@Anonymous wrote:My reply to this is why the heck would you open a card for $50 rewards?
I do a moderate amount of bonus churning, but when i do, I usually sign up for something that will give me at least $500 for the effort. It seems like your dad would have been much better off opening a chase southwest, citi addvantage etc, put the tires on it to meet minimum spend and then close it if they really want to do that (not that they should do that, but if they wanted to do that...). Trading a new a new account for $50 seems like a bad deal
I'm averaging $600 in signup bonus per HP so far. 
@MarineVietVet wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:My reply to this is why the heck would you open a card for $50 rewards?
I do a moderate amount of bonus churning, but when i do, I usually sign up for something that will give me at least $500 for the effort. It seems like your dad would have been much better off opening a chase southwest, citi addvantage etc, put the tires on it to meet minimum spend and then close it if they really want to do that (not that they should do that, but if they wanted to do that...). Trading a new a new account for $50 seems like a bad deal
Because that person is not as educated as they should be about how credit actually works. Not ignorant; just uninformed.
I was the same way for most of my life; heck I still make financial mistakes.
+1 Yes, I believe the majority of the public doesn't really understand the nuances of the credit system. $50 off a purchase sounds like a good deal. I can totally understand how people are misled. Heck I even know some MBAs who do not know all the nitty gritty when it comes to working on your credit score.
;
@red259 wrote:
@MarineVietVet wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:My reply to this is why the heck would you open a card for $50 rewards?
I do a moderate amount of bonus churning, but when i do, I usually sign up for something that will give me at least $500 for the effort. It seems like your dad would have been much better off opening a chase southwest, citi addvantage etc, put the tires on it to meet minimum spend and then close it if they really want to do that (not that they should do that, but if they wanted to do that...). Trading a new a new account for $50 seems like a bad deal
Because that person is not as educated as they should be about how credit actually works. Not ignorant; just uninformed.
I was the same way for most of my life; heck I still make financial mistakes.
+1 Yes, I believe the majority of the public doesn't really understand the nuances of the credit system. $50 off a purchase sounds like a good deal. I can totally understand how people are misled. Heck I even know some MBAs who do not know all the nitty gritty when it comes to working on your credit score.
Be that as it may, we only have one data point from DD credit information.
My question still stands: What is DD actual FICO score now?
@Anonymous wrote:Wasn't really sure what to put as the subject for this...but I have a question regarding my dad's logic:
When I went with him to pick up his truck from Firestone (he got new tires put on) they were offering like $50 off if he opened a credit card for the purchase. He did it and I asked him why he would open a credit card for a single purchase. He said that it looks good to open a card, pay it off, then close the account.
Is there a fallacy in his logic? Obviously this is adding a hard inquiry on your report and lowering your AAoA so I don't see how it would be beneficial.
Yeah, you are right and your father is way off. You're taking the HP and the hit to AAoA for one purchase. My parents have done this, and while I tried to talk them out of it, they would have nothing of it. And the worst thing is they could have gotten almost the same amount of cashback by using a Discover card, which would have been useful for the long term. For me, unless it's usable almost everywhere (AMEX/Discover/MC/Visa), it's not worth having. But that's just how I look at it. I only get cards that I plan to keep long term and can be used at more than one store (although to be fair, I have considered getting one store card for the "Types of Accounts" FICO category).
@NRB525 wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@MarineVietVet wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:My reply to this is why the heck would you open a card for $50 rewards?
I do a moderate amount of bonus churning, but when i do, I usually sign up for something that will give me at least $500 for the effort. It seems like your dad would have been much better off opening a chase southwest, citi addvantage etc, put the tires on it to meet minimum spend and then close it if they really want to do that (not that they should do that, but if they wanted to do that...). Trading a new a new account for $50 seems like a bad deal
Because that person is not as educated as they should be about how credit actually works. Not ignorant; just uninformed.
I was the same way for most of my life; heck I still make financial mistakes.
+1 Yes, I believe the majority of the public doesn't really understand the nuances of the credit system. $50 off a purchase sounds like a good deal. I can totally understand how people are misled. Heck I even know some MBAs who do not know all the nitty gritty when it comes to working on your credit score.
Be that as it may, we only have one data point from DD credit information.
My question still stands: What is DD actual FICO score now?
What does it matter? The scenario is what OP presented. And there is no way that doing this on a repeated basis would be beneficial to any credit score even if DD had a score of 800. If he had an 800+ score then he probably isn't doing this on a repeated basis.
@red259 wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@MarineVietVet wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:My reply to this is why the heck would you open a card for $50 rewards?
I do a moderate amount of bonus churning, but when i do, I usually sign up for something that will give me at least $500 for the effort. It seems like your dad would have been much better off opening a chase southwest, citi addvantage etc, put the tires on it to meet minimum spend and then close it if they really want to do that (not that they should do that, but if they wanted to do that...). Trading a new a new account for $50 seems like a bad deal
Because that person is not as educated as they should be about how credit actually works. Not ignorant; just uninformed.
I was the same way for most of my life; heck I still make financial mistakes.
+1 Yes, I believe the majority of the public doesn't really understand the nuances of the credit system. $50 off a purchase sounds like a good deal. I can totally understand how people are misled. Heck I even know some MBAs who do not know all the nitty gritty when it comes to working on your credit score.
Be that as it may, we only have one data point from DD credit information.
My question still stands: What is DD actual FICO score now?
What does it matter? The scenario is what OP presented. And there is no way that doing this on a repeated basis would be beneficial to any credit score even if DD had a score of 800. If he had an 800+ score then he probably isn't doing this on a repeated basis.
My point Most of the general population could give a rip about taking an occassional beni like this, and it doesn't matter in their lives.
The topic then becomes moot... but then we'd have no pointless arguments about it 