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Congrats on your Cash+ approval!
Congrats on your approval!
@Anonymous wrote:how often do you apply for credit cards? Ive been assuming it as a year or two, which is why I waited until now, but is that not always the case?
That's a tricky question, @Anonymous. One guideline is to only apply for new credit when you NEED it. Many of us on My Fico push it farther than that in pursuit of improving our card lineups, rewards, or SUBs.
It also depends greatly on your profile (FICO scores, depth of credit history, derogatories, credit card utilization, overall debt including installment loans like mortgages or cars, and debt as a ratio of debt-to-income.) Older credit files, higher incomes, and lower debts can sometimes get away with more frequent applications before starting to get denials or low limit approvals.
It also depends on the lender you are pursuing. Some like Chase, US Bank or Bank of America have some well known rules about recent credit seeking which you would be wise to observe before wasting a hard pull on a doomed application. (Respectively for new accounts: 5/24; 1/12; 3/12 or 7/12, depending on if you are deposit account holder.)
It may also depend on your overall credit and finance goals. If you are planning to apply for a mortgage (especially) or even just a car loan, you might want to set aside new card applications to improve your APRs and /or approval odds. If you've got all your main spending needs covered, the limits you've attained give you a comfortable utilization pad, you've diversified your lenders, and you don't really need the new cards, it may be time to garden indefinitely. The good thing about gardening for 12 -24+ months is that it improves your approval odds of a new card when you want/need it and you may get a higher starting limit.
A general rule of thumb I have often suggested is that, for most average profiles, if you add one new credit account no sooner than approximately every six months, you may optimize your chances of approvals and good limits. And you'll probably stay within most lender's guidelines for approvals on a new card. If you do a mini-spree like you did with three cards, I would probably suggest gardening for more like at least nine months to a year before any new applications.
