Q. I have friends who were able to fly free with bonus points from credit card companies, but also some friends' credit scores were hurt by opening multiple credit cards to take advantage of those promotional offers. What's the best strategy to play the credit card churning game?
A. There are two reasons opening new credit cards will bring down your credit score:
1. Hard inquiries to your credit history will stay on your credit report for 24 months, and they will impact your credit score during the first 12 months.
2. Opening a new credit card will bring down your average credit length and 15% of your credit score depends on the length of your credit history.
Is it possible to take advantage of the promotional offers from credit cards without hurting your credit score?
Yes, here is the trick -
Study the credit card offers in the market, open 2-4 new credit cards at the same day, do this every 2 years, do not cancel any existing card unless you want to avoid the annual fee.
The reason to open new credit cards at the same day is a credit card company won't know you are applying for another company's offer until one day after the hard inquiry from that company. After 2 years, such hard pulls will disappear from your credit report.
What are the best credit cards on the market today? Here are the top ones from Daily Markets' report:
A. There are two reasons opening new credit cards will bring down your credit score:
1. Hard inquiries to your credit history will stay on your credit report for 24 months, and they will impact your credit score during the first 12 months.
2. Opening a new credit card will bring down your average credit length and 15% of your credit score depends on the length of your credit history.
Is it possible to take advantage of the promotional offers from credit cards without hurting your credit score?
Yes, here is the trick -
Study the credit card offers in the market, open 2-4 new credit cards at the same day, do this every 2 years, do not cancel any existing card unless you want to avoid the annual fee.
The reason to open new credit cards at the same day is a credit card company won't know you are applying for another company's offer until one day after the hard inquiry from that company. After 2 years, such hard pulls will disappear from your credit report.
What are the best credit cards on the market today? Here are the top ones from Daily Markets' report:
- United Mileage Plus Explorer
- US Airways Premier World Mastercard
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Gold Delta Sky Miles
- Blue Sky Preferred
- Premier Rewards Gold
- Gold Delta SkyMiles Business
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