I would pick one or two cards out of that bunch that are the most useful.
And save the rest for a later date.
I'm certainly not here to slap your wrist.
Simply because, I churn and burn CCs all the time. Lol
The sky hasn't fallen. I have saved a lot on travel. Which works for me.
As long as you're not building debt. Building a thick file now, isn't a bad thing IMHO.
The last vacation I took. I apped for several CCs beforehand. And used them to pay for everything.
The SUBs I secured then. I'm now using on my next vacation in a month or so. Being able to fly a family of three outside of the continental United States, rent a nice convertible for the week while there. And I still haven't spent over $35 for it all, isn't exactly a bad financial move.😉
Your scores will continue to improve as long as you pay your bills. Just strategize your CC apps. And think ahead of what you want from them. Whether for long term or short term use.
They'll be on your file for 10 years. If you decide to close them.
Enjoy life and don't spend it all stressing about credit scores and AAoA. lol
Use your credit cards responsibly, let them work for you and you'll be just fine.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I will be moving to college in July and will have expenses of around $3k during this time. So I figure this is a good time to hit some subs.
These are my current cards:
Discover it ....................$4,400
Amex Cash Magnet .....$9,900
Chase Freedom ............$2,500
Wells Fargo Propel .......$6,000
Citi Rewards+.................$3,400
This leaves me at 4/24
Age: Average is 1.4 years, oldest is 2.6 years
8 total accounts, 2 closed
Any advice is helpful!
Concur with posting above.
I also notice you say nothing about your income and expenses (monthly spend). I don't sense that you need new cards for furthering rewards value since there is no discussion about that. Your credit lines are already $26.2K and you already have five great cards with five of the largest major national card issuers, so an average of over $5K per card! As a college student, it sounds like you're already doing extremely well, credit-wise.
SUBs are nice but keeping the big picture about your credit file is even more important. It's easy to let the SUB-chasing get out of control. You're wise to be concerned about spooking creditors. Continuing to aggressively seek SUBs and open new accounts for which you have doubtful long-term value is a poor choice at this point, IMO. And if you're not going to be traveling, why app for a CSP when you already have a Propel card? Finding cards for which you have a long-term value that also give you a great SUB will always be the best compromise between SUBs and maintaining your credit score.
You have a young but very active credit profile. All those cards and loans and your AAoA is only 1.4 years? You have two years until graduation, so it's time to garden long-term. Relax, the card game will still be here when you get done. Your needs will change a lot after graduation and you may find you want to go in a completely different direction. Wouldn't it be nice to be 0/24 so that you could qualify for whatever cards you wanted, regardless of how selective the lender? It's a great position to be in. I've been there many times in my life. If anything, gardening is vastly underrated.
Good job putting together an awesome starting line-up.
Thank you for this. I just figure that since I'm going to be spending anyway, I may as well pick up a card I plan to get. I'll be paying for groceries and utilities for the first time, and those are both things I'll probably pay for forever. So both the BCE and Cash+ have lots of long term value and would allow me to save some money.
Would it be a bad idea to get just one of them? By the time I graduate I'd still be 0/24.
In one post you mention BCP 6% on groceries and then here you say BCE. Just be sure that if you go BCP that your spend justifies it, especially since you've said it's your first time buying groceries.
@Anonymous wrote:It depends partly on income and spend - many college students don't have enough income to make so many cards advantageous
^ ^ ^ This ...
... is part of what I was getting at when I discussed rewards relative to your cards. Generally speaking, the lower the income, the less number of rewards programs and complexity is best. At higher levels of income (which is typically linked to higher levels of spend), it's easier to diversify among cards and rewards programs. At some point, you will get to a diminishing rewards value where adding additional cards adds complexity to your wallet for marginal if any additional rewards value. You may stagnate redemption options on any simple rewards program. We all have to choose where we draw the line between those two choices.
@recoveringfrombk7 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I will be moving to college in July and will have expenses of around $3k during this time. So I figure this is a good time to hit some subs.
These are my current cards:
Discover it ....................$4,400
Amex Cash Magnet .....$9,900
Chase Freedom ............$2,500
Wells Fargo Propel .......$6,000
Citi Rewards+.................$3,400
This leaves me at 4/24
Age: Average is 1.4 years, oldest is 2.6 years
8 total accounts, 2 closed
Any advice is helpful!
Concur with posting above.
I also notice you say nothing about your income and expenses (monthly spend). I don't sense that you need new cards for furthering rewards value since there is no discussion about that. Your credit lines are already $26.2K and you already have five great cards with five of the largest major national card issuers, so an average of over $5K per card! As a college student, it sounds like you're already doing extremely well, credit-wise.
SUBs are nice but keeping the big picture about your credit file is even more important. It's easy to let the SUB-chasing get out of control. You're wise to be concerned about spooking creditors. Continuing to aggressively seek SUBs and open new accounts for which you have doubtful long-term value is a poor choice at this point, IMO. And if you're not going to be traveling, why app for a CSP when you already have a Propel card? Finding cards for which you have a long-term value that also give you a great SUB will always be the best compromise between SUBs and maintaining your credit score.
You have a young but very active credit profile. All those cards and loans and your AAoA is only 1.4 years? You have two years until graduation, so it's time to garden long-term. Relax, the card game will still be here when you get done. Your needs will change a lot after graduation and you may find you want to go in a completely different direction. Wouldn't it be nice to be 0/24 so that you could qualify for whatever cards you wanted, regardless of how selective the lender? It's a great position to be in. I've been there many times in my life. If anything, gardening is vastly underrated.
Good job putting together an awesome starting line-up.
Thank you for this. I just figure that since I'm going to be spending anyway, I may as well pick up a card I plan to get. I'll be paying for groceries and utilities for the first time, and those are both things I'll probably pay for forever. So both the BCE and Cash+ have lots of long term value and would allow me to save some money.
Would it be a bad idea to get just one of them? By the time I graduate I'd still be 0/24.
In one post you mention BCP 6% on groceries and then here you say BCE. Just be sure that if you go BCP that your spend justifies it, especially since you've said it's your first time buying groceries.
I would be going for the BCP first for the sub. I have been able to get the $300 sub in incognito, so if I'm able to get that then I would net $205 which is more than the BCE sub. So for the first year I'd effectively be getting 6% with no AF. Then after that I'll change it to the BCE.