Credit Card Programs - Newbie credit card strategy

Thanks so much to all of the contributors on FT. I have been studying the forums for the last few days and it's opened my eyes to a whole new world!

I'm about to embark on my first couple of rewards cards and I was looking for some advice on my strategy. I will be applying for a personal credit card as well as a business card (business card must be non-amex).

Option 1: All in on Southwest. Get the personal and business card, 100k pts. I already have almost 10k pts so I think getting the companion pass should be no problem. Can I apply for the personal and business card at the same time? Will chase approve 2 accounts? Is there a 2 browser trick for this one as well? I have excellent credit, 850 range.

Option 2: All in on Hilton. I already have gold status but very few points. I was looking at applying for the citi hhonors visa, hhonors amex, and possibly even the hawaiian airlines visa since they allow 2x point transfer. That could get me a 150k pt total haul. Is it possible to apply for 3 cards in a short period of time since they are all from different banks? Unfortunately hilton has no business card so I'm not sure which direction to go for business card.

I will have no problem making minimum spend on any of the cards. When I actually travel all payments are made on the company card so I usually don't get to take advantage of any spend bonuses with hilton/southwest.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide!

Do both option 1&2 at the same time if the spend is no problem. Your score is high and you are spreading the apps around to multiple banks. You can get a business version of the Amex Hilton card (all of the Amex issued cards have personal and biz versions). Heck you might want to grab US Air while your at it (different bank, Barclays, bonus at first purchase).

After that you may want to give it 2-3 months or so.

Thanks, I guess I didn't realize I could apply for so many at one time

In your shoes I'd do the chase apps first. Expect to call the reconsideration line for the second one. Have your explanation ready (separate personal from biz expenses, a description of your business or planned business). You can search on FT to find the reconsideration number. IIRC there is a separate number for the credit analysts for the personal vs business.

After that is done, I'd fire away all your hilton apps. Try to do them before the chase cards show up on your credit report. Same day ideally. From what I have read, the inquiries show up in real time on your report (& lower your score), but the new lines (which lower your score based on your average age of credit initially, then eventually raise your score because you have a higher total credit available compared to whatever utilization shows up in your file).

Expect your score to take a hit from all the inquiries and new lines of credit. But it will recover a bit in a few months. If you are planning to get a new mortgage or something important like that then I would just pick one of your options to limit the hit to your credit.

& welcome to FT.