I dont disagree about those cards, in general - although it very much depends on his goals (AA miles are all but useless to *some* destinations - it really depends on what flights you want). Remember, the OP has a (self described) low income. Nothing wrong with that, but that is very, very different from most who play this game. Since the keystone to most successful strategies is signing up for more than a couple credits cards, I think it's important to keep the potential low income limitations on that strategy in mind. I think there's a general unstated assumption (both on blogs and here on FT) that credit availability is not going to be a limiting factor - at least not for quite a while. With a limited income, expectations for how many cards one can successfully get may need to be dialed down.

So while there's nothing wrong with grabbing 50K AA miles, for example (not to pick on them), if you only get a few bites at the credit card apple, you are going to want to choose which cards you go for very carefully. Those of us who are confident we will get the next 10 cards we apply for have a luxury that the OP may not. Just sayin.