@Anonymous wrote:I don't necessarily agree with the ultra-conservative approach, nor do I feel that a spree is a 'bad' thing. There is some financial 'stress' involved, but if you're not in or near the process of trying to secure a loan for something else (within ~6 months) then there's no real cause for worry. I would venture a guess to say that it's more detrimental to take a bunch of repeated hits spanned out over the course of a year than it is to just have a bunch in one month.
With that being said, I spree'd 13 cards within the span of a month earlier this year. It wasn't all app and approval, there were a handful of recon letters involved. I took a 20-30 point hit, but it quickly recovered and surpassed and then I haven't had taken a hit for a HP since. And on the flip-side, all of those cards will ultimately make my AAoA bulletproof if I don't needlessly close any of them down. I would probably say the a spree is far more important when you're young than when you're older, at least in that regard.
You should have a plan if you want to spree, and definitely start with any cards or banks that have some form of limiting factor to their approvals, like Chase and their 5/24 rule. You don't necessarily have to app for 13 cards but don't overly limit yourself either. Maybe app the cards you're interested in until you have to send out two or three recons, then lay off for 90 days or so.
There is absolutely no point in getting 13 credit card within one month. That is just crazy mad spreee! 
More credit cards and high CLs won't necessarily help the credit. A $1MM CL won't do anything.
When you have too high a credit line (> 2x your income), banks will be very hesitate to offer more credit line. There is no need and the banks know that all the credit line will be just wasted.
@BronzeTrader wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I don't necessarily agree with the ultra-conservative approach, nor do I feel that a spree is a 'bad' thing. There is some financial 'stress' involved, but if you're not in or near the process of trying to secure a loan for something else (within ~6 months) then there's no real cause for worry. I would venture a guess to say that it's more detrimental to take a bunch of repeated hits spanned out over the course of a year than it is to just have a bunch in one month.
With that being said, I spree'd 13 cards within the span of a month earlier this year. It wasn't all app and approval, there were a handful of recon letters involved. I took a 20-30 point hit, but it quickly recovered and surpassed and then I haven't had taken a hit for a HP since. And on the flip-side, all of those cards will ultimately make my AAoA bulletproof if I don't needlessly close any of them down. I would probably say the a spree is far more important when you're young than when you're older, at least in that regard.
You should have a plan if you want to spree, and definitely start with any cards or banks that have some form of limiting factor to their approvals, like Chase and their 5/24 rule. You don't necessarily have to app for 13 cards but don't overly limit yourself either. Maybe app the cards you're interested in until you have to send out two or three recons, then lay off for 90 days or so.
There is absolutely no point in getting 13 credit card within one month. That is just crazy mad spreee!
More credit cards and high CLs won't necessarily help the credit. A $1MM CL won't do anything.
When you have too high a credit line (> 2x your income), banks will be very hesitate to offer more credit line. There is no need and the banks know that all the credit line will be just wasted.
I whole-heartedly disagree. I could have opted to spread out all of the cards over a 13 or 26 month period, but that would be far more damaging to my AAoA along with the constant addition of inquiries. There was a pretty significant HP hit that month but that's already been restored and surpassed, and that hit will altogether become completely null by next March.
And the best part? They're all solid cards that have already paid back good returns. Because they helped solidify my credit I've been able to get good CLI's recently, and my new Cash+ card just arrived yesterday.
13 cards is never 'necessary', but for anybody thinking long term I would definitely say that it makes far more sense both logically and mathematically.
An app spree is a very subjective phrase. It will mean different things to different people. It spans from the person that grabs a couple of great rewards cards they've had their eyes on, to the person desperately trying to get approved for anything and everything with 30 SCT attempts, to the crazed credit-suicide person that says they're going to app for 50 prime cards to see what happens after they report.
I would say that if there are few cards you want to apply for, do it as early as you've made the decision to do so to get them aged faster.
@Anonymous wrote:
@BronzeTrader wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I don't necessarily agree with the ultra-conservative approach, nor do I feel that a spree is a 'bad' thing. There is some financial 'stress' involved, but if you're not in or near the process of trying to secure a loan for something else (within ~6 months) then there's no real cause for worry. I would venture a guess to say that it's more detrimental to take a bunch of repeated hits spanned out over the course of a year than it is to just have a bunch in one month.
With that being said, I spree'd 13 cards within the span of a month earlier this year. It wasn't all app and approval, there were a handful of recon letters involved. I took a 20-30 point hit, but it quickly recovered and surpassed and then I haven't had taken a hit for a HP since. And on the flip-side, all of those cards will ultimately make my AAoA bulletproof if I don't needlessly close any of them down. I would probably say the a spree is far more important when you're young than when you're older, at least in that regard.
You should have a plan if you want to spree, and definitely start with any cards or banks that have some form of limiting factor to their approvals, like Chase and their 5/24 rule. You don't necessarily have to app for 13 cards but don't overly limit yourself either. Maybe app the cards you're interested in until you have to send out two or three recons, then lay off for 90 days or so.
There is absolutely no point in getting 13 credit card within one month. That is just crazy mad spreee!
More credit cards and high CLs won't necessarily help the credit. A $1MM CL won't do anything.
When you have too high a credit line (> 2x your income), banks will be very hesitate to offer more credit line. There is no need and the banks know that all the credit line will be just wasted.
I whole-heartedly disagree. I could have opted to spread out all of the cards over a 13 or 26 month period, but that would be far more damaging to my AAoA along with the constant addition of inquiries. There was a pretty significant HP hit that month but that's already been restored and surpassed, and that hit will altogether become completely null by next March.
And the best part? They're all solid cards that have already paid back good returns. Because they helped solidify my credit I've been able to get good CLI's recently, and my new Cash+ card just arrived yesterday.
13 cards is never 'necessary', but for anybody thinking long term I would definitely say that it makes far more sense both logically and mathematically.
I would never try to get 13 credit cards in a month regardless the situation. If each card requires $2,000 bonus spending, it is $26,000 spending over 3 months. For most people, this is not manageable and you will never be able to take advantage of the cards. Most of the cards will never get used and you will only get the dead credit. This defeats one of the main purposes of having new cards.
I almost never do spree. I only apply the best cards and get the best bonus available. This won't hurt AAoA since the aging of old cards offsets the few new cards. We all remember that the spreeing people were prevented from getting the Chase CSR 100,000 bonus points. That really hurts.
@BronzeTrader wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@BronzeTrader wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I don't necessarily agree with the ultra-conservative approach, nor do I feel that a spree is a 'bad' thing. There is some financial 'stress' involved, but if you're not in or near the process of trying to secure a loan for something else (within ~6 months) then there's no real cause for worry. I would venture a guess to say that it's more detrimental to take a bunch of repeated hits spanned out over the course of a year than it is to just have a bunch in one month.
With that being said, I spree'd 13 cards within the span of a month earlier this year. It wasn't all app and approval, there were a handful of recon letters involved. I took a 20-30 point hit, but it quickly recovered and surpassed and then I haven't had taken a hit for a HP since. And on the flip-side, all of those cards will ultimately make my AAoA bulletproof if I don't needlessly close any of them down. I would probably say the a spree is far more important when you're young than when you're older, at least in that regard.
You should have a plan if you want to spree, and definitely start with any cards or banks that have some form of limiting factor to their approvals, like Chase and their 5/24 rule. You don't necessarily have to app for 13 cards but don't overly limit yourself either. Maybe app the cards you're interested in until you have to send out two or three recons, then lay off for 90 days or so.
There is absolutely no point in getting 13 credit card within one month. That is just crazy mad spreee!
More credit cards and high CLs won't necessarily help the credit. A $1MM CL won't do anything.
When you have too high a credit line (> 2x your income), banks will be very hesitate to offer more credit line. There is no need and the banks know that all the credit line will be just wasted.
I whole-heartedly disagree. I could have opted to spread out all of the cards over a 13 or 26 month period, but that would be far more damaging to my AAoA along with the constant addition of inquiries. There was a pretty significant HP hit that month but that's already been restored and surpassed, and that hit will altogether become completely null by next March.
And the best part? They're all solid cards that have already paid back good returns. Because they helped solidify my credit I've been able to get good CLI's recently, and my new Cash+ card just arrived yesterday.
13 cards is never 'necessary', but for anybody thinking long term I would definitely say that it makes far more sense both logically and mathematically.
I would never try to get 13 credit cards in a month regardless the situation. If each card requires $2,000 bonus spending, it is $26,000 spending over 3 months. For most people, this is not manageable and you will never be able to take advantage of the cards. Most of the cards will never get used and you will only get the dead credit. This defeats one of the main purposes of having new cards.
I almost never do spree. I only apply the best cards and get the best bonus available. This won't hurt AAoA since the aging of old cards offsets the few new cards. We all remember that the spreeing people were prevented from getting the Chase CSR 100,000 bonus points. That really hurts.
The best part about adulting is that no one is ever going to force you to get 13 credit cards, lol. Not every card requires a bonus spend nor is every card that doesn't have one useless. There is no such thing as 'dead credit', but credit that a person has but doesn't use is extremely positive for utilization purposes. Finally, I wouldn't encourage others to get cards that don't benefit them, but what doesn't benefit me might benefit someone else.
Don't get hung up on the fact that things can benefit other people that may not immediately benefit you. Again, if I would have spaced out all of my apps over 13 months it would have been extremely detrimental both to my needs and to my credit-especially AAoA. Mathematically, it is literally worse the newer your credit is.
13 Cards x 13 months = 169 total months worth of aging
13 Cards at 1 per month = 91 total months worth of aging in the exact same time period, not including bonuses lost
I'm glad that you don't need or want many cards but I want every bit of return that I can get on my spend, and my spend is pretty high due to how much I travel for work. If I only flew on one airline or stayed in one hotel that would be great, but I don't. If one card company would always categorize a business exactly the same as others and always offer the most points that would be swell, but they don't. Realistically though, I don't have enough cards to adequately suit my needs but I'm continuing the push to get there. There is literally no card that is so valuable that I would be afraid to apply for other cards just in the hopes that something special happened with it in the future, lol.