New applications getting rejected because of multiple hard enquiries

[SouthJamaica]

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@nira wrote:

I moved to the US last year and have the Bank of America Cash Card, Bank of America Travel Card, TJ Max Symphony and American Express Everyday. My total credit limit is 47,000 and score is ~ 744.Maximum score was 749 and I have always been 700 plus.

Now the bad, I have been mindlessly applying and have some 19 hard pulls on my account from March 2017. I started applying even before I built a credit history and got rejected left, right and centre. Then I got approved for a few cards and have been getting rejected again.

I have some major travel plans over the next few months and want to get a travel card. My application for the Chase Sapphire Reserve was rejected. Also CITI AAdvantage Gold Master Card and Barclays Arrival Premier World Elite Mastercard. How do I go about this? Do I suck it up and wait for six months before applying for Reserve again? Are there any other credit cards that will have me?

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Yes you suck it up and wait.

[Anonymous]

Agreed with all the above. Minimum 6 months, preferably a year if you can make yourself wait that long (I'm not sure I can, to be honest, and I'm trying to garden for at least 6 months this time myself!!!) Bear in mind that hard pulls stop having an effect on your score once they reach 1 year old, but they'll still appear on your report for another year thereafter. I currently have 9 TU, 9 EQ and 4 EX hard pulls on my respective reports; roughly half of them are a year old or more, and by next spring the vast majority will be at least 1 year aged, but I want to have at least a few disappear completely before I start looking for any more cards or hard-pull CLI's; as it is, even soft-pull CLI's are a chancy business just now which is a good sign that it's time to stop (for a while).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
EVen with that distribution, as stated above, you definitely need to wait. More than two “active” pulls (pulls in the past year) can adversely affect your odds. The pattern suggests credit-seeking behavior and that’s usually a red flag for lenders. Let your accounts age, keep paying your bills, let the HPs fall away, and when they do, you’ll be in good position to go after one of the top tier cards you mentioned.

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+1