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How many credit cards can you apply for at once? More than you think…

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AT LEAST SEVEN, APPARENTLY: FWF’s resident credit card expert, who goes by the nom de plume imbatman, did what is known as an app-o-rama a few months ago. This is a practice wherein multiple credit cards are applied for at once in order to maximize either the amount of available credit offered (this would have been the case 4-5 years ago when 0% offers flowed freely and savings account rates were 3-5%) or, as is more common now, to maximize the signing bonus.

He applied for eight cards simultaneously: Starwood Amex, Gold Biz Amex, US Bank FlexPerks, Chase SouthWest Airlines, Barclays USAir, Citi Premier MasterCard, Citi Premier Visa, and the Discover IT.

The results? Approved for all cards except the Citi Premier Visa.

But wait, you say… surely his credit score has tanked to subprime levels? No: Experian went from 751 before to 725 now, Equifax went from 796 to 771, and TransUnion went from 753 to 737. And we can pretty much guarantee you those scores will be back to where they were, if not higher, in a few more months.

$5 OFF $25 AT AMAZON: Here you go, and all you have to do is type a name and post your response to Facebook.

A CLOSING THOUGHT: “In cable news, debate means two opposing ideologues get equal time to spout bullshit. In trading, opposing views means someone is actually going to be right and someone is actually going to be wrong. Seek out debate and use it to clarify or disprove your thesis. Find people who will challenge your opinions and listen carefully to their arguments. Don’t be afraid to change your mind.” –10 Tips From the Trenches, Dynamic Hedge (H/T: Barry Ritholtz)

Re-Advisor: Getting home for the holidays

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Over on Fox Business, there is some advice to a lost soul whose goal next year is to get from New York to San Francisco for the holidays. The advice columnist eventually hits upon the right answer, but leaves out some important points, as she spends most of the column talking about cards with rewards for spending. If you want enough for an airline ticket, it is much easier and much quicker to sign up for a card or two as signing bonuses are almost always going to be a quicker way of accumulating points than spending bonuses.

To her credit, columnist Cathleen McCarthy does recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred and its 40,000 point bonus. But she doesn’t say why this card is one of the top choices in this situation.

The reason is that our would-be traveler wants to travel around Christmas, and frequent flyer miles are notoriously difficult to redeem this time of year. The optimal course of action is a card with a large bonus that can be redeemed as a cash equivalent for an airline ticket. Chase Sapphire fits the bill. McCarthy mentions that the points can be redeemed to United miles, and normally that’s a good thing, but not this time of year. Log into United and look for available seats from New York to San Francisco around the holidays and you’ll see what we mean.

So the emphasis should have been: (1) Earning the points through a sign-up bonus, and (2) Points should be flexible cash-equivalents.

McCarthy did ultimately recommend a good solution. The 40K bonus on the Sapphire translates to $500 worth of airfare, which should be enough to cover a roundtrip ticket.

Another acceptable option would be one of the new Citi Preferred cards, which are offering bonuses of 40K and 50K ThankYou points on the personal and business versions respectively. It should be noted that both of these have somewhat high minimum spends of $6K each, so Chase is the simplest option. Citi, however, has a higher ceiling, and here’s why.

The Citi ofers equate to $400 or $500 in airfare, or $900 if you get both. But wait, there’s more: if you get the Citi Premier, you can increase your points’ travel redemption value by 33%. That card is available with a 25K TYP bonus. So if you get all three in the course of next year (trust us, Citi has no problem with folks having multiple cards), that’s 115,000 points which you can redeem for $1,530 in travel expenses. So maybe bring a friend or two home for the holidays, or travel first class, or book a hotel room for New Year’s Eve. Or maybe just get the $500 ticket and redeem the rest for Amazon gift cards to pay for your Christmas shopping.

You see why we like this stuff so much?

A whole bunch of credit card news: New Citi offers, Alliant 20,000, and Bank of America gift cards!

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NEW CITI CC OFFERS!: Some Citibank marketing managers are apparently engaged in a push to make their annual numbers, as Citi has all of a sudden put out three new offers–thanks to Frugal Travel Guy for bringing this to our attention. There’s a 50K AA offer, which is not too interesting as there are still some orphan links where you can get that–and with a smaller minimum spend as well. What’s interesting is the return of big Citi ThankYou Point sign-up bonuses–40K for the personal and 50K for the business. Both of these have a $6K spend requirement. TYPs are worth 1 cent per point, so these two cards represent $900 worth of bonuses, and yes, you can apply for both at the same time assuming you can pull off the minimum spend. Here’s a good rundown from Nerdwallet on how to use those TYPs, and we here at PFD would like to add that you can get 1.33 cents per TYP if you have a Citi Premier card and redeem those points on travel, making that $900 worth $1,200 with no blackout dates. These offers are good enough that our CC offers page has been updated.

FREE STUFF FROM B OF A UPDATE: We previously mentioned that B of A was giving out free gift cards upon logout. Courtesy of the fine folks at FWF, there’s an easier way to get whatever gift card B of A deems you’re entitled to. Click on this link, click the ‘Don’t have one?” link, then enter your last name, ZIP, and the last four digits of your credit card account number(s). Done! If you’re eligible, B of A will send your gift card in a few weeks. We here at PFD received a choice of a $5 GC from Target, Starbucks or Macy’s for
one credit card, and nothing whatsoever for our other two.

NEW CREDIT CARD BONUS FROM A SMALL PLAYER: Given how concentrated the credit card industry is, it’s easy to find yourself with a lot of cards from a small number of issuers (*ahem*). If you’ve farmed the current crop of offers too intensely, the 20,000 point bonus from Alliant Credit Union is worth a look. Only CU members are eligible, but you can become a member here for $10 (H/T: FWF).

WHY YOU CAN’T MAKE MONEY IN THE STOCK MARKET: All you need to see in this link from Gen X Finance is the graph showing when people tend to buy and when they tend to sell. We know we’re supposed to buy low and sell high, but it’s really difficult to do that, and it’s important to know that it’s difficult to do that so that you don’t fool yourself and make bad decisions.

TALK IS CHEAP…: Here’s My Money Blog on Virgin Mobile’s iPhone plans, starting at $30 for unlimited data. Worth it? We here at PFD actually use Virgin Mobile, and we would put “unlimited” in quotation marks, though we’re not sure if our data issues are due to lousy service or our mediocre Android phone.

…BUT FREE FOOD IS CHEAPER!: Since PFD is based in Charlotte, we have to send a shout-out to our hometown grocer Harris Teeter, who just let 70 customers walk out with free groceries when the registers failed. Well done, HT!

IS THERE ANYTHING THEY CAN’T DO?: Five Cent Nickel reminds us that if you lack a spoon, credit cards are useful for eating ice cream, especially if you’re a drunk Minnesota Vikings fan.

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Saverocity is Journalistic in Nature, please obtain Professional Representation prior to attempting anything discussed herein. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.