I'm looking to get the Chase Sapphire Preferred card sometime in the next couple of months for gathering travel miles but I am unimpressed with the 2x points only on travel/dining. Chase Freedom is a great combination to have with CSP (5x points on rotating categories including groceries/gas/amazon) since points can be transferred to CSP which, in turn, can be converted to frequent flier miles on a 1:1 ratio. This, obviously, can translate into big returns for travel. I'd prefer to get both cards all in one shot and just take the big hits to my credit now. After that, I'd just garden for a couple of years before going for anything else.
Quick credit overview:
FICO sits at around 735
Utilization always <10% (now it's sitting at 3%)
Good income-to-expense ratio (< 30%)
Only 1 credit card @ $7500 limit
2 inquiries within 12 months... 4 inquiries within 24 months
AAoA 4.75 yrs with oldest account at 13.5 years
No baddies on any of the 3 CRs
Has anyone tried doing this (2 cards at one time)? Any success stories? Any advice for moving forward with this?
Starting Score(8/15/13): 607
Hmm... is that 5 new credit card accounts or 5 new accounts in general? I looked it up and the purpose of this policy is to prevent card churn that has gained steam in the last few years. It would really suck if they held ALL new accounts to this standard. I only have 1 credit card and no plans to "churn" but my 3 student loans all began reporting 3 years ago, I got my only card 2 years ago, and we bought a house last year. That makes 5 and it would really suck to have to wait 2 years to get the CSP.
EDIT: I have read that it is 2 years not 5 years. In that case, I will (hopefully) be good to go.
@axnjxn wrote:Hmm... is that 5 new credit card accounts or 5 new accounts in general? I looked it up and the purpose of this policy is to prevent card churn that has gained steam in the last few years. It would really suck if they held ALL new accounts to this standard. I only have 1 credit card and no plans to "churn" but my 3 student loans all began reporting 3 years ago, I got my only card 2 years ago, and we bought a house last year. That makes 5 and it would really suck to have to wait 2 years to get the CSP.
EDIT: I have read that it is 2 years not 5 years. In that case, I will (hopefully) be good to go.
Rejecting for 4 accounts in under 2 years. I won't be eligible for CSP until next February (if I chose to get it) because of this new rule. Be patient. 
Must garden until 2/1/2022 to hit my goal AAOA. 
@SecretAzure wrote:
@axnjxn wrote:Hmm... is that 5 new credit card accounts or 5 new accounts in general? I looked it up and the purpose of this policy is to prevent card churn that has gained steam in the last few years. It would really suck if they held ALL new accounts to this standard. I only have 1 credit card and no plans to "churn" but my 3 student loans all began reporting 3 years ago, I got my only card 2 years ago, and we bought a house last year. That makes 5 and it would really suck to have to wait 2 years to get the CSP.
EDIT: I have read that it is 2 years not 5 years. In that case, I will (hopefully) be good to go.
Rejecting for 4 accounts in under 2 years. I won't be eligible for CSP until next February (if I chose to get it) because of this new rule. Be patient.
Thanks for the advice. But in the last 2 years, I only have opened 2 new accounts and I don't see a reason to wait any longer for the CSP. By the time I apply in Sept, my score should be sitting around 740-750. We need to start gathering points up for the European trip we want to take in 4 years
Also, after doing further recon on Reddit and DoctorOfCredit, it seems Chase is mostly concerned with the number of credit cards opened in the last 2 years (rather than all accounts including loans etc). Furthermore, the new "policy" isn't really a hard-and-fast rule as some people are reporting success even though they've opened 5 cards this year. Apparently, Chase has started denying people for # of inquiries as well (which may be where the lines are getting blurred). But I'd hardly believe that 4 inquiries in 2 years is going to be cause for outright denial especially when people are getting Chase cards when they've already gotten numerous cards in the same year.
@redpat wrote:It's 5 credit cards in the past 2 years, not accounts. It doesn't include other loans.
You are good to go for both cards, IMO.
Thanks m8! Much appreciated. In the garden for 1 more month, then its app fever