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I have 2 already but I really want more - Amazon Store, At Home, Home Goods, Lowes and Chevron. How far apart do I need to app ?
Last year I added 1 in June (Care Credit), 1 in July (Walmart), 1 in August (JCP), 1 in September (Lowe's). All get moderate spend & have grown nicely.
Joe's suggestion of caution is not necessarily contradicted by my results -- I was probably very lucky.
Just make sure that your spend justifies the taking on of a store card. Many people end up picking up a ton of store cards and they're only using them for (say) $50-$100/mo, which may only be yielding a buck or two more in rewards compared to using a different [non-store] card.
Before you apply for a bunch of store cards you should ask yourself the purpose of doing so. Are you going to get value out of these cards since you are able to afford to spend a lot at each of these places? If you don't usually spend a lot of money at these places but still go every now and then consider the fact that people tend to spend more money when using store cards. If you can afford it and you spend a lot of money at these places I say go for it, but you should definitely apply for the store card you shop at most and prioritizing your applying based on the amounts you spend. I have the Amazon Prime card, it is the only store card I will ever acquire and the only reason I applied in the first place is because I get a lot of value out of it.
As long as your total Sync exposure doesn’t hit $100K, they don’t seem to care much.
Spacing apps is always advisable though. I wouldn’t app for more than two of their cards at a time to be safe. There’s no sense risking getting your accounts shut down. Get them when you can really utilize them.
Thanks, everyone, for your wisdom. I am closing on my first house on Monday and need quite a few things. I only have 2 mortgage inquiries on my reports (except 1 Overstock hp for a cli earlier this year) in the past year. I will take it slow. I haven't even asked Navy for a cli in over a year because I was afraid of the hps.
@stinastina wrote:I have 2 already but I really want more - Amazon Store, At Home, Home Goods, Lowes and Chevron. How far apart do I need to app ?
Amazon Store - sure it's easier than Chase but, you're only able to use it at Amazon and Whole Foods.. If you're a prime member you get the same 5% discount/rebate with the Chase version
At Home, Home Goods, - while there's not a specific "retail" card for covering furnishings a long term option would be a better idea
Lowes - 5% discount is appealing but, you can get 5% off with other cards as a rotating category or everyday through their portal
Chevron - There are plenty of 5% gas cards out there that aren't going to be restricted to a single brand.
As others have suggested either way spacing the apps out is important but, looking at the bigger picture is more important. If these are only going to be used for the first couple of months of having the new house then it's not the best use of new accounts. Do some homework on things before you pick up a ton of new accounts and lock yourself out of better quality options due to churning rules.
When you know you're going to be spending a significant amount of money on things it's usually better to pick up a bonus like CSP where the net bonus would be at least $505.... you would need to spend 10K at Lowes to get that kind of payback.