Originally Posted by
Amberite
3. Most importantly - Mainly, accruing points is done through signing up for credit cards. I've heard both arguments - that it doesn't affect your credit at all, and that it does. Which is it really?
As most say, the inquiries don't hurt you much, however, the loss of average age of accounts and the number of new accounts can hurt you much more depending on what your credit file is currently composed of.
When I started doing this my score dropped like 60 points the first time. Now after a couple years my file is thicker and I only lose maybe 20-30 points if I get 4 new cards. My score usually recovers to where it was before if I do nothing for 6 months.
As others have said, your fico score only needs to be about 720 to get these cards. If you don't plan on applying for a loan in the next year, then it really does not matter whether your score is 720 or 820. Even if you were looking to apply for a mortgage, anything beyond 760 is not going to get you a better rate.
You can play around on a FICO simulator to get a feel for how it all may affect your score.
http://www.myfico.com/FICOCreditScor...Estimator.aspx
You can also learn a lot about how the FICO score works on the myfico.com community forums.