Credit card application timing advice

[juanjunior99]

HI, i am looking a topic related to credit card application timming..

and i cant find it..

I am searching good timing to apply for 2 credit cards in same month, how much days is better wait generally, how many cards I can apply in a month, or in a year. Have a law or rule for applications? or consumer?, I want know about it, I would greatly appreciate your help

[OmarGB9]

There's not really a general rule or law, however some lenders have their own stipulations. For example, Chase doesn't allow more than 5 cards within 24 months, and Capital One won't approve more than 1 card every 6 months. Which lenders were you looking at/what kind of card interests you?

[Anonymous]

You can apply for as many as you want but sooner or later the limits will go down and then they will start getting denied, so you have to choose how far to go. I recommend doing them in twelve month cycles for maximum scoring.

How many you can reasonably get away with depends on the strength of your profile and the lenders preferences.

You should research your lenders to determine the order in which you should apply based on their propensities in general and which bureau they pull. Jmho.

[ccquest]

Like the others said, depends on who you're trying to get approved by.

BUT looking at your sig, I'd say you're probably about to reach the trouble zone because you have 3 cards within the last 11 months, 2 of which are within 4 months. Let those hit 6 months at least.

[CYBERSAM]

General rule is 1 card every 6 months!

Sure you can go on app spree and get bunch of cards and bunch of denials but to have a healthy credit profile apping for multiple cards in short time is not recommended! Your score will take a hit and also it may take couple of years to rebound.

[SecretAzure]

Hi OP, super conservative credit person here. I like to increase my odds to almost paranoid levels before applying for my cards. Judging by your very thin profile, I would guess that the next card you apply for, if approved at all would be lucky to be a $1800 SL. If you apply in the same day (preferably in the same minute) you may get another approval for a toy limit.

I want you to ask yourself though, will these cards greatly improve your life at this moment? In most cases, the answer is usually no but I understand sometimes we apply to consolidate debt which could be a great relief to the mind and the FICO scores. 

There is no one way to "do" credit. What I will say is that with my method of spacing out applications by about a 1-2 years, you build a strong history as was mentioned above. Your AAOA actually goes up and becomes more resistant to newer apps dinging your scores. It shows lender you aren't just credit seeking (pyramiding debt as some call it). They show loyalty and you can prove history over multiple accounts. And the best part? You get approved for CLI of sizeable amounts. You get SL on new cards that are well beyond your current limits. I don't know your income, but at over $30K income, I have ~$80K in CL across about 6 cards that I actually have valid use cases for. This works for me. Others are ravenous points chasers and they have 20 cards, many with sub-$5K limits. These are the ones that apply frequently.

You may fall anywhere between the paranoid (like me) or the points chasers (like many here) or anywhere in the middle. The choice is yours to make, this is your journey. But I will say, I think you should wait 1 year from last app to apply for anything, personally. 

Good luck!

[coldfusion]

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@SecretAzure wrote:

Others are ravenous points chasers and they have 20 cards, many with sub-$5K limits. These are the ones that apply frequently.

Not all ravenous point chasers with 20+ cards who apply frequently end up with a high percentage of cards with sub-$5K limits.   It's profile-specific and it isn't that hard to find examples amongst the members here. 

[SecretAzure]

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@coldfusion wrote:

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@SecretAzure wrote:

Others are ravenous points chasers and they have 20 cards, many with sub-$5K limits. These are the ones that apply frequently.

Not all ravenous point chasers with 20+ cards who apply frequently end up with a high percentage of cards with sub-$5K limits.   It's profile-specific and it isn't that hard to find examples amongst the members here. 

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This is true, I was being very fastastical to point out two, sort of, extremes. Sorry if it came out absolutist! You are absolutely right...it's just hard to do what those like you do 

[Anonymous]

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@CYBERSAM wrote:

General rule is 1 card every 6 months!

Sure you can go on app spree and get bunch of cards and bunch of denials but to have a healthy credit profile apping for multiple cards in short time is not recommended! Your score will take a hit and also it may take couple of years to rebound.

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I have to respectfully disagree with this advice. If you get a card every six months, the only thing you can be sure of is your gonna stay in a new account scorecard with 10 to 30 points less than you could have if you waited til the 12 month mark and went to a no new account scorecard. 

Furthermore by spacing out your applications you're doing nothing but keeping your AAoA lower. If you go ahead and get the cards you want, then they can begin to age and contribute to increasing your AAoA. If you wait, then each new card has a later opening date and therefore a more negative effect on your AAoA and other aging metrics. 

Just think about it, would you rather have 5 cards from 2 1/2 years ago or would you rather have one every 6 months from the past 5 years? Do the math and see who ends up with the higher AAoA to buffer any applications in the future. 5 cards from 2 1/2 years ago will be much better than one every 6 months since on your ages. 

now there is a caveat, if your profile does not support it, then you can't do it. But it's better to get them as soon as you can, so they can begin ageing. The longer you wait the lower your AAoA will be, not to mention you're gonna get lower starting limits and higher APRs because your scores gonna be lower because you keep yourself in a new account scorecard by applying every 6 months rather than waiting 12 months so your score can go up 10 to 30 points at 12 months AoYRA. Jmho. 

and the score partially rebounds at 12 months, that's the whole point, if you apply at six you restart that clock. And how can your scores rebound if you take a hit to your AAoA every six months? At least if they were all done relatively close together you would have several from that point instead of a hit every six months knocking your AAoA down. 

[Anonymous]

And that doesn’t even speak of what it does to your credit based insurance scores having new accounts and inquiries every six months, that’s gonna keep you paying high insurance premiums because your CBIS is gonna stay low due to the new accounts inquiries every six months.

imo, it's best to get what you want as soon as you can, then lock yourself in the garden.