Originally Posted by sdsearch

First, the reason why you want to slow down is because many credit card companies will start rejecting you as soon as they see "too many" inquiries ("hard pulls") from the past 6 months. From what you've described in another thread (that you applied for at least two AA cards), you're very close to that limit already. (The limit can be different at each bank and for each person, but even for someone with great credit, for example at Citi it could be 6 or 7 inquiries in the past 6 months.)

Second, do you realize that all "use your miles/points on any airline, hotel or car, with no blackout dates" cards are nothing more than a 1 to 2 percent cashback card disguised as a miles/points card. That 25,000 bonus miles is likely only worth about $250. Is that worth using your "last" credit inquiry for?

20k is a poor offer for Delta. They've done 30k at least in the past. So one of the reasons to hold of is to wait for the best deal, because generally you can only apply for a Delta card (and get the bonus) once in your life!

Btw, inquiries add up whether you're accepted or rejected. So once you get rejected for too many inquiries, that rejection itself adds another inquiry! So it gets to be a vicious circle. That's why people who know this tend to "pause" once they fear they might be too close to the "too many inquiries" count.

The BA deal popped out of nowhere, and only lasts a short time. The Cap One Venture deal popped out of nowhere, and only lasted a short time (already over). These deals were both way better than the Discover or Delta. Which bring up that another reason to not walk up to the "too many inquiries" count with "ordinary" offers is that you're more likely to then be accepted for the next fantastic offer which hasn't come yet, but could come at any time.

And since so many of these airlines have "one bonus in your life" or at least "one bonus every few years at most" policies, it can be shortsighted to apply for every airline's bonus right away whether it's a fantastic one or just an "ordinary" one. What are you going to do next year when you've applied for everything already and can't get any more bonuses from anyone? (That's the risk if you go "too fast".) Is this the only year in your life when you're going to need miles???