Originally Posted by kurjan

Over the last 10 years, I've switched affinity cards frequently. My credit report now shows that I've had about 17 separate credit sources (mostly credit cards, but also home mortgages/equity lines, one store card, etc.) during that time - a few still open; most closed.

To my surprise and anguish, when I checked my FICO score at myfico, I found this was enough to lower me to about the 70th percentile (even though, otherwise, I am an ideal credit risk, and would expect to be well above the 90th percentile). The norm is about 5 credit sources over a 10 year period. This was explicitly called out as the only negative factor on my report. (Closing existing accounts does NOT help until they've been closed for several years.)

So I've completely stopped applying for new sources of credit. (What I have found is that, if I have a card from Amex or Citibank, and I want to change to a different card in the same family, the company will sometimes make the switch as a change to an existing line of credit, rather than an application for new credit. That way it does not impact the FICO score.)

So I recommend extreme caution "chasing" the affinity card offer or bonus of the month - or even the year