I don't think that's true, but YMMV. I currently have 11 cards open (some personal and some business).

I don't like to close cards unless I move most of the available credit to other cards.
I sometimes keep Chase cards open to use as a bargaining chip if I get declined for a card. Calling their reconsideration # and offering to close cards/move credit limit to the new card(s) has ALWAYS worked for me in the past.

I have 20 open credit cards (4 chase, 5 amex, 3 citi, 3 bank of america, 1 discover, 2 barclays, 1 bank of hawaii, 1 capitalone).

I did cancel two cards (with high limits) in the weeks leading up to my big churn, partly to avoid some annual fees and partly to reduce the amount of credit I already had at two banks. This is contrary to the strategy employed by others: offering to reduce/cancel a card in exchange for an approval. I have also used this strategy with great success.

I figured I probably needed to use both approaches to succeed in my Super-Mega-App-O-Rama. Overall, I think it worked well. I was approved for 11 of 13 cards. The two declines were from Amex (too many applications at once) and Citi (too many inquiries). The question of total available credit came up, but I was able to negotiate trades where needed.

But if you only apply for one Alaska card, you end up with an "oddball" amount, way more than you need for one domestic coach round trip but signficantly less than you need for anything across oceans (even in coach). About the only thing the 40k reasonably fits is a mainland-to-Hawaii coach round trip.

That is why I don't understand the logic of applying for one "oddball" amount bonus with an airline that you don't otherwise collect miles in (and so you won't be easily able to "round up" to a reasonable redemption), if it's not an airline you can transfer out of (like Hawaiian to Hilton).

Thanks for the quick replies guys! I'll go ahead and keep my accounts and use them as bargaining chips.

That's where the concept of "churning" comes in. Rinse and repeat...

You are correct about this. However, the Alaskan Airlines card is managed in such a way that you can apply for it repeatedly (some people apply once every three months) and get approved. Within a year your "oddball" account could become a primary account.

Chase reconsideration # 888-245-0625

It's been two months since my Super-Mega-App-O-Rama and my scores appear to be on the rebound! (mostly)

Since the last score update two weeks ago, my scores from the American Express Credit Secure service all jumped notably; the Experian and Equifax scores jumped by 12 points each (both now at 749) and the Transunion score jumped by 22 points (to 768). To be perfectly honest, I don’t really know what is driving the changes in score. There is almost certainly an improvement attributable to the aging of the credit inquiries that were made on November 1st. In addition, all of my accounts have aged by just a bit more, but I expect the aging of accounts plays a negligible role.

My CreditSesame score fell by 24 points (to 759), but it was too high as of the last update. There must have been a delay in some of the data that was reported, particularly the creation of new accounts and the utilization levels on those accounts. This score is now more in line with all the others.

My CreditKarma score dropped three points (to 728) since the last update. This service doesn’t appear to have given me any credit for the aging of my inquiries. The only change in this calculation is likely the inclusion of one or two more accounts that didn’t reported until sometime in December.

Two or three more months of recovery and I may try another churn!

could you direct me where you guys go to get up to date credit score information without a big hassle

(if there's a faq I missed that addresses this I'm sorry)

creditsesame.com or creditkarma.com

Both are free.

Also Quizzle

experian.com is offering their credit score for $1. Make sure you cancel the subscription after the trial finishes, unless you want to pay full price for their services.

You really need to pay to see your real FICO. Those other sites are great for rough approximations of that score aka FAKO's. I use them all the time to gauge where my credit is heading but they aren't official.

Even the experian score may not "official" as the company often provides different figures to the lenders

The only way to get your real FICO score is from FICO itself. But the others (sesame, karma, quizzle) are good approximations and are FREE.

I like FREE.