Applying for many many cards
 

Sorry if this has been discussed before. Besides from the fact that each time you apply for a card your credit report is accessed, does it really hurt your credit? It looks like some people hear apply for lots of cards. In my case my credit is very good. I also don't owe anybody anything and very seldom use credit for anything. My credit cards are always paid in full each month. I know my car insurance may go up some, but the free hotel nights, etc., more than offset it. Is there any other thing that may be effected by my credit report being accessed often?

Some say that if you apply for many cards at once, a so-called "app-o-rama" your credit will only suffer one hit. I've done it but didn't check my before and after credit scores. Anyone care to comment?

Your credit score will go down a bit for each card you apply for. If you have good credit, and do not expect to need a mortgage or vehicle loan in the next six months, and you won't be increasing the amount of credit you actually USE, you should not suffer any ill effects.

However, it is possible that a card you already have might review your record and after seeing a lot of new accounts they may either cancel the card or cut back on your credit line.

Too many inquiries is an acutal FICO code. I get free detailed credit reports, including the detailed score info, each month because Chase lost some magnetic tapes. At any rate I've observed that excess inquiries can easily make a FICO score swing 20-40 points. Too Many Open Accounts is also a one that seems to take a 20-40 point swing. If you're score is already at 800 no big deal. If you're score is at 720 you'll end up at a mid-qual score/rate.

Here is what I've done in the past 3 weeks: Applied for 2 new cards and applied for increased credit line on another. I got the 2 new cards and the credit line increase. I also applied for a credit line increase on one of the new cards and got it. Then I balanced transferred at 0% the maximum amount of credit line (minus $1,000) on all of the cards. This amount is a very big number. Do you think I can go ahead and apply for more cards without much damage to my credit score? This will be the first time in my life I will be carrying a balance on any credit card (I'm in no hurry to pay off the 0% balances).

I think that bigger issue is that you have high utilization on a credit card. You do not want to carry balances over 30% according to some or 50% according to others. That alone will drop your score.

The best way to make your score look good is to take a credit card with a credit limit of 20k, balace transfer check 19k, within two payments drop it to 10k if you have 0% and then split the other over the time period left.

Inquiries damage your credit and there are plenty of threads on this. To sum it up. Average an inquiry every 60 days and you will be ok. Any more often and that, your credit score will suffer. Due to the fact that this has been extensively discussed to nausium, I will not say any more.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

How would this affect your auto insurance rates? :confused:

Most insurance companies now use your credit score as a factor in determining your car insurance cost. They have some data that shows the lower the credit rating the more likely the person is to get in a wreck.

FWIW, I asked my insurer USAA about this and they said it would absolutely NOT affect my rates. It apparently could affect a decision regarding insuring a new individual, however.

There is no significant correlation between poor credit and poor driving, and there certainly is no predictive relationship. It's a lie. A well marketed lie, but a lie nonetheless.

This is illegal in California and many other states. Some states, including, I believe, Texas, allow insurance companies to check your credit.

Some say it is just a way for the companies to discriminate under the guise of looking at credit.

This is absurd.

Of course insurance companies should be able to evaluate Current credit report as a part of their underwriting criteria.

The American People suffer from a sense of entitlement.

Not everyone can get the best underwriting class. That is predicated on a far below average risk on an acturial assessment.

Not Everyone is an EXELLENT risk.

At law schools only 10% of less of student body qualifies for the coveted law rewiew??

Should all ---100% ---- of students qualify?

in auto insurance, driving record, geographic location , type of car driven , etc, count far more in the underwriting process than consumer credit history.

Similarly, in Life insurance underwriting Personal health is the hugest factor.

But to say that there is ZERO correlation between personal finances and filing insurance claims is flat out wrong.


Who do you think----all other statistical factors being equal--- is more likely to file a claim on their home owner policy for a 'loss'?

1- A person undergoing financial hardship and money problems.
OR

2- A person with stable finances and a responsible payment history.


By the same token would you contend that a perspective employer has no right to access this information?????

If I had two equally qualified candidates for a job, I would choose the one not undergoing current financial problems.

This nonsense about people not getting jobs or insurance because of 4 year old financial hardship is not true.

Insurance companies want to sell polices.
But if someone is under present immense finacial pressure, It is relevant to take that into consideration.

And I'm a left winger. I am left of mainstream liberal democrats.

But sorry, everyone should not pay the same rate for insurance. Why discriminate against the low risk clients??????

Yes indeed, it is as confusing as it seems but sadly it is true and now you hear directly from the horse's mouth. This is my personal experience so no second guessing.

I had two auto insurance and home renters insurance with AAA since 2003. They never checked my score after the first initial inquiry. In 2006 I changed one of my vehicles and so asked for changes in my policy. That called for a second inquiry which was during the time of my heavy credit card chruning. AAA maintains a complicated scoring system ranging from 9 (the best rating to the lowest, which I dont know but may be 0). My score droped from 9 (the best one can get) to 8 and so a sharp increase in rate. AAA could not disclose the reason for drop in score. I was told to contact choice trust to send me an auto score report, which I did and did not find any thing suspicious. Most of the CSRs were either ignorant or did not want to disclose how they calculate their own rating. My FICO score was 756 and I always thought I am in good hands as long as I can maintain this score despite my heavy credit card churning but alas, I was wrong.