How Often to Apply For Credit Cards (ALWAYS Get Approved)

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Thank y’all so much for watching! One card I recently got that I really enjoy is the Citi Custom Cash. If this is a card you’re interested in, click on this video to see the full application process and why I wanted to get the card in the first place! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHe1eJirl8ejjJo Let me know down below how often you tend to apply for cards!

[@Anthonyjones-pq4ff]

Spencer I got the citi double Couldn’t get the custom cash You’re doing good spencer congrats. keep it up what’s ur next two cards ??

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

@@Anthonyjones-pq4ff Congrats on the new card! And I actually have a vid coming out about that this Sunday so be prepared for that one! It's a bit up in the air at the moment.

[@Wee_Catalyst]

Thanks again Spencer, after watching this video and others of yours I applied for the AMEX Gold card as my first travel card yesterday and was approved! This is a really big deal with me and most of my research we’re a couple of folks here on YT with your channel being one of the most helpful-thank you for helping me on this journey with your easy-to-understand down-to-earth style

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Congrats on the new card!! That's super exciting! Your support is super appreciated!

[@OfficialChadsMoneyMinutes]

I base my apps on my current utilization and the utility of the new card. If it’s something that I’m going to use beyond the sign up bonus then I will lean into it, but I will use my utilization or potential utilization as a counterbalance and vice versa.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That’s a great strategy. I’m still at the point in my credit card journey where I can see myself getting a few more cards that I’ll be constantly using, but at some point the cards will have diminishing returns and I’ll only be getting them for the welcome bonuses. I don’t see myself credit card churning per se, but I could see myself taking advantage of specific airline and hotel bonuses in the future with my core 5 or so cards that I use everyday.

[@tscpr555]

I am wraping up my yr1 of rebuilding my relationship with credit cards after paying off all of the consumer debt that I bought myself into and rebuilt my credit :) Super excited to plan out my 2023 strategy, this video was very helpful giving me a good perspective on how much I should wait between applications.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That's so awesome! You're killing it. Building that solid financial foundation is key, and you're well on your way! I'm glad my video was helpful to you and if you ever have any questions for me, don't hesitate to ask!

[@SledgeIncTeam]

When I started, I'd apply every 3 months. Now I apply whenever I seea good sign up bonus. I'm holding 19 cards right now but I pay them off before the due date. Fyi, you can get 5 Amex credit cards and 10 charge cards. I have 5 and 4

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I think that’s a good way to do it! Whenever you’re first getting started I think it’s important to follow all the different rules like chase 5/24 and get all the cards you really need every 3 months or so. But then once you’ve been in the game for a while you can just get a card whenever you’re eyeing a sign-up bonus or have a card you’ve been wanting to get for a bit. Have you found it pretty manageable to keep 19 different cards open and how many do you consistently use? Also, thanks for letting me know about the Amex card rules, I appreciate it!

[@jefff6884]

9 months to a year is when I do it.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That’s a good amount of time to wait for sure. I would imagine none of the lender rules would apply to you then which is a good thing!

[@JosephLayden]

In my experience, if you are keeping your reported balances under 10% like you should be, the answer for most banks is 3 months + 11 days for internal updating since your last account opening (6 months for a few dinosaurs like WF). For me, the "seeking credit" label lasts for three cycles after inquiries and account openings. And during that three months, an 800 credit score might as well be a 500 cuz you aint gettin' diddly 'til it's over. Also, if you start out with a "baby" card or secured card from capital one, citi, or certain credit unions like Kinecta or USAlliance, you probably need to wait 9 months to a year before you ask that particular institution for anything else. Might even want to wait until they upgrade you automatically or send a solid offer.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

This is great insight and I appreciate you taking the time to leave this comment! I think this is good information to keep in mind and I personally haven’t applied for any cards under a 3 month time period in between applications, but I know people who have done so successfully, so I think there are just so many factors that play into this decision from the banks that it is hard to give a definitive answer to every persons case. Thank you again for sharing your experience though! That is really helpful.

[@ceciliaruns72]

Great video! I got two credit cards too close and was working on 7k of spend for the welcome bonuses... That was not fun! 😬 Luckily my older kids had some larger expenses and I covered them with my cards and they paid me back! 😅 I definitely learned my lesson and space them out now!

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Thank you Cecilia! I appreciate you watching multiple of my videos. It means a lot! I would definitely have a difficult time hitting more than 1 welcome bonus spend at a time unless I started putting all my friends and family’s charges on my cards 😂 In general if you’re someone who wants to get a bunch of cards down the line, opening em each time you hit the welcome bonus spend isn’t a bad strategy as long as you’re not overspending to do so.

[@ceciliaruns72]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial you're welcome! You've got some great content! One thing I'm trying to figure out today is if I should pay for a Hilton stay with my points vs paying cash. I transferred over some of my MR points from my Gold card to my Hilton card with this Sept sale, but I'm having a hard time parting with the points as I'm planning a larger vacation in the next 6 months! 😂 #firstworldproblems

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I really appreciate that! I completely understand where you’re coming from as well. I have a hard time using my points too, but at the end of the day, the whole reason we love our credit cards so much is because we get free travel and cash back from em, so we shouldn’t be afraid to use em! In your situation, it seems like 6 one way and half a dozen the other. The points will be used up either way, so I guess it all depends on where your finances will be sitting now compared to in the future with that big trip. I wouldn’t stress too much about it though and if you’d like to have a free trip here sooner rather than later then I’d go with it! Especially with the bonus on transferring Amex points to Hilton right now. You could also try to budget out how many Hilton points you’ll need for that future trip and transfer them now while that bonus is active! Just an idea though.

[@willharrison3160]

Did you have any previous relationship with Chase before getting the student freedom?? 💳

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Funny story… I actually went into my local Chase branch to transfer my checking and savings account from Wells Fargo to Chase and while I was there, I also applied for the college credit card. However, I never heard anything back from them on that application, so a few months later I reapplied online and got approved. It was very interesting, but I do remember that when I opened my college checking and savings account, the banker recommended I wait a few months to apply for the student card to show I had some history with the bank. It all worked out in the end!

[@sjg6158]

Have enough cards to balance out your spending habits and get the highest returns on the key spend categories, plus a decent catch-all card and at least one card with no foreign transaction fee. After that, you run the risk of losing control of what you have, and not managing your cards well. It can get overwhelming very easily and having cards with no charges over time is a bad deal as accounts and credit limits will be involuntarily closed and/or lowered. Be careful.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

You bring up some really good points! I know a lot of us credit enthusiasts love to open cards for welcome bonuses, but at the end of the day, if you have too many cards and can’t keep up with them then it’s not worth it. Having a solid foundation of cards and only opening cards whenever you’ll get some use out of them is the way to go in my opinion. Great points. I appreciate it!

[@anthonyerazo9482]

I just open my account and it got closed.Why is that

[@vinnnnnay3546]

What were your DPs when applying for the city custom cash?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

On my application, Citi stated that they pulled my credit score as a 775 or so, but I had an experian score in the low 700s (around 710) and my transunion and equifax were between 730 and 740 at the time of application. I would say anything above 700 is a good score to have when applying for this card, but personally I had an average of about 735 when I applied. In your previous question I let you know my hard inquiries at the time of applying, but let me know if you want to know anything else!

[@floppyjalopy94]

hey man, what would you recommend for how many cards to apply for each year? I'm in Australia and inquiries stay on our credit reports for 5 years. it sucks I know, there is 3 cards that would fit my needs this year. do you think 3 is okay, spread out like 3 months apart because they won't drop off until 2029

[@Anthonyjones-pq4ff]

What if can’t get the bonus any more because you’ve had the card in the pass Should you still apply for the card even though your not getting the bonus But you can get useage outta the card ?? Like the Delta card for baggage

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I think it's completely dependent on the card and the person. If you can't get the bonus on it again but it's a card you'd really get a lot of use out of, there's no harm in applying for it. However, I'd consider getting the higher or lower tier version for the SUB and then product changing after a year or so if you can implement that strategy.

[@Credit-Currencies]

Hey Spencer! I am a huge fan and have watched way too many of your videos, I got my first credit card 2 months ago (CFU) because of you and was wondering how long I should wait until getting the CFF? Just trying to snatch that bonus, was already an au on my moms card and current score is 740

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Hey man! Thank you so much for the support! In reality, you could already apply for the CFF if you want it now since you were an AU on your mom's card and have that credit history... In general, I recommend people wait like 6-12 months after getting their first card, but you being an AU changes things a bit. The worst that happens is they say no, but you can always try the reconsideration line if that happens!

[@kevinrussak1031]

I pay off my credit cards off every Friday so have a very low credit

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Nice Kevin! Paying your cards off when you get a paycheck is a pretty solid strategy. If you’re looking to build your credit score though, I would make sure that your balance isn’t always $0 at your statement close date. It’s definitely mandatory to pay your card off before the payment due date, but when the balance is reported to the credit bureaus (on your statement close date) you’ll want a small amount showing so you can report an on time payment every month. Just a thought!

[@aliawells]

Good info thanks.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Of course! Glad you enjoyed.

[@aliawells]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial WISHING YOU LUCK

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Thanks so much!

[@Imma-Super-Vegeta]

What to do if you have old 20+ hard pulls but a 750 score? Will certain lenders think you’re still a risk, despite those hard pulls not affecting you as much in 6months?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

It shouldn't affect your credit score much once they start to age past the 6 month mark and eventually completely age off your credit report after 2 years. Certain lenders may see that as a risk and not want to approve you for cards, but there are plenty of folks that have that many credit pulls and always get approved for cards. It's a case by case scenario, but the only way to really know how they feel is to apply tbh. Or check preapproval tools.

[@jerroldneal]

Here's the scam with low utilization that keeps low score holders stuck in the mud. If you can only get approved for high limits, mathematically your utilization is easier to keep low. If you are low and only get approved for useless low limits, even small usage amplifies your utilization. E.g. a person with a high limit charges $200, that could be less than 1% utilization, whereas a person with a low limit charges $200, that could be greater that 50% utilization. This makes this utilization rule a SCAM in my view. Think of a senior citizen with medical bills who NEEDS the credit, this low limit = high utilization rule sucks.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Yes, the low credit limit does make high utilization an issue, however, if you wanted to maintain a low utilization, all you would need to do is pay the medical bill on your card and then you can go in and make an early payment to your card before the statement close date to bring your balance down to the 1-2% utilization that i recommend. Then what will be reported to the credit bureau is that 1-2% utilization instead of the high percentage before you made the early payment. In my most recent video I explain this as well, so feel free to give that a watch if this is confusing. I hope this helps!!

[@mikeymex_kinda]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial Correct. Multiple payments a month can keep the utilization down.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Agreed!!

[@JackFreeze-yz4ny]

I keep hearing about using 1% of your line of credit for a credit score. Why not 0%? 0 is lower than 1. The only things is a card has to be activate, I understand that means it gets used at least one time per year.

[@FrozenRope2]

Which lenders do not like getting cards 1-3 mother's ago

[@Omega_thehusky]

welp getting a closer answer. soo every month is possible? i had a plan for something but decided it was a bad idea and went with a new one so tring to find out how fast i can get new cards with out getting declined i have a 7 year credit history with a limited amount of cards my newest one is like a month and aa half old at this point? im not really worried about welcome bonuses cause my plan right now is to get the robinhood gold card and then a balance transfer card to consolidate the mess i made.... tring to realistically figure out how fast i can get these 2 cards any chance you would know? or have any ideas xD

[@Omega_thehusky]

Updating this cause i got impatient the answer is Very close i couldnt believe it but i got a chase card alittle bit after my other one wow

[@AudenH]

What counts as a higher income for bigger credit limits?

[@j.r.1426]

I wait 13 to 15 months between cards

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Nice! I bet that works out well for you. I always recommend getting a card whenever you really need it, so that time frame between applications can be different for everyone!

[@DoorDashers791]

I get denied instantly I have to many. I'm talking 80 cards

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That is a whole bunch of cards! At that point I’m sure you may be running into some issues with the different card lenders rules as to how many cards they’ll give you. I don’t go too in depth on those rules in this video, but I know most lenders out there have caps on how many credit cards they’ll give you in total.

[@DoorDashers791]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial most cards are over 30 years old

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Sometimes it doesn’t necessarily have to do with how many cards you have, but how much credit you have in total. For example, although they don’t officially publish this anywhere, it is pretty well known that Chase will only give you total credit up to 50% or so of your income. So if you have 5 cards with chase with $25,000 of credit limits combined, if you have an income of $50,000 or less, they may not approve you for another card. I would imagine with 80 or so cards, you have a lot of credit with a lot of different lenders so they may have given you all the credit they can even if you last applied for one of their cards 30 years ago. I hope that makes sense!

[@guaparra2]

Hey Spencer I got a question Should I be concerned about the inquiries? and how soon I'm applying for cards I applied for biz cards in under a month. I applied for 5 business credit cards in the 9 months I got approved for all of them though. I still want more I want to wait about 3 weeks before I apply for another business card. What do you think?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Hey man! First of all I have to preface my answer by saying that business cards can be treated completely different from personal cards. Mainly because they don’t reflect on your personal credit report. As for inquiries though, I think that you really shouldn’t stress about them too much. Of course when you apply for business cards you’ll still likely get a hard pull on your personal credit depending on the lender, but business cards are treated as their own thing otherwise. Inquiries only ding your score by a small amount and that drop is usually recovered within a couple billing cycles and they completely drop off your report after 2 years, so don’t stress about them. When it comes to applying for more business cards in a short amount of time, I would just be aware of each of the lenders application rules, that way you don’t get denied for applying too quickly or having too many recent hard inquiries. If you haven’t had an issue with this strategy over the past 9 months, then obviously you’re doing something right. My biggest concern with quick applications is the rules that lenders place on them, so just check on those before you submit another application. Plenty of people get credit cards every single month, so it’s definitely doable. The only other thing I would make sure of is that you can hit the welcome bonus spend requirement between applications. I hope all that helps a bit!

[@neno56527]

does asking for a credit increase affect my credit score?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

It depends on the lender! Some lenders like Chase will do a hard pull on every credit limit increase request, but some (like Citi) usually won’t do a hard pull. It all depends on the card to be honest.

[@himanshupatel4874]

I approve for amex platinum card so how long should I wait for apply for gold card ?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Congratulations on your approval! There are 2 main rules to consider whenever applying for Amex charge cards. Luckily you aren’t limited on how many charge cards you can get, but they do have other rules as to how often you can apply. The first one being the 1-in-5 rule. This rule limits card approvals to one every five days, so just make sure you wait at least that long between applications. The second one being the 2-in-90 rule. American Express restricts card approvals to no more than two within 90 days, so as long as you don’t already have two approvals for an Amex card in the last 90 days then you should be okay to apply for the Gold! This link covers some other rules more in depth, but those 2 I just listed are the main ones to worry about in your case. www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/amex-application-rules/

[@himanshupatel4874]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial i apply for Hilton amex but it didn't approve so should I wait for few day's?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I would definitely wait a bit between applications. I usually try to wait at least a month between card applications, usually 3 months is my standard. Applying too quickly can raise red flags to the credit bureaus and those hard inquiries can drop your score a bit each time, so waiting at least a month will allow your score to recover and give you better odds of being approved. Also you can also always call the reconsideration line to try and reverse the denial, but that won’t always work of course. However, it’s worth a shot if you think you should’ve been approved but were denied.

[@himanshupatel4874]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial ok thanks and is really worth to have amex platinum card? What's your opinion

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That’s a great question. I think that if you are someone who travels multiple times a year and can get a lot of value from the credits that the card comes with, then it can very well be worth it. However if you just get the card for earning potential, then there are better cards out there. As a premium travel card, you can’t get much better than the platinum, so it’s worth it for that. I would just make sure that you can justify that $695 annual fee by using the credits the card comes with. But if you don’t use any of those credits then that annual fee is really high to be paying otherwise.

[@DanielMartinez-ci1mn]

I apply 12 times on the last 6 months. En I get 6 credits cards 💳 😅😅. Aprov 😅

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That’s a lot of applications but congrats on the 6 cards! I would probably recommend to slow that down though. You’ll want to be able to hit the welcome bonuses on those cards and too many hard inquiries can hurt your credit score and overall odds of getting approved in the future. Thanks for sharing your experience though!!

[@Theturbobooster]

Does the 524 rule count if your declined for more than maybe 4 or 5 cards?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Luckily the 5/24 rule does not take into account hard inquiries. Just the number of personal cards you've been approved for in the last 24 months.

[@Theturbobooster]

@Spencer Johnson so far i been approved for 3 cards chase for some reason declined me twice tho the 2nd time when i was at 670 i think still cant figure out y i got declined

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

They generally like to see 6-12 months of previous credit history and above a 700 credit score. Congrats on all 3 of your cards though. Also just so you know, all of your comments get flagged right away by YT and I assume it's because of your account name. It may be worth changing that so that people see your comments without them being flagged. Just wanted to let you know!

[@Theturbobooster]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial o🤣🤣🤣🤣 i didn't even know that ima change it right now 😂

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Haha hopefully that fixes it!! 😆

[@neno56527]

btw you talk too fast in the vid , when you talk slower we have more time to think about how to appy for new credit cards )

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That’s great input! Thanks for letting me know. I received multiple other comments like this in my older videos like this one so I’ve tried to work on that in my more recent ones. Hopefully it’s a bit better!

[@Theturbobooster]

Im still kinda new to credit right now my credit is at 681 on experian 659 transunion and 658 equifax so far got 2 capital one and one gamestop credit card since i go there often how do i get my credit up to 700's my balance pn my quicksilver was high but got it way down to 100$ and just got my platinum last month with them same as my gamestop credit card i have 6 hard inquiry on my transunion 6 on equifax and 9 on my experian any way to get it up there to 700's or should i wait overtime for it to increase

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

You want to focus on paying off your statement balance on time and in full by your payment due date and keeping your utilization low. You can do that by making early payments to your cards before their statement close dates so that the credit bureaus only see a low balance reported. Just be sure to pay them off in full by the due date though!

[@Theturbobooster]

@Spencer Johnson i sometimes make like small payments on my platinum since it was at 40$ which isnt high considering the balance on my quicksilver gonna pay my platinum off in a few days or so and for my quicksilver is it best to pay almost all like lets say my balance is 100 and i pay 50 will that be good or just entire balance?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

The goal is to have a 1-2% credit utilization on your cards at their statement close date. However, you need to be paying your statement balance (i.e that 1-2% utilization) off in-full by the payment due date. Never carry a balance month to month as that could really hurt your credit score.

[@Theturbobooster]

@Spencer Johnson dang definitely gonna be doing that starting this month since ima get a job then gonna try for the amex again when i hit probably 720 or 710 since im not to far away

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I'd recommend it! Let me know how that all goes man!