When to Apply for Next Card

Anonymous · ‎11-13-2018

I just got approved for a cc and I'm wondering if it may be in my best interest to wait a while until I apply for the next? I am considering the USAA Amex for 5% back on gas, but I don't know if this application will have any adverse affects on my score since I just opened an amex in October. I have 6 cards: Discover It (2013), USAA Visa (2017), BoA BBR (2016), Venture (2018), Amex Gold (2018), and a nordstrom store card i rarely use, and I'm currently using around 4% of my total credit line.

Current plan (i think lol) is to wait until April to downgrade the Venture to venture one before the annual fee hits, then apply for the PayPay MC for that 2% cashback on everything. 5% on gas sounds pretty cool right now, but so does an untarnished credit score, so not sure if it really matters when I apply for what. Also if I should coordinate card applications based on where the hard pulls have been from? Also general tips? Just got my first Amex, so maybe there's a another better way to maximize MR earning as traveling is starting to become a priority. Thanks

Exp: 768 (2 HPs)

TU: 769 (3 HPs)

Eq: 769 (2 HPs)

RonM21 · ‎11-13-2018

Welcome Dom. To be honest, I like your initial plan to wait. In that scenario, you are watching your score and inquiries. I think being smart and not just going off of an urge pays off in the long haul. I also think it is okay to balance the HP's, as you mentioned.

Total CL: $321.7k

UTL: 2%

AAoA: 7.0yrs

Baddies: 0

Other: Lease, Loan, *No Mortgage, All Inq's from Jun '20 Car Shopping

Anonymous · ‎11-13-2018

USAA Amex would no relationship with your Amex Gold charge card.

USAA is just using the Amex payment network.

If your relationship with USAA is good and you are not at their maximum exposure with credit I would very much expect USAA to approve you.

Edit: Reading Is Fundamental and I misread.

Your point was that you recently open a credit/charge account, not that you had specifically opened an Amex account.

Opening a new account will cost points from hard pull on whichever credit bereau that USAA pulls and will lower your average age of accounts but your profile can support that.

Unless you are trying to limit new accounts to stay under Chase 5/24 I say apply.