Is it really necessary to wait months in between applying for credit cards?

Submitted by madchad90 t3_yif51i in personalfinance

I have excellent credit (700+), and not planning on taking out any major loans in the near future (mortgage, auto, etc).

I currently have two credit cards (1 opened 5-10 years ago, my first card, and a second i opened approx 2-3 years ago).

I was looking to apply for 2-3 other cards (possibly 2 chases and a capitalone since rewards on current cards aren't that great so looking to increase the cash back I get on purchases)

Is it really necessary to wait months in between applications for new cards? or is it alright to do it sooner since I dont plan on taking any major loans in the future.

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Werewolfdad t1_iuiaklz wrote

Depends on which cards. Some issuers have internal restrictions

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ahj3939 t1_iuicp7a wrote

No. New accounts take about a month to show up on your credit report. You probably have better odds applying in short succession before that happens.

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myze551ml t1_iuidg2h wrote

While the accounts take time, new pulls show up almost immediately (a day at most); multiple pulls in a short while may result in rejections.

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ahj3939 t1_iuinpca wrote

Correct if you have 20 credit pulls in the past 7 days you might get denied.

Also keep in mind you have 3 credit reports.

I don't recommend Capital One for many reasons, least of which is they pull all 3 credit reports.

However most banks will pull 1 or 2 reports only.

Apply for Amex they are 99.9% chance of only pulling Experian, the others are a toss up but say Discover pulls your Transunion only. They you apply for Chase they might pull Transunion & Equifax only.

Most of it is luck but you could apply for 3 different credit cards and each one sees 0 recent inquiries.

Also, sometimes when you apply for for two cards with the same bank on the same day they will only do an initial credit pull

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limitless__ t1_iuid64t wrote

Look into converting your current cards into ones with better benefits at teh same bank. Then they don't need to pull credit at all and you get to keep the credit history.

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madchad90 OP t1_iuidsk9 wrote

Issue with that is I could be missing out on sign up bonuses since Id using an already exising account

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MNJon t1_iuii69e wrote

Inquiries, new accounts, and average account age are all taken into consideration by credit score algorithms, so I'd probably guess that you'll see a 20-point or so drop in your credit score if you open 3 new credit card accounts. If you are looking at making a major purchase in the near future, this could affect the interest rate that you are offered.

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madchad90 OP t1_iuiibp5 wrote

Yeah I will probably spread out my applications over a few months

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ahj3939 t1_iuinxpo wrote

The drop is credit scores is mainly from the age of newest account, so it doesn't matter if you open 1 new account or 5 -- the impact will be about the same.

If anything spreading out the new accounts will keep your credit scores lower for a longer period of time.

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BringItBoy t1_iuictj0 wrote

Its best to wait 6 months in-between as opening up 2-3 within say 6 months will drop your score by quite a bit and make the chances of you getting the next card lower. If you get denied you might still have the hard credit pull on your report for 2 years regardless of if you get the card.

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