Why go on an App Spree?

[Anonymous]

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@SomeGuyOnTheWeb wrote:

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@Open123 wrote:

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@SomeGuyOnTheWeb wrote:

I was kind of wondering the same thing myself. I've never understood the purpose of having six, seven or eight credit cards. I only have two, and I'll probably get a third (Capital One QS) in the future for the 1.5% cashback once the 0% APR offer on my Discover It ends. I couldn't imagine any more than that. What's the point?

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The only point would be to accrue free perks, such as cashback bonuses and assorted travel related rewards for air travel and hotel stays.

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I don't really see the point of signing up for a card solely for the perks, especially if you're not going to use it afterwards. As far as I see it, more credit cards = more bills to keep track of + more debts to pay off. To each their own, I suppose.

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Well, a little bit of "to each their own" but more about knowing how to do it and valuing the potential.   The goal is to get the card, meet minimum spend to get the bonus, and at some point close it.  It's not like you have several hundred of these active at a time, maybe 3-6 or so.  

If you are able (geographically) to use simple manufactured spend techniques, you can meet the minimum spend on 6 cards in a week or less, generating one bill per card with minimum debt (cost is less than $10 per $1000 needed).  After that bill is paid, no more bills for that card, and you close it about a year later or less.

Those that do this have there own thresholds, my guess is that Open123 doesn't do this for a $50 signup bonus.   But it is like the Arrival/CSP, with $400+ bonus, or the AA Exec card (100K AA miles) etc, these are pretty compelling.

[xstayfrosty]

I just have 2 and plan on sticking with 2 accounts for awhile. i also just had my name under a car lease. amazing credit builder

[sexy_kitten7]

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@fungoman wrote:

What is the point of opening up 6 credit cards at one time?

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Churners do Apporamas to prevent lenders from seeing the other apps. Do 6 on one day and get most/all approved. Try doing that on consecutive days and I doubt the last 3 banks will approve, even on recon! Also, same-day apps with a given lender are consolidated into 1 hard pull. As another poster pointed out, the HPs fall off at the same time, so you can wash, rinse, and repeat 90 or 180 days later.

I have 20 open accounts. The trick is to set the same due date and use autopay.

As to "why?" churning can be a lot of fun if you're into personal finance

[Anonymous]

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@sexy_kitten7 wrote:

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@fungoman wrote:

What is the point of opening up 6 credit cards at one time?

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Churners do Apporamas to prevent lenders from seeing the other apps. Do 6 on one day and get most/all approved. Try doing that on consecutive days and I doubt the last 3 banks will approve, even on recon! Also, same-day apps with a given lender are consolidated into 1 hard pull. As another poster pointed out, the HPs fall off at the same time, so you can wash, rinse, and repeat 90 or 180 days later.

I have 20 open accounts. The trick is to set the same due date and use autopay.

As to "why?" churning can be a lot of fun if you're into personal finance

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It usually doesn't prevent lenders seeing other apps, those updates can be nearly instantenous.   It DOES prevent them seeing new credit lines, which might be an issue if you spaced them out more.

[Open123]

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@sexy_kitten7 wrote:

As to "why?" churning can be a lot of fun if you're into personal finance

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Right, it's akin to a hobby.

Some play fantasy football, fill out Sunday crosswords or into expensive quilting.  Mine is CCs and maximizing its various reward redemptions, which is probably why I find rewards cards far more interesting than cashback.  The former is dynamic with shifting values which provides for countless hours of fun analyzing the best value proposition and unearthing arbitrage opportunities, which I find infinitely more interesting than the cashback, where everything can be summarized as JCB, Fid Amex, and 5% rotation category cards.

An app spree redeemed for a premium cabin flight and 4 star hotel to a favored destination is both fun and exciting to pursue, earn, realize and experience.

Conversely, I mean, 5% on a %1,500 cap is $75.  Anyone find that...er...exciting?  

[fungoman]

20 credit cards? What the heck?

[Kenny]

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@fungoman wrote:

20 credit cards? What the heck?

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That must blow your mind. I wouldn't be so quick to simply discard one person's view of things, but it doesn't matter anyways. To each their own. That's why everyone has a far different journey than the next. All we can do here, is offer our experiences. To be open to listening and understanding them is up to you, if you don't want to or don't agree then that's up to you.

Best of luck and patience!

[fungoman]

I am not discarding anyone's view on anything. I am trying to understand what the reasoning is behind the decisions. I feel like I am still missing the point, however. There arent even 20 rewards categories!

[Open123]

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@fungoman wrote:

I am not discarding anyone's view on anything. I am trying to understand what the reasoning is behind the decisions. I feel like I am still missing the point, however. There arent even 20 rewards categories!

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Well, if one wanted to, a person can find 20 cards with various sign-up bonuses associated with them.  Start with the largest bonus and move on downwards.

[fungoman]

And what do you do with the cards after you meet the 20 sign up bonuses?