@EaglesFan2006 wrote:
From what you're saying, it sounds like AA is more likely to happen if you add new cards and run up balances as opposed to simply having new inquiries...is that accurate? If that's the case, then you're increased util is running the risk of AA regardless of an App spree.
Anyway, this is something I want to explore about 6 months down the road. When doing this, do you submit your apps within a certain time period to experience benefits? I suppose doing them almost simultaneously would help somewhat....
I'm not very experienced with this since it was first thought of when I was still in middle school. I believe it was back in the 2003-2005 period people figured out you could use balance transfer cheques to deposit money to yourself or transfer to another card and ask for a refund of the balance. I believe savings accounts were like 5 or 6% then and the balance transfers either had no fees or were capped at $75. People would then use the balance transfers for all of the cards and gain interest with the credit card money. In those days, utilisation didn't seem to be of a concern since people with maxed cards would still get more.
These days, that kind of stuff is dangerous since lenders have become sort of nervous about high balances. As said, now it's usually for sign up bonuses, so you don't run the cards up, except for whatever the spend requirement is. I always pay before the statement closes, so even when I have multiple cards to spend on, most still report no balance. Inquiries can still cause adverse action, but not usually.
I opened about ten cards last year in February and nothing bad happened. I only had two cards before that, and I managed to get increases on both afterwards. I also opened five cards in November/December of last year, and again, I have only had positive things happen. I have no negative information, so that may play a part in lenders ignoring the new accounts.
I applied for all of them within two weeks. If you are going for two cards from the same bank, you can try using two browsers and submitting them at the same time to try to get one inquiry. This did not work for me with Citi, but it could work for others. It's just best to apply for all of the ones you want before they start showing up. New accounts lower scores and lenders do not like seeing them.
