Last month I applied for 6 cards in two days, and since then whenever I apply for a card I get the message 'Furthur processing of your application is required'. I still get the cards though, but just no instant online approval anymore.

Is this common, i.e applying for too many cards automatically triggers a fraud alert. I went to view my free credit report and it said 'We are unable to show your free credit report' which they said could be due to a fraud alert.

Now does it make sense to always have a fraud alert on your credit? It seems I still get the cards I apply for, but does it deter ID thefts in any way?

Citi cards have called about possible fraud when I haved charged more than $2000 the first week after activation. But having a lot of cards has now triggered a phone call from Citi about credit limit for the new card.

I need to close and consolidate cards soon to avoid more phone calls. The fewer calls, the better. Too much attention could jeporadize my churning.

I don't know about fraud alerts specifically, but you may be running your credit score into the ground (and you'll only realize it with a time lag). Applying for a number of cards at the same time isn't the issue by itself; applying then again just a month later is. The thing is, when you apply for a credit card, it puts an "inquiry" into your credit records. A number of inquiries over a short time makes for a red flag temporarily. Now, the inquiry doesn't show up immediately, which is why 6 cards over 2 days wasn't a problem at that time. But now it's a month later, and those 6 inquiries, 6 new cards, have all shown up, and so you trying to open lots of additional cards is throwing red flags all over the place. (And, in fact, they may not all have shown up yet; it may be even worse next month, as even more show up!)

These inquiriy "red flags" tend to drop off after a few months, so if you were opening another batch of cards but not until a few months from now it might not be such a problem. But the fact that you're doing it just a month or two after 6 were done at the same time, don't be surprised if even stranger and more unwelcome things start happening.

For example, some companies such as Chase are starting to refuse to award bonus points for customers who have a record of opening cards for just the bonus and nothing more. So just because they open a card for you is one thing, whether they'll give you the bonus is another. (And I would presume you have no need of so many cards if you're not getting the signup bonuses for all of them, right?)

Interesting to hear that. Any tips to avoid them blacklisting you? I suppose if you keep the card open for greater than 9 months that would be better than trying to cancel as soon as your bonus posts?

Actually, these days, the inquiries do post immediately. Their impact on one's credit score diminishes with time, though, and each inquiry "falls off" after two years.

No. Keeping it open for 9 months should prevent Chase from taking the bonus back though. It's pretty clear that Chase now only gives one bonus per card type. It seems to be SSN-based so there's no way around.

Most likely your have lowered your credit score with new inquiries and new accounts to the point where a computer cannot instantly approve you, so it gets kicked out for human intervention. You have not damaged it to the point where you will get denied, but you may be getting there. There are strategies to minimize the damage. Head over to fatwallet.com and read up on the app-o-rama threads. I would also sign up for one of the three-in-one credit monitoring services so you can see what is actually on your report, and also start bumping off any Trans Union and Equifax inquiries.

I think you have to do more than just keep it open. I think you have to actually use it some (more than the "first purchase") that earns you the miles.

What I've typically done is used new cards for a while for one purpose, say with a new airline card used it for that airline's dining program. Or used it in the case where it gives bonuses (for example, since I already have one card that gives me oodles of miles for supermarkets and drug stores and gas stations, but not home improvement stores, when I got my Delta Amex I used it for only home improvement stores since no other card gave me a bonus there).

If you don't want to "waste" miles, I would think that more smaller purchases would be a better way to show "use" than one bigger purchase, especially if you can spread the smaller purchases over a few statements (so when they review the card they'll see you made payments over several statements).

But, again, it's obviously easier to not get "bladklisted" if you're being "moderate" about how often you apply for cards.

But in regards to keeping it open, yes, I've also heard some cards (but don't remember which offhand) were telling the airline to yank the bonus points if you cancelled the card right after the bonus points posted. I think the general consensus is that it's safer to keep a card at least 6 full billing statements before cancelling it, and I prefer to wait until the annual fee either posts or is about to post, and if there's no annual fee ever, I don't even tend to cancel, I just eventually consolidate if I end up with more than one annual fee card I don't need at a particular CC company. (But again, all this is way easier if spread out over time, in my case years!)

It may vary by CC, or by reporting service? I'm basing the "non immediate" on examing my Equifax alerts online*. The inquiries were sometimes as soon as a few days, but more often weeks, implying that they only reported a couple times a month, and it all depended on when within their reporting winodw you applied as to how quickly the inquires post.

(But it's quite possible that the reporting frequency differs by CC, by reporting service, or even for each combination of the two!)

*For a while now, Equifax has had a free alert servcie for PayPal members. Unfortunately, they just sent me an email recently saying they're discontinuing that free alert service at the end of January.

IME the inquiry hits the minute the bank pulls your credit report. If another bank pulls the same bureau five minutes later they will see the inquiry. If you are using an online monitoring service that allows you daily pulls, you can see this within minutes - if you update your report. The alerts seem to run in a batch mode at night and you get an e-mail in a day or two. I've applied for a card and gotten a deffered approval. A few hours later updated my report and the inquiiry was there. The next day updated my report and the new account was there, but the bank still had not notified me directly that I was approved.

Great advice! It will take some effort to keep up with numerous small charges but I can see that it would pay off in the end. Don't we all want these great offers to continue?