The biggest game changer for me when I realized I wanted to get into the points game was finding out I could apply for multiple credit cards and receive multiple bonuses at once. In this post, I’ll quickly review why that doesn’t hurt your credit score as much as you might think, and a general strategy for a multi-card application. This is a fairly long post, so feel free to check out the summary at the end, or just read the section titles.
How much will applying for multiple credit cards at once hurt my credit?
In the short run, applying for 3-4 credit cards on the same day will definitely cause a dip in your credit. That’s because the banks will run a hard credit inquiry on you, causing a dip. In the long run, as I’ve noted elsewhere, you will likely end up with somewhere between a small overall dip on your credit score to a small net gain. This is because you are increasing the amount of credit available to you, which makes you look trustworthy to banks.
Why apply for multiple cards on the same day and not one per day over a few days? By applying for multiple cards on the same day, you are managing risks in a few ways. First, as I’ll get to later, you should apply for cards from DIFFERENT banks. This increases the probability that your credit checks will come from different credit bureaus, which is big: if a bank pulls your Experian credit report, another bank pulling your Transunion report won’t even catch wind of that. Secondly, even if two banks pull from the same credit bureau, since the pulls are happening essentially simultaneously, there is a great chance that your other credit pull that day won’t be “seen”. Finally, credit checks within the last 90 days hurt your score more, so if you applied for multiple cards on multiple days, those checks would be there and hurt your chances.
General Strategy for a Multicard Application
I’m going to break this down into multiple steps, and use my most recent round of applications as an example.
1. Determine what you want the miles for
Depending on your situation, the “destination”, so to speak, for your miles will have a major impact on your credit card strategy. Are you trying to redeem miles soon? Then you need to figure out what cards will help you get where you are going and consider your current balances in various frequent flier programs. Are you trying to build balances in certain programs? Do you want flexibility with your points, or are you okay with them going to one airline? These are the questions you need to answer before you get started. I’ve put a little chart below on what cards will get you Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards points and where you can transfer them to. I’m not going to list all the airline/hotel branded credit cards here, since it’s pretty obvious that a United card will give you United miles (though there are some exceptions).
| Program | Card | Business or Personal? | Sign up bonus as of 11/20/12 (best out there) | Annual Fee? | Transfer Partners |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | Chase Sapphire Preferred | Personal | 40,000 | $95, waived first year | United, British Airways, Southwest, Hyatt, Priority Club, Marriott, Korean Air |
| Chase Freedom* | Personal | 10,000 | $0 | ||
| Chase Sapphire* | Personal | 10,000 | $0 | ||
| Ink Bold | Business | 50,000 | $95, waived first year | ||
| Ink Plus | Business | 50,000 | $95, waived first year | ||
| American Express Membership Rewards | AMEX Platinum | Personal | 50,000 | $450, NOT waived | Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, Delta, British Airways, Singapore, Jetblue, more… |
| AMEX Premier Rewards Gold | Personal | 25,000 | $175, waived first year | ||
| AMEX Mercedes-Benz Platinum | Personal | 50,000 | $475, NOT waived | ||
| AMEX Gold Business | Business | None currently, promotions happen regularly | $175, waived first year |
In my last credit card churn, I knew I wanted to build my Ultimate Rewards points – thus I targeted the Ink Bold or Plus. I thought it would be good to get some more Hilton Points, and I figured it was time to start building up my US Airways balance, so I was looking for cards that would get me there. In contrast, I’ve been helping a friend who wanted to use United miles this Spring to get to New Zealand. If you know what miles you want, it limits your card selection, but also focuses your effort. Thus, I knew for him he’d be looking at a combination of cards that have Ultimate Rewards points and one of the United credit cards. Once you know what miles you want…
2. Determine how much spending you can afford
This cannot be overstated – you don’t want to be stretching beyond your means to make minimum spending requirements to unlock credit card bonuses. When you are only applying for one card, meeting a minimum spending requirement generally isn’t a major burden, but if you’re applying for multiple cards, you need to think long and hard about how much you are going to need to spend.
I have a pretty good idea about how much I spend on my credit cards regularly (via mint.com and the like). Thus, I make sure that I’m not going to have to increase my average spending in order to meet a requirement. For example, if you generally put $2000 on credit cards per month, you can comfortably meet $8000 worth of minimum spending in four months just by putting all your regular purchases on the card. That’s the kind of thinking you need to make sure you don’t stretch yourself too thin.
One exception is if you KNOW you have major purchases coming up. For example, if you’re planning on buying a new car, you know you could probably put at least $3000 of that on your credit card before the dealership gets mad. Or a new bathroom, Christmas presents, etc. You get the idea.
3. Match your spending ability and miles needs to choose cards
This is the fun part. Now you get to choose the cards you can afford in the current application cycle! Generally, I try to go for at least one card that gives bonus miles on first purchase to cut down spending requirements. Also, if you can find a card with a nice bonus and no annual fee, that’s good to sign up for too because you can keep the card in perpetuity and build your credit. Try to find a combination of spending requirements and mileage bonuses that best fit your needs.
In my example, I decided I was going to apply for the Ink Bold or Ink Plus, the Barclays US Airways Mastercard, and the no annual-fee AMEX Hilton card. I had heard rumors that the spending requirements on the Inks were going to drop from $10,000 in three months (which I never would have been able to do) to $5000 in three months (which is doable with Christmas spending). So I knew with the Ink Plus or Bold I would get 25K points with first purchase and the other 25K after spending $5000. The Barclays US Airways card is 40K miles after first purchase, so that was no problem, and Hilton was $750 in three months for 40K and $3000 total in six months for another 25K. All within my means.
4. ONLY apply for a maximum of one personal and one business card per bank (2 cards per bank total)
There are exceptions to this rule, but generally, you don’t want to be applying for multiple personal cards from the same bank. It’s okay to apply for one personal and one business since people with their own businesses need to keep spending separate, but it becomes fairly obvious that you are just signing up for credit card bonuses if you are applying for multiple personal cards from the same bank at once. That’s why when doing a multicard application, spread your applications out amongst different banks. That not only increases your probability of being approved, it also helps out with your credit as I mentioned above.
Using my friend going to New Zealand as another example, we calculated he needed to apply for BOTH the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the United Mileage Plus Explorer card. Thus, he got started early and applied for one and then waited two months before applying for the other. Generally, I would recommend waiting 90+ days (see below), but in his particular circumstances, what he did made way more sense than applying for both on the same day.
It must be repeated: if you’re applying for multiple cards at once, apply for cards from different banks.
5. Submit your applications back to back to back
The general strategy I use when applying for multiple cards on the same day is to fill out all the applications completely and then hit the submit button back to back to back (to back!). I’m not sure if that will actually help, but it makes me feel like the banks have a lower chance of seeing the credit checks from the same day. Plus, it’s a lot of fun. I’ll literally open multiple browser windows (and sometimes separate browsers), fill in all my information, and then hit submit/submit/submit. It’s a big rush when the application is processing – and a bigger rush when you get instant approval!
6. Call reconsideration line if necessary
One big myth when it comes to credit cards is that a rejection letter is the end of things. Most banks have reconsideration lines that you can call to coax them into approving you for the card, even AFTER they have denied your request. This sometimes requires juggling credit lines and some other shenanigans, but I’ll get to that in a later post. Generally, if I’ve received a “pending” message for a credit card approval, I’ll call a reconsideration line within a couple of days. You don’t have to be denied to call the reconsideration line, you generally can speak with representatives to get approved. I call, they ask a few questions, and usually that results in a pretty quick approval.
7. Meet minimum spending requirements
After you’re approved for all of your cards (yay!), you need to start worrying about how to meet the minimum spending requirements. This requires some strategizing as well, and is worthy of its own post (forthcoming). A rule of thumb is to clear the lowest spending requirements first and to start with American Express cards. Clear the lowest spending first because you don’t want to end up in a situation where you get none of your bonuses (if you end up in a situation where you can’t clear all of them). American Express cards aren’t accepted in as many places, so it’s good to try to use your AMEX cards whenever you can.
8. Wait 90+ days until your next round of applications
The last point I want to make about applying for multiple credit cards at once is to wait 90+ days before your next round of applications. Remember, credit inquiries have the biggest effect on your credit report the first 90 days. After that, you should feel free to apply for more cards and start the process all over again!
Final Thoughts
This was a long post, so I’ll just summarize the main steps of a multiple credit card application here. Just know, it’s not that difficult, not the effect on your credit that you might think, and a huge source of miles!
- Determine what you want the miles for
- Determine how much spending you can afford
- Match your spending ability and miles needs to choose cards
- ONLY apply for a maximum of one personal and one business card per bank (2 cards per bank total)
- Submit your applications back to back to back
- Call reconsideration line if necessary
- Meet minimum spending requirements
- Wait 90+ days until your next round of applications
Have fun!
[…] bonuses, you might be feeling a little bit of stress. After all, you may have never applied for multiple cards on the same day before. If you’re feeling stressed, don’t fear – this post is here to […]