The adrenaline rush of apping

[ShermanOaks]

It's late, you get in bed w/ your iPad, stroll around the forum and you read about the latest greatest credit card. 

You fight the urge to app by checking Facebook. It's eating at you. 

You google the card to see what other people say about avg credit limits etc. 

Then you decide to app for it - trying to play cool like you couldn't care less about an instant approval. 

Form is now complete. You hit submit. The browser wheel has been turning for all of 20 seconds but it feels like an eternity.

You notice your heart is pounding, racing actually, and you wonder because you 'don't care' about this card. 

Boom.

Approved! 

Crap! Now how am I supposed to go to sleep now?

Awww, what the hell, might as well go for another...

(Repeat)

[mtrsprt]

By the sounds of that type of situation, the card really wasn't needed.  The more accounts you have (for trying to raise the CL bar), the higher the chances of missing a payment.  The best feeling is when..... You keep your accounts to a minimum. then when the time comes that you want to replace an exisiting card with a more appealing card that you will use, your score and history is great enough that you don't even have to sweat when applying.

Applying to feel the rush of chance, IMO is a bad habit.

[SGR]

Honestly, I don't really see anything wrong with this type of apping as long as the person doing it is responsible when it comes to managing the cards. I have fourteen cards (fifteen if my DCP app is approved). I use MINT and Prism Bill Pay (formally Mobilligy) to manage all my cards in order to keep track of my spending and due dates. I also use Wallaby to track rewards in order to maximize my savings across all of the cards. I'm also OCD when it comes to my finances, so I login to my accounts at least once a day. Personally, I feel there are a lot of benefits to having a ton of cards to select from. For example, I always maximize my rewards and it's easy to keep UTIL low if I wish to take advantage of a promo offer because I have so much available credit. My overall UTIL also wouldn't take much of a hit if a lender decided to close an account of mine for some random reason (although that has never happened to me). With that said, I can see how some may find this process overwhelming though.

[mtrsprt]

I have seven revolving accounts. 3 are rewards based. There's ZERO out there that would benefit me more than what I have.

[FinStar]

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@mtrsprt wrote:
I have seven revolving accounts. 3 are rewards based. There's ZERO out there that would benefit me more than what I have.

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Then again, this is YOUR personal and financial strategy and glad to hear it works for you.  Everyone else has a different strategy that works for them.  There is no one-size fits all even at the rewards level.  Different strokes for different folks.

[SGR]

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@mtrsprt wrote:
I have seven revolving accounts. 3 are rewards based. There's ZERO out there that would benefit me more than what I have.

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I'm addicted to maximizing rewards on my cards. For instance, for groceries and gas I use my Sallie Mae card (5% back) but that has a cap of $250 each. Once I hit the cap, I switch to my BOA123 card (3% gas, 2% groceries). Discover IT and Chase Freedom often have similar rotating categories but they each have a cap of $1,500 so having both cards lets me double the cap for the chosen category. I also eat out a lot so my CSP is used for that except for when the statement is about to cut, then I switch to the Citi DC in order to ensure no balance posts. My Barclay rewards card is used for utilities. I also shop a lot at Lowes because I just bought a new home, so I got a Lowes card to get 5% back. The list goes on and on. Basically, there isn't a thing I do that hasn't been looked over in order to ensure I get most amount of cash back possible. At the end of the day most of the money I get back goes into a high interest savings account.

[lg8302ch]

Congrats OP... which card did you get ? ... it was not Diners I guess or does it happen with instant approval ?

[Anonymous]

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@mtrsprt wrote:

By the sounds of that type of situation, the card really wasn't needed.  The more accounts you have (for trying to raise the CL bar), the higher the chances of missing a payment.  The best feeling is when..... You keep your accounts to a minimum. then when the time comes that you want to replace an exisiting card with a more appealing card that you will use, your score and history is great enough that you don't even have to sweat when applying.

Applying to feel the rush of chance, IMO is a bad habit.

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I must respectfully disagree.

This has about as much validity as saying "You have 100K in credit limits, so you'll be going 100K in debt."

I guess we should just limit the amount of INQ's you can have per year on any CRA and if you try to go over that, instant denial and an IRS agent at your door to audit you.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mtrsprt wrote:

By the sounds of that type of situation, the card really wasn't needed.  The more accounts you have (for trying to raise the CL bar), the higher the chances of missing a payment.  The best feeling is when..... You keep your accounts to a minimum. then when the time comes that you want to replace an exisiting card with a more appealing card that you will use, your score and history is great enough that you don't even have to sweat when applying.

Applying to feel the rush of chance, IMO is a bad habit.

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I must respectfully disagree.

This has about as much validity as saying "You have 100K in credit limits, so you'll be going 100K in debt."

I guess we should just limit the amount of INQ's you can have per year on any CRA and if you try to go over that, instant denial and an IRS agent at your door to audit you.

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HAAAAAA! 

I totally agree! For me all my cards are due on the same day and I go down the list of cards I have and check them all and pay them. You just have to have a system wherein you dont miss a payment and screw it all up. 

[EvilR-T]

aaaaaaand yet another pointless thread that should be tossed in smorgasboard