cuebert

Penfed has great rates but be prepared to send paystubs. Other CUs can probably beat 2.5%. Ask around.

pricesquire

I'm a (Relative) newbie here...and from what I can gather, the only two plusses of doing an AoR versus staggering your apps are these:

1) Hard credit inquiries take 24-48 hours to post, so CC companies won't see you've been applying for a lot of cards recently.

2) Easier than staggering...get it all out of the way...

By that logic, is the only negative of staggering vs AoR:

1) Higher chance of denial bc CC companies will see what you're up to

2) May get more confusing/messier?

*Long story short, I started churning before I knew about AoRs and FT. I've been staggering. Part of me wants to wait 6-12 months to "restart" this mess and start doing AoRs. The other part of me says I've yet to have a single CC denial and I like staggering my spending requirements.

Am I wrong?

GrandMoffJoseph

I'm definitely still a noob too, but my suggestion would be to do whichever method you feel most 'organized' with. IMO, the last thing you want is to lose track of which cards are active, or when the bills are due, etc. Basically, whatever makes sense for you, go for it.

nabeelj

I have seen this touted in many places, but never seen conclusive evidence that it is true.

ashishduh

AoRs play off the fact that in each AoR you will have minimal negative impact from recent inquiries.

Example: On day 0 you have no inquiries so you can safely apply for 4 cards. On day 121, you have 4 inquiries so you apply for 4 more. On day 242, you have 8 but 4 are old so don't hurt you as much. Every AoR from then on will only have 4 inquiries in the last 6 months.

If you apply for 1 card per month instead of 4 cards every 4 months, you will always have 5-6 recent inquiries.

Also, Chase apps can ask you if you've been denied in the last 6 months, which is easier to manage by doing AoRs.

pricesquire

Ok, I see. Mostly personal preference, but also some anecdotal evidence regarding hard inquiries.

As ashishduh pointed out (121 days)...is 4 months from the last app the day you'd (potentially) start an AOR? Ever 4 months reapply?

johnnie198x

I don't know if this is the case 10 years ago, but in the past year, this is completely wrong. Credit inquiry is real time. I have two data point:
- I once had a credit analyst asked me "I see that you have three other inquiries today, why's that?"
- I pulled a credit report 5 minutes after applying a card, and the inquiry is already there. There's no reason card issuer get a different report.

AOR helps the AAoA for people with thin credit file. Example:
- You have one card of 5 years (60 months). If you apply for 5 cards in the same day or same month (as long as new cards haven't report) then all 5 companies see AAoA of 5 years
- Now if you apply for 1 card every month, then in 1st month, AAoA = 60 months
- Another card in the 2nd month, AAoA = 30 months
- Then in the 3rd month, AAoA = 20.3 months (60+1+0)/3
- 4th month, AAoA = 15.75 months (60+2+1+0)/4
- And of course, analyst will ask why you have opened many cards recently.

summerdayshopping

johnnie198x is right, all real time inquiries now. One benefit of AOR is that some banks consolidate all same day credit pulls to one...

nabeelj

Thank you for those data points. Proves what I always suspected.

drdrew450

I have most of the good cards out there but if you guys have some ideas or advice let me know. I used to just apply whenever I felt like it. This is my 2nd real AoR. 91 days since last application will be 6/13. 7 hard inquires on credit Karma with a score of 751.


Set on applying:
Chase united 50k business explorer (first yr annual fee waived)
Barclays 40k arrival (first yr annual fee waived)
Citi aadvantage 40k master card (first yr annual fee waived)


Up in the air:
chase 50k southwest Premier (99 annual fee)
chase 50k british ariways (~95 annual fee) (not sure if I can get two chase cards...I have 5 personal, 2 business already)
amex mercedes benz 50k platinum w/400 total airline credits (475 annual fee)
TD Cash Rewards Visa 5% cash back on dining, groceries, gas and cable, phone and utility bill payments for 6 months (no annual fee)
Citi hilton reserve 2 free nights, annual fee not waived
Bank of America alaska airways 25k w/100 statement credit (75 annual fee)
fidelity amex 2% no annual fee (not sure if this is amex or boa or what bank)
amex business 25K SPG (first yr annual fee waived)
us bank personal 85k club carlson (I already have a business version, was turned down once for the personal already)

Mommy Points

Your list is almost identical to what my husband applied for today. Only difference was he skipped Citi this time, but did do the Amex MB Plat. Depends on your goals, but I think you have a good list given what the current offers are and what you likely already have (though I don't know for sure since I don't know exactly what you have).

drdrew450

anyone know of a card that earns multiple points at drug stores. I heard there was a card that gets 5x from some small bank but not sure if I can get it here in FL.

JL100

I would cancel one of your Chase personal cards before applying for more, and go for the Amex Mercedes and Bus Amex SPG this time. Although I assume you have the Hyatt card, I may go for that next time as it would be my fifth Chase card.

ashishduh

3 months is the minimum time between (as every two AoRs would get you right past the 6 months timeframe when an inquiry is considered not-so-recent).

ChurnBabyChurn

My 2 cents...

1) If you've never been declined, no need to stop applying. Go full bore at your convenience until you get at least a couple denials. If you never get a denial, you're leaving points on the table.

2) Regardless of your method, if you're going to churn to any reasonable take, put together a spreadsheet. It's very easy to throw together a very simple spread sheet with, say, "card name". "Date opened", "last 4 of card", "spend requirement", "Reward granted?", "date closed". You may not want to put in the 10 minutes of effort to set this up, but, as you churn, this will make your life soooo much easier, and, you'll be glad you have the spreadsheet. No matter how "smart" you are, you'll surely, at some point, think, "did I close X card?", "did I get my earned bonus from Y Card?" , "when is my annual fee due for Z card?", etc. So...do yourself a favor, and take the 10 minutes to set up a simple spreadsheet...