I'd like to share my experience with impact of new credit card signup on credit score.

I had ~800 with Equifax. Applied for Capital One IHG and then MBNA Alaska next day. Both generated hard pulls, but my Equifax score only went down 2 points. So far so good.

Now when first statements generated and both cards reported to Equifax as new accounts, my score plummeted to ~750, which is one category down (from excellent to very good), even though my average age of accounts did not significantly change, and utilization ratio actually improved. It may now take several months or maybe a year for my credit score to recover.

So churners beware.