Ha ha, thank you for your opinion. It's so easy to be judgmental, is it not? I am just amused :) For the record, my parents stay in India for most of the year and had zero credit until early 2010. It was my FT antics which got me started on building their credit, which I get to use for my travel needs with their express approval :-) They now have scores in the 750 range and have over 40K available credit with 0-1% utilization.

If you had researched what "really" impacts credit score and what builds credit, you would have known that credit inquires are not that big of a deal. This is why my parents trust me with their credit and anything else. I usually research what I am doing and only take calculated risks. To each their own.

And, it's a "she" not a "he" ;)

Each hard hit drops a credit score from 2-5 points and inquiries make up about 10% of your score.

Say you have a 680 due to a large amount of inquiries rather than a 710 you used to have. You go to get a mortgage but are now in a tier three rather than a tier two. That means a .25% difference in the mortgage rate.

You get a loan for 250k with a 5.5% rate instead of a 5.25%. Over the life of the loan that means you'll pay appx $15k more in interest.

$15k is a pretty big deal to me.

Each hard hit drops a score for how long? From my own experience, I can tell you that my credit score did not go down (or up) by even one point when I applied for 3 cards (3 seperate inquiries) in April of this year. This was during the C1 1K promotion if I remember the timing correctly (I know I applied for the C1 card right after closing on my mortgage - I think it was on the last day of the promotion). Not saying that will be true for everyone.

Besides, even if some profiles take a 2-5 point temporary hit for a credit pull, how much would their credit score go up if you now have 15K in additional credit which then stays below 1% utilization. And by additional credit, I am only counting AMEX and none of the visa signature credit that never get reported.

As of March, I had 13 inquiries on experien over the past two years and still got the best possible mortgage rate available for our area. I had to write a one paragraph letter explaining the credit cards but the 0% utilization is a good explaination in itself and so are other financials. That, and my parents are never going to get a morgage or an auto loan.

If someone lives overseas they will not be applying for mortgage/loans here any time soon. But they have to fly back and forth quite often. Those folks (if they are lucky enough to get SSN when it was easy to get) are for all practical purposes ideal candidates for binge churning. :D

Hi tassojunior. I still recall that the US Air card thread you started in February was the impetus for me to join FT. Thank you. Have you found the Citi Biz to be that simple to churn? Same business name each time? Sole proprietor with your SSN or different Business TIN?

I have minimal experience with trying for duplicates of existing accounts. Have you had much luck with this? Do you apply for the identical card or (if one exists) some kind of variation?

Thanks.

Was only one app and when I checked later in the day it was showing on EQ.

Then this is something I will check again for sure later this year. Earlier in the year, April I believe, I checked later that same day and then again the next morning. I only saw the pull next morning but perhaps something changed.

How long after submitting your app did you check?

Fly back and forth often? Ok, even if they do, what's the issue with that? (edit: OK, I think that means they can use the miles!!! True)
Lucky enough for getting an SSN? I thought all US citizens and residents can get a SSN number anytime. US Citizens can choose to live anywhere in the world and can come back or not come back to the US as they choose.

And yes, exactly. They have no real need for a mortgage/loan etc but I still won't let their scores drop below the 730-750 range. It's in our collective best interests :-)

It was a Citi app done in the morning and checked later that night.

Ok, thanks. That's a good data point. When I check later in the day, it was more like applying mid morning and check in a couple of hours. I will have to look into that again at some point.

Could you elaborate why you think so?

Since this is a message board where the primary purpose should be to share ideas, strategies, etc. then I don't think we should scold the OP.

However, I must say that both "churns" posted, the 7 app, and the other one for a parent, are pretty bad overall. Mostly just a bad selection of cards.

The Citi AA cards, it is very clear that you should apply for 2 personals in 1 day, not 1 now and 1 later. That app will be declined and your score will drop due to the inquiry.

The Amtrak card is not worth an inquiry from Chase since you live in Bali.

Generally those BOA cards aren't really worth it either.



You would be better off to get the AMEX Gold, Gold Business, Platinum, & Platinum business cards and transfer them to those airlines. Lots of people are reporting getting at least 3 of those cards, no problem.



It sounds like you have a general knowledge about credit scores, inquiries, etc.. which is a good thing since you're looking after your parents credit.
I would encourage you to research different credit cards a little better for the future, and not apply for anymore for 6 months, and only do 3-5 on the next churn.

data point with credit pulls
 

Feel compelled to chime in here. I decided I wanted to do an app-o-rama on Aug. 1st. Had all the cards I wanted lined up. I read conflicting info on whether or not banks see your hard inquiries as they're being pulled by other banks. So I pulled each bureau's credit report after each application.

Started with an application for SPG Amex business. I know (from past experience and the state I'm in) Amex pulls Experian. So I pulled my Experian report as soon as I was done (took about less than two minutes to fill out info to get my credit report from Experian). Lo and behold, the hard inquiry from Amex was on my credit report.

Then I applied for Chase Sapphire. Again, I know they pull Experian, so I pulled my report again right after I submitted my app, and my credit report showed a hard inquiry from Chase as well.

After that, I applied for US Airways card (who pulls Transunion -- checked the credit boards for my state to be sure). However, I haven't figured out a way to pull my Transunion report for free (only know how to do so w/Experian and Equifax), so I have no data point on how fast hard inquires show up with Transunion. -- I did pull my Equifax and Experian after that application just to make sure it didn't show up on there, and it didn't.

I was approved for all three cards, but decided to quit my app-o-rama as I couldn't justify a good reason to apply for a bunch of cards on the same day. Instead decided to hold off and reevaluate the ones I truly wanted.

One glitch about TU. The inquire will disappear the day after your app but will reappear the following day. Try this for TU report:
http://annualcreditreport.transunion...tSituation.jsp