App Sprees ?

[Anonymous]

I am sorta new to this website. I spend alot of time on here learning and ready about things that I have questioned for a long time. I love it! One thing however that keeps puzzling me is that App Sprees that people go on. Is that not bad for your credit? I am trying to reach the magical 800+ scores. Just trying to figure out if I should have 15+ credit cards or should I have only 5 credit cards that's I actually need and use. Thoughts???...

[JSS3]

How many cards can YOU handle? That's the question(and answer).

[Sharingan]

Yes, app sprees can be bad for your credit. The combination of inquiries and new accounts can hurt your score for a while. That being said, the idea is to bundle the inquiries and accounts together so that they age at the same time. After 25 months, all of those inquiries will drop off simultaneously; and that is quite an incentive for some people.

As for your next question, that is subjective. I only keep as many cards around as I can use and keep track of. If your goal is >800 scores, then I wouldn't advise going on frequent app sprees. I would imagine that the two events are mutually exclusive in most scenarios. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am sorta new to this website. I spend alot of time on here learning and ready about things that I have questioned for a long time. I love it! One thing however that keeps puzzling me is that App Sprees that people go on. Is that not bad for your credit? I am trying to reach the magical 800+ scores. Just trying to figure out if I should have 15+ credit cards or should I have only 5 credit cards that's I actually need and use. Thoughts???...

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You can get to 800+ with just 5 cards and other mixes of credit as required.  It will all be dependent on your payment history, AAoA etc.  App Sprees are not for everyone.  Some people tend to want to apply for cards all together whilst others tend to want to spread it out.

App sprees can be bad momentarily for your credit file but your profile recovers after 6 month+.  Some people like it because it makes every age together instead of applying one at a time.

[kdm31091]

I'm not a big fan of app sprees. You end up with usually lower limits and higher APRs over the course of the spree because of all the recent inqs dinging you.

I think a slow and steady approach is better with credit. It's not a game. Massive app sprees can also sometimes trigger AA which no one wants to go through. Since most consumers do not obtain say 10 cards in 2 months, it's going to look riskier to a lender.

[Anonymous]

Everyone is different and so if their CR. To answer your question about app sprees, yes they can hurt your credit, in the short term. The inquiries can lower your score slightly, even more if you go on an extensive app spree. For example, a few of months ago I went on one and applied for 4 cards, and was approved for all 4. Once the inquiries hit my report, my score dropped 5 points. Once those cards hit my report, my score went back up and was even 8 to 10 points higher than it ws before. It could have hurt my score even more, but it only dropped my AAoA by a couple of months.

If you have a thick file, the inquiries should not do much damage for the short term. Now, if you have a thin file and your AAoA low, then it would probably hurt even more. Not only because on the new inquiries, but because the AAoA would drop even more.

App sprees are not for everyone. Some people do it because they like to collect cards, and some do it because they have a need for those new cards. Whatever the situation is, I would not suggest applying for more than what is needed.

[Anonymous]

I personally am a fan of the app spree. But one must be educated about what they are applying for and understand that you may hit a ceiling at any time.

It took 17 applications over an 8 month period for me to hit that ceiling. For some people that ceiling may be 4 apps over 6 months.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just trying to figure out if I should have 15+ credit cards or should I have only 5 credit cards that's I actually need and use. Thoughts???...

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Are you looking to "use" 15 cards or just sock drawer them and leverage it as points on your credit?

I don't need all my cards, I use them to leverage my score, but I had no AAoA to destroy so getting alot of cards was my quickest way to a higher score.

Looking at your 5 cards and relatively high score, I would suspect that you have a decent AAoA already and adding more cards will lower your AAoA and score.  The problem with having only 5 cards is that every new card heavily affects your AAoA.

Unfortunately, it's kind of late in the game to be adding cards for scoring purposes...in your case, it's better to go slow and steady while protecting your AAoA.  

You built up your score nicely but due to having so few cards for so long, new cards really damage your AAoA.  If you add 5 cards, your AAoA will be like somebody who is rebuilding (1 year).  You add 10 cards and your AAoA will drop like a rock to 6 months.

It took years for you to build up your score, a 5-10 card app spree will undo alot of your score since you only have 5 cards to begin with.  If you add 10 new cards today, it will probably take you 5 years to get your AAoA back to where you are today (assuming you have a 5 year AAoA right now).

This is why I think people with low AAoA's should just bite the bullet and amass cards early-on...none of this tip-toeing around AAoA crap for the rest of your life.  

This tip-toeing around AAoA for the rest of your life is the end-result of heeding the "you only need 3 cards for maximum credit scoring" advice.  Slow and steady sounds good early on until 5 years later you realize you're gonna destroy your years of credit building AAoA by just adding a few more cards.

[too-much-time]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

I'm not a big fan of app sprees.

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@Anonymous wrote:
 

I personally am a fan of the app spree.

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Whom am I supposed to believe?

[Anonymous]

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@too-much-time wrote:

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@kdm31091 wrote:

I'm not a big fan of app sprees.

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@Anonymous wrote:
 

I personally am a fan of the app spree.

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Whom am I supposed to believe?

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For you to decide - which one makes more sense to you.