@pkosheta wrote:Its a tale as old as time. Boy get Job, Boy has income. Boy wants plastic toys...
Most of my life I have avoided credit cards in my own name as I never thought I would qualify since I had no full time job, just summer dead end stuff, and in school. My parents had great credit and put me as AUs on two of their cards for emergencies starting before I could even drive. I would use the cards save the receipts and pay them back. Needless to say a young teenager with a Platinum Visa card drew more than a few odd looks even in the late 90s.
Fast forward to today, I have a job and thought I could now get a card of my own. Upon finding my credit score my jaw dropped. Being an AU for over a decade on 2 cards that were always paid in full never late really paid off. I figured I would reach for the stars, but now having the sage advice of this forum I realize I reached too far too fast. To be fair it was very shiny. I applied for three credit cards in 2012 and thought I was being rational. Amex blue had no fee, Amex Hilton is great for my new job as I will have 20 nights stayed by the end of this may, and CSP...it offered 50000 points which I plan to give to my parents to help them get closer to flying to Europe for their anniversary and will be downgraded to regular Sapphire b4 the year is up but after i get my 7% bonus.
However I applied for all of these cards in the span of a week, all were approved, but now I am concerned how this will play on my score and, in true myfico fashion, I really want more rewards cards. My 3 top choices are cap 1 cash rewards, to use as my everyday card when I don't have a bonus category with my other cards to get that extra .005, for a second 0 forex to compliment my plat rewards card that runs on a different network, visa. citi forward for amazon restaurants music and a free dollar every month! And finally chase freedom MC. So I will have a second MasterCard, get 200 bucks back, and the rotating categories seem to be more popular than the other two rotators i looked at, discover more and citi dividend.
Thus I ask for help, once I get those 3 cards on my own I plan to find one store card for diversity of credit and then stop.period.i mean it. Stop laughing. I am serious.grr.... But back to being serious I am unsure if I should wait 6m or a full year b4 applying to these 3. Should I stagger them 6m then 6m then 6m??? How bad will this affect my score since my AAoA will be in the toilet? Thanks everyone and I look forward to participating in the forums frequently and positively.
(Edited to insert breaks/white space only, for better readability. No other changes made. Welcome to the forums, pkosheta! - Scamp, Mod)
You AAoA should still be fine. I would use the three you just got, wait a yr and add a couple more. Even with 3 brand new cards your AAoA is still going to be 8 yrs, which is phenomenal.
FICO 8: 
Goal: Gardening!
Goal: Gardening!
OP (pkosheta);
You have great cards and no doubt still a great score. As WebHopper mentioned, those are great to garden with. If you were to consider another card soon, IMHO I'd probably skip the Cap 1 option, they'll most likely pull all 3 reports (a new inq on each) and not give you the best limit (you have new accounts). Discover More could be an option, they seem very good and offer rewards (I like them so far very much). You have PenFed, if you got in there you could probably get in with NFCU, though the rewards wouldn't be as good. Chase Freedom and Discover More seem very close as far as rewards go, but with Disco More you have to spend more to reach the 1% on standard rewards, I think 3k, I don't think you have to do that with Freedom.
Research the info about the Cap 1 rewards card you mentioned before applying for it to see how they work regarding INQ's and limits (you've been on here for a long time, I'm sure you know where to look, for the sake of readers I'll mention "whogavemecredit"dot com as a starting point).
You mentioned AMEX Blue, I am guessing that's not BCE or BCP, BCP might be an option and it would improve your AAoA if you're at all concerned about it. Or you could PC your blue to BCP after 13 months IIRC (though the AAoA would stay the same that way).
No matter what your rewards goals might be, research a lot, here and elsewhere (Google, then come back here lol) and see what you can find out there for offers. You're in no rush being you have Grade A Prime plastic to garden\research with.
And congrats on your credit success btw. 
Hopefully one of the cards you were added as AU on so long ago was an AMEX. If so, I would really consider AMEX cards first as your AAoA won't take a hit and in fact the opposite.
LIMITS IN CARD DESCRIPTIONS