The dread of having recent inquiries for responsible churners who are anticipating a new mortgage has always puzzled me. I am happy to explain, and actually want to explain that I am opening these recent credit cards solely to get the initial bonuses that come with the card and will most likely be canceling them in the near future. And as you can see from my history, I'm certainly not opening them to enable me to pay off a car or whatever that I can't afford. And I would be more than happy to close them (as long as I've already got the bonus from them of course ) if that would make them feel better, especially since I would most likely be canceling them in the near future anyway. So aside from the potential minor credit score hits, several recent inquiries for a responsible churner shouldn't be much of a problem in a mortgage process.