Credit cards is by far the easiest and quickest way to earn miles and points – hands down. By applying for credit cards, you’re able to utilize both sign up bonuses and normal day to day spending to earn the currency that will allow you to travel in style.
There’s a lot of different strategies to apply for credit cards, and while I think much of the strategy is the same across bloggers and travelers, I wanted to provide my take on how I do things, and how I utilize my cards.
I apply for cards every 90 days
The best way to apply for credit cards to limit impact on your credit score is to apply every 90 days or so, since with this, you’ll minimize the hits on your score, and allow your score to pick back up prior to getting “hit” again with the next round of applications. The only deviation to this plan is when there’s a limited, worthy sign-up bonus that won’t be around when the 90 day mark hits – in that case I deviate and apply.
I apply for multiple cards at one time.
When I apply for cards at the 90 day timeframe, I apply for more than one card, since many times the applications, if done correctly, will only result in one inquiry to the credit bureaus. I open up the application windows for the cards I want to apply for, fill each one out, and simultaneously click “submit.” Doing this may result in the inquiry only being pulled once.
I pick one primary card and spend on it.
I pick one credit card for a majority of my spend. While I know many will maximize the bonuses across 10 cards, I find a majority of spending on one card to be the best strategy for me, with some exceptions. For me, that’s American Express since I find their extended warranties and service to be worthy of everyday spending. Right now, I prefer the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card.
I don’t mess with cards I like.
If there’s a card brand I really like or card I really love, I don’t manufacture spend with it, or risk possible closure from the bank.
If I don’t get approved for a card right away, I call the reconsideration line immediately.
If I apply for a card and don’t get approved instantly, I may see a screen saying that I’ll receive a decision in a few days. For me, that isn’t worth the risk, since without providing more information, I’m more than likely to be denied. If I’m not approved right away, I immediately call the bank’s reconsideration line and see if I can provide more information to justify my acceptance to the card.
What are your tips, tricks and strategies for applying for and using credit cards?
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
“I apply for multiple cards at one time… ok is this from one vendor or multiple vendors?
Multiple.
I was verbally told many times by Hawaiian Air that I would get discounted points for 1st class bookings. Once I got my card in the mail I called to confirm and I was told yes that’s true. It took so many phone calls to find out that I don’t get discounted points needed to book first class. So I have a HA credit card I’ll never use. So annoying! I called at least 10 times to confirm this.
But you should be able to use the points from the sign-up bonus, no?
Yes 30k points but a 1st class tix is 80k. I was told that rather than 80k for example it would be 60k to book the 1st class seat. I don’t fly coach so it’s useless to me to have a 20k coach seat go for 17.5k points/miles. There isn’t one single HA Rep in the USA that will talk on the phone. It’s 100% Philippines.
I’ve never heard that discount before, but maybe you were targeted for something. Sorry for the trouble you are experiencing! You can get the business version of the card to add to your miles, if you want.
It’s a 1:1 unless booking on HA. So spending 80K to get a single first class tix isn’t a good deal for me. Do you know if the business card has a better ratio than 1:1? I fly to HNL a lot and need a good all around Credit card for 1st class tix. Is there one card that jumps out to you?
It’s 1:1, too. Are you dead set on flying HA to Hawaii or are you open to others?
open to others. My next flight is on United. As long as it’s 1st I don’t care about the airline. thanks 🙂
I find a fair amount of availability on Alaska. Have you tried them?
No I haven’t. Do they have a good credit card for earning miles? I know there are general cards like chase cards and then of course airline specific cards. I just want one card for all purchases. Average 100k per year on card.
Eh, that’s tough. There’s not one “grand” card. Alaska credit cards has a 25K bonus but is churnable, so you can get it over and over.
You mentioned thst there is a chance credig report will only get pulled once.how is it oossible if you are getting cards from different banks?
It should only work if it’s from the same bank. My apologies for the confusion.
Thanks for clarifying James I was wondering the very same thin Mark eluded to. So basically apply for several AMEX cards at once for example? Is that right?
They’ll do an internal pull before they do an external one, so the good thing about Amex is that if you are a current cardholder, you’ll get denied before they do a hard pull.
Is it bad to apply for multiple cards from one bank? It seems like the cards that I want are all from Chase. I’ve already gotten two new cards from them this year. Am I pushing my luck going for more?
Nope. Just apply for them over time instead of all at once. In your case, I’d recommend every 6 months. Make sure you spend on the cards, too, since Chase has denied people more cards if they don’t already spend on the ones they have now.
Any advice on how to get any amex card. I applied and got the gold rewards but have been denied any other amex card right away.