How many new accounts is too many?

[Anonymous]

I have one SSL through alliant which was opened in Dec. I have a cap one QS that was opened in September 2017. A Kohls card in Dec. A Cap 1 platinum in March and a Discover IT in march. And I just opened an AMEX Delta gold. I want to get the AMEX BCE, my question is, should I? Am I opening too many accounts?

[tricie17]

Too many is what you can't afford.

[Anonymous]

Ive done the same thing..its addictive but is helping with building my credit..i dont plan on using all of them..only for emergencies..never carrying them in my wallet..capital one secured in august..credit one...opensky...total...milestone this year...fingerhut this year...capital one unsecured this year..discover it this month...lendup arrow this month...HSN this month

[Anonymous]

Depends on how you use them.
I’ve been doing this and churning (travels) for many many years. Some cards I keep, and some I close out. I still have 20+ cards left and use them when I travel. I like having and rotating them. I love options. Some cards are great to keep long terms because they have great offers or rewards that pops up.
My favorites are American Express cards, Chase and Citi.

[Anonymous]

I believe in "if you don't use it lose it", with a few exceptions. Like it being the oldest card by a large margin or a low APR card in case of emergency where I have to carry a balance.

[Anonymous]

you should be fine, as a pre-existing amex customer especially. they're loose on inquiry count and i *believe* new accounts but not positive.

it really comes down to which issuer you're applying for and what they're rules are, so it's best to plan around that. for example, personally i opened no cards from 2015 to 2017. in July 2017 i opened a chase freedom unlimited and nusenda platinum cash rewards, then in november a chase ink preferred, in december a vantage west connect rewards, in january a chase sapphire preferred, in february a penfed pathfinder, in march a citi aadvantage platinum. i've structured it so that at any given application i'm not tripping any of their hard rules like 5/24 or 6/6 and i've plotted out all of the cards i want - i still have 7 more to app for lol, i'll be done applying by august and i feel pretty good about my chances of getting all of them! of course you also want to keep in mind the minimum spends for sign up bonuses to ensure you can meet them all and pay off all of the debt in the process. i'm actually carrying debt on a couple of cards temporarily so that when i apply for the citi premier in the next week or two citi thinks i carry a balance on my cards cuz asksebby said that a bank denied him for not carying a balance (recon explicitly told him they don't like customers who don't carry balances) - i *think* he said it was citi but i'm not positive so i'm playing it safe. after i get the card i'm gonna pay off the debt on the others lol.

[Mahraja]

100 accounts in 100 days otherwise if your profile is strong with high digit payment history 20+ new accounts are piece of cake...

[sarge12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

you should be fine, as a pre-existing amex customer especially. they're loose on inquiry count and i *believe* new accounts but not positive.

it really comes down to which issuer you're applying for and what they're rules are, so it's best to plan around that. for example, personally i opened no cards from 2015 to 2017. in July 2017 i opened a chase freedom unlimited and nusenda platinum cash rewards, then in november a chase ink preferred, in december a vantage west connect rewards, in january a chase sapphire preferred, in february a penfed pathfinder, in march a citi aadvantage platinum. i've structured it so that at any given application i'm not tripping any of their hard rules like 5/24 or 6/6 and i've plotted out all of the cards i want - i still have 7 more to app for lol, i'll be done applying by august and i feel pretty good about my chances of getting all of them! of course you also want to keep in mind the minimum spends for sign up bonuses to ensure you can meet them all and pay off all of the debt in the process. i'm actually carrying debt on a couple of cards temporarily so that when i apply for the citi premier in the next week or two citi thinks i carry a balance on my cards cuz asksebby said that a bank denied him for not carying a balance (recon explicitly told him they don't like customers who don't carry balances) - i *think* he said it was citi but i'm not positive so i'm playing it safe. after i get the card i'm gonna pay off the debt on the others lol.

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Wow...just wow...I know many banks do not like transactors, because they are not profitable...but I never thought one would admit it. I am a transactor, and rarely get prequal mailings or credit limit increases now. If they decline credit they have to mail him a reason for denial, and it would be interesting to see what they put on that for reason for denial. I bet they did not put that as the reason for denial on that letter.

[Anonymous]

Learning something new every day...I actually didn't know until now, or at least I'd never heard it explicitly said by someone at the bank end, that banks don't like people who don't carry balances on their cards. That being said, I have known for quite a while, or at least assumed from what I've observed, that banks seem to especially like customers who use their cards actively while keeping their utilization to moderate levels (under 10% ideal, under 30% OK) and pay in full whenever possible.

[Anonymous]

I use my AAoA calculator to forecast when to apply for a new account and still keep my AAoA > 2 years.

Going below 2 years can be a major FICO point slam, so staying above that is helpful.

Right now I can't apply again until 4/1/19 but after that month passes, I can acquire 6 new cards with a new one every month or so and still stay over 2 years AAoA.  After 2/1/20 I could actually open a new credit card every month forever and stay above 2 year AAoA.