protagonist

Hi.

I have excellent credit...my credit rating is over 780 according to Credit Karma.

I am a moderate "churner"...I shoot for about 150K-200K miles/yr which meets my travel needs. I have much more credit than I need and I pay off my cards every month.

When I buy things at Amazon they constantly offer me $30 off my purchase if I get their card, which I sometimes do, and then I cancel the card after the purchase. I took a deal like that about a month ago and was offered another today.

Is this a bad idea? Do I have to worry about the effect it will have on my credit score and ultimately on my ability to get approved for good miles cards (the only thing I really need good credit for)? Or is the hit small enough that it is worth it, and I can do it without worry whenever the offer comes up?

Thanks in advance...

anitje
ps...I love this site. Thanks for all of your help.

millere2

I get the same offer on my amazon account, but it is $50. It is a horrible deal. If you do not have any use for miles there are plenty of cards you can sign up for that give you UR, amex points, or other cards that you can cash out for gift cards or statement credits that are way more than $30. I personally do not sign up for any card unless it will give me at least $500 in value.

In comparison you can sign up with a chase sapphire preferred and get 40k UR points which would be $400 in amazon shopping. Why sign up with a card that only gives you $30 if you get get much more? Of course everyone including me will tell you to use UR points for other more valuable things such as travel.

protagonist

Thanks, millere.

I agree that it is comparatively a bad deal. But if there is no HARM in signing up then why not take the $30-50 anyway? (sometimes the offer is $30, sometimes, $50).

In other words, will it have any significant effect on my ability to get better cards? Because if not, I figure it can't hurt. If it only knocks a point or so off my credit score, it shouldn't make a difference one way or the other, no?

FindAWay

If you are opening CCs for the $30-$50 benefit and then cancelling each shortly after opening, you are (1) decreasing your average age of accounts and (2) increasing the number of recent hard inquiries (likely for one specific CRA, tho). Both are detrimental to your credit score and to the likelihood of approval of future "better cards."

kevinwangjk

The signup bonus really isn't worth a hard pull IMO. However, as someone like myself who shops on Amazon a lot, it might not be a bad idea to get an Amazon CC, since it gives 3% CB. Is there any other card that gives better reward for shopping on Amazon than this?

mia

Yes, Citi Forward awards 5 points per dollar in several categories including all Amazon purchases, but only the student version is still available. Discussions here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ies-music.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ward-card.html

kevinwangjk

Never knew this before. Thanks!

penner42

Also, indirectly, you can get 5 UR points/$1 at Amazon with an Ink Bold/Plus, by buying Kindle GCs at Staples. They're good on anything at Amazon.

kevinwangjk

Nice! I heard of this before and forgot about it. You know what, I just applied to a Ink Bold this morning and got approved .

You mean real Staples stores right? I don't have one super close by, but I guess I can buy in bulks when I get a chance to go there.

penner42

Yep, real Staples stores. You may be able to get them at Office Depot or OfficeMax as well, but I'm not sure on that.

protagonist

CORRECTION.....(sorry- first attempt was inaccurate)....

First, thanks for all the responses, pretty much confirming what I thought. I didn't take Amazon's $30.

However, Credit Karma (creditkarma.com) has a "credit score simulator" which determines the potential effect chosen actions will have on your credit score.

My credit score is 782.

When I chose the action "Add 8 credit inquiries" ("hard pulls"- 8 is the max. you can choose), my credit score, acc. to Credit Karma, would drop 15 points to 767. Still in the "excellent" category.

8 pulls is a lot. I would guess that my credit score would have to drop to at least 750 before my ability to get a new card would be affected, no???

In other words, $30 may be trivial, but isn't the effect of a single "hard pull" even more trivial (3 points acc. to Credit Karma) if you have good credit to begin with? Or am I missing something?

I'm not trying to argue here....I realize there are others who understand the system much better than I do and I am trying to understand.

Thanks.

penner42

Credit card companies don't only look at your credit score when making approval decisions. Regardless of the score, if you have too many hard inquiries, they will reject you.

protagonist

I had a feeling that was the answer. Makes sense. Thanks.

Does anybody know about how many "hard pulls" it would take to result in a rejection for somebody with good credit? That would be a valuable thing to know.

terpfan101

I fell for the amazon $30 offer years ago when I was in college. I used it a bit to get some points back but have since found myself hardly ever using it. I instead buy amazon GCs online from time to time to meet min spends and will now use Ink cards to get 5X.

Anyway I'm keeping the card open since its one of my older cards and was opened before I started this game. Is there anyway to convert the Amazon card to a different card (non travel related)? I already have a Freedom and Sapphire Preferred.

penner42

I also keep the card because it's one of my oldest... I also have in excess of 80k points on it, but find them hard to use. The roundtrip domestic flight up to $400 for 25k points is the best option, but I feel like it's wasting them unless I need a ticket that's close to that $400 mark. Using them at a penny a point to spend at Amazon seems like an even worse waste.

I've heard reports of people canceling it and "as a one time courtesy" getting the points transferred to UR points, but have no personal experience there.