with your user name
. I think you got a nice approach. If you are gonna chase rewards, no pun intended ( or was it? ), at least finish the ones you need to complete first. Lots of times we see some get caught up in gotta to get all the cards now that they they get stuck trying to figure how to complete all the bonus spend necessary to complete the signup. Bonuses come and go, but usually those cards remain so now big race to get them now, just my average penny for the day. Again welcome and enjoy the wonder that is Ficoland
. I think you got a nice approach. If you are gonna chase rewards, no pun intended ( or was it? ), at least finish the ones you need to complete first. Lots of times we see some get caught up in gotta to get all the cards now that they they get stuck trying to figure how to complete all the bonus spend necessary to complete the signup. Bonuses come and go, but usually those cards remain so now big race to get them now, just my average penny for the day. Again welcome and enjoy the wonder that is Ficoland
Thanks for the welcome!
Yeah I definitely want to get as much as I can get from my new cards before getting another to compete for my bonus spend.
I've been looking at Discover and I like their double rewards bonus. I probably would only use it for the 5% category, though, so I wonder if that would be worth it vs. the $150 reward from Chase. I'd been thinking that I want to go the Chase route just so I can have the option to do the travel hacking thing later, but by the time I'm to the point where I think I could make the most of that, the Chase system may not even be the big deal anymore.
So would I be hurting my chances for approval if I apply for another card next month or should I "garden" what I have for a while before applying for something else?