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How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

I am curious to hear how often everybody applies for a new credit card. Do you have a strategy when applying to new cards? Do you garden? If so, what time period. I am trying to learn as much as possible and would love to hear everybody's strategies. This could include your experience, what cards you got and what you did to prepare for the apps.

59 REPLIES 59
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

I tend to app when I have big items to pay off and might as well collect a bonus for doing something I'm going to do anyway.

 

End of the year for property taxes and typically around 4/15 when the govt wants their slice of the pie too.  Between the 2 expenses that's an easy 10K usually which makes some of the higher end spend req's a breeze to knock out in a single swipe.

Message 2 of 60
Jnbmom
Credit Mentor

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

I would apply for a card that fits your needs and wants. Many go a spree and apply for a couple so they all age about the same in a time period. 

 

Depending on your age of accounts, getting too many accounts can lower your AAOA and you loose some points for the inquires. 

 

It really depends on your profile and what cards would benefit your spending habits.Many people will get a few cards, then garden for 6-12 months and rinse and repeat.

EXP 780 EQ 791TU 795
Message 3 of 60
simplynoir
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

Depending on what cards you plan on applying for a certain strategy has to take place. Some lenders like AMEX don't really get worried with inquiries/accounts being opened to a degree. Others like Chase and USB have criteria that have to be met just to be able to apply without getting hit with an automatic denial so those take priority. Also rewards you are targeting take precendence as well such as travel rewards or simply going with cashback. Cashback is admittedly easier than travel rewards since you have to have some basic knowledge of transfer/travel partners depending on the reward system.

 

I would first try to figure out what you want back from your spend whether you have groceries, gas, shopping heavily from a merchant in particular, work travel and so on. From there it you can research and ask questions regarding your wants and apply accordingly. Typically a good rule of thumb is spacing your applications out every 3-6 months especially if you looking to reach signup bonuses on any new cards.

Message 4 of 60
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.


@Jnbmom wrote:

Depending on your age of accounts, getting too many accounts can lower your AAOA and you loose some points for the inquires

This goes away with time though.  My oldest card is 12.5 years at this point and with the flurry of new accounts 15/24 my AAOA is still sitting at about 5.5 years which in comparison if you looked at CK it would freak some people out around here. As for points.. there's a slight swing of maybe 10-15 points per batch of cards I've added in the last couple of years. 

 

I tend to idle between 800-840 though depending on which CR I'm looking at.  Needless to say I wouldn't recommend going berzerk with apps until you have a firm footing w/ aged cards on your profile.  My analogy is like a house... you have 4 corners on your foundation... from there you build up w/ walls and then you get to the roof from there.  Credit is the same way..

 

If you build your house out of straw (Synch/Comenity) then it might get blown over if you sneeze

If you build your hosue out of mud (CU's/banks) then it's going to weather more and stay standing

If you renovate (diversification) your mud house w/ brick or concrete you're likely to withstand somehting along the scale of a natural disaster w/ less damage  

Message 5 of 60
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

One or two per year.

At this point, I'm just after sub, I have all my long term card already.

Unless some significantly better cards than what I have come along.
Message 6 of 60
Remedios
Credit Mentor

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

You should apply for new credit when you need it. There should be no mandatory " Oh 💩, it's been 5 months since I applied" 

 

Whenever a recommendation is made to wait a certain period of time, it's not because that's the best pace, only an estimate on how long is needed to avoid denials, AA,  and/or maybe improve odds for future approvals. 

 

Bottom line, don't apply for credit just because you want it or it may not be there when you need it. 

 

Message 7 of 60
Jnbmom
Credit Mentor

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

@Anonymous 

 

True, but for those that are just over that 2 year threshold,  getting knocked down below 2 years , you will see a score drop. If you are over that threshold then minimal damage. As we don't know the OPs statistics, not sure where they sit.

EXP 780 EQ 791TU 795
Message 8 of 60
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.


@Jnbmom wrote:

@Anonymous 

 

True, but for those that are just over that 2 year threshold,  getting knocked down below 2 years , you will see a score drop. If you are over that threshold then minimal damage. As we don't know the OPs statistics, not sure where they sit.


That's why I mentioned my odlest and aaoa.  It's not some magic theory of X + X = Z.

 

Goign off the OP's 2 cards and median of 750 though my assumption is it's a somewhat toddler profile w/ an AU or something else in the mix.

Message 9 of 60
EdMan63
Established Contributor

Re: How often do you apply to a new card? Give me your experience.

Credit is a very personal thing. There is no one size fits all. There are those with many cards and there are those that are fine with just a few cards. You have to make decisions based on what you ultimately want to achieve with your credit profile. Are you a prolific travel reward spender or do you like simple cash back? Do you even use credit cards enough to warrant chasing rewards? Having gone through a rebuild I am way too protective of my credit profile to open a store card to save 20%. Those are the questions one must ask. 

 

I just left the garden in May after 2 years to get one credit card and I still hate that my score dropped. Lol!!! My Experian was 850 for a year. But ultimately it means nothing if you don't use it. I also have to lease a new vehicle so again there are reasons to leave the garden. My goal was always to have a few great cards that compliment my lifestyle and build them up with good limits. I don't need a bunch of cards or to have spend spread out over several cards trying to earn a sign up bonus spending money I may not have spent otherwise. 


Message 10 of 60
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