The Spree I Decree

[ElvisCaprice]

  I have become a strong advocate of the spree.

         Garden till your given the nod.   Preapps are the best indicator of letting you know when your ready for another spree.  I no longer apply, HP, unless I am confident from a Preapp, SP, same issuer, on being approved (my newest rule).  Make each HP count, better if you can avoid them and it still counts.  Know which bureau they are going to pull from.  Use all 3 to your advantage, spread out, freezing and thawing.    Preapps will let you know when the spree is over, or a failed HP.  There is no magic number of new CC's to when one should stop.  Whatever you can handle (profile) or when they (issuers) stop you.   

       If they are willing to give you what you want today, why wait till tomorrow?  Put it this way, the sooner you can spree for what you want, the sooner you can garden again for another spree. 

    What do you think?  What has been your success/failure with a spree?  Pro's vs cons?

[BrutalBodyShots]

I was also a fan of sprees during my building phase. My thought process was always that when you open a single revolver you experience scorecard reassignment (New Revolver) and realize that score loss and slightly weaker profile for the next 12 months, so you may as well open 2-3 at once. Take advantage of the diminishing returns. One new account can drop you (say) 30-35 points, but from there you're looking at a single-digit number of points for the next 1-2 accounts. Go big or go home; if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. 

I've only really applied for cards 5 times in the last decade. The first and last time were for single cards. The 3 times in the middle were all sprees during my building phase.

[DXness]

Going on a spree is MUCH more fun on dirty profiles where losing points for new accounts is not really a thing (I have never lost even a single point for a new account), nor is losing points for inquiries  (although there is a 5 point drop every x pulls it seems).  I am 100% a believer in "bins" for HPs given my history of several free HPs followed by a 5 point dinger, then several more free ones then another 5 pointer.  Some day I'll go back through my HP history and write down the pattern, but not at 3:30 AM.

My one word of caution with sprees is that issuers can claw back their approvals if they SP you later and discover the spree.  Chase in particular is known to do this.  It's wise to view your approvals like a job offer conditional on a 1-3 month probationary period, rather than a single event all wrapped up on the day of.  That said, YMMV since different issuers will tolerate different thresholds of credit seeking and stronger profiles can get away with more than weaker ones.  You can see which banks are keeping close tabs on you by pulling your ACRs, Chase SPs me every month like clockwork, they are watching!  Oddly, Amex goes really long periods without SPing...you'd think they'd also be hawks.

Personally, I don't do sprees - I want to look normal and boring to the algorithms, move along nothing to see here.  What happens to the nail that sticks up?  It gets hammered down...although if I were on a clean scorecard, I might reconsider this stance.  Those point drops are huge like dayum!

[AndySoCal]

My sprees are usaully one card only. I had two sprees last one for my travel card and the other for the Walmart One Pay. This year it is gardening.

[BrutalBodyShots]

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@DXness wrote:

My one word of caution with sprees is that issuers can claw back their approvals if they SP you later and discover the spree.  Chase in particular is known to do this.  

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Can you provide a link to a data point of this happening? I have not heard of this before. What sort of communication/language does Chase (or any issuer) disclose when AA is taken in this manner / for this reason?

[youngandcreditwrthy]

I learned this shortly after becoming a member on my FICO over 12 years ago lol 

once you start getting approvals that are like 1000 or $2000, that's when you stop lol

[youngandcreditwrthy]

@BrutalBodyShots  Usually they just close all your **bleep** accounts at once. Lol 

Chase, Citi, synchrony bank, Barclay's bank. These are all banks that are known for doing this. I think if you show a history of keeping the balance low on the account, you're far much less at risk as well as keeping your overall utilization low. And I mostly pay in full before the statement cuts on new accounts for the first 3 to 6 months. Only had one of 20+ closed. 

because of all the soft pull approvals as well, I've resulted in a situation where I've opened 15 or more cards in the past 24 months and I only have like between one and six inquiries on each credit report LOL 

and the last two cards I opened lowered my score only 4 points. Im still solidly 720+ bankcard Ficos. 

[BrutalBodyShots]

I don't agree about "keeping utilization low" equating to lower risk.

Risk has to do with how you pay your cards, not what your utilization percentage is. If one is paying their statement balances in full monthly, they render utilization percentage irrelevant from a risk perspective. If they are carrying balances, they are an elevated risk.

If Cornelius is at 90% utilization but pays in full monthly, he's less of a risk than Rupert that is at 25% utilization all the time on carried balances - all other things being equal. If the bank is to reward one of them with a CLI, it's going to be Cornelius for his strong exhibition of responsible revolving credit use. 

[AndySoCal]

@BrutalBodyShots  This may help answer your question(s)

https://axis-intelligence.com/chase-bank-credit-card-account-closures/ 

A bank may or may not disclose nor do they have to disclose the reason for the adverse action. They probably would disclose the reason of no activity on the account.  Other reasons maybe not. Or never will disclose it.

The problem with app  sprees is this. The basic premise is consumers apply for only the credit they need.  For example a consumer has 50000 total credit limit. An app sprees yields an additional 30000 in new credit limits.  From the lender perspective the question is Why?  Some times that is a bad omen that ends in disaster ie  a bankruptcy chapter 7. The lender is left with  a loss. Some lenders when they see that trait in a consumer profile will take an adverse  action.

[Patient957]

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@BrutalBodyShots wrote:

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@DXness wrote:

My one word of caution with sprees is that issuers can claw back their approvals if they SP you later and discover the spree.  Chase in particular is known to do this.  

---

Can you provide a link to a data point of this happening? I have not heard of this before. What sort of communication/language does Chase (or any issuer) disclose when AA is taken in this manner / for this reason?

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Here's a link to a very recent DP of Chase taking AA for a two card spree, which many wouldn't even consider a spree.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Chase-card-closed-is-it-a-permanent-ban/m-p/6856267

The link includes the language Chase used:

Here are the reasons we closed your account

• Too many accounts opened recently

• Not enough credit information on file

• The accounts on your credit report have not been open long enough