How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?

[Dr Rick Daris]

part of me wonders if you could respond in some way by telling them that you thought the chicago nights that you already have booked would count towards the challenge and ask them to extend it for you or something. like "i booked these 12 nights under the assumption that...". 

worth a shot?

funny thing about that, I had 6 other nights booked for later on in the year and had to cancel them for some schedule changes.  my diamond held on way longer than I thought it would but it reverted to platinum the day I cancelled those additional 6 paid nights I had reserved.  wondered if that somehow triggered it.  I once got Hilton Gold when I shouldn't have and I had about 25 nights booked in the future when I did.  Wondered if there was some sort of trigger for upcoming guests that have a certain amount of rooms booked.  I'll ask them next time I'm invited to participate in the Hyatt breakout session thing.

def ask them. you could still shoot an e-mail to hyatt and be apologetic with it, stating that you misunderstood the challenge etc. and thought that booking the nights would count as long as you didn't cancel or something. or not. it's not really a big deal.

i just got marriot gold for getting the ritz cards. not a big deal either but i'm pretty excited to book a room with it and see what happens on the upgrade end. 

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

I think its time I put some of the knowledge in this thread to good use.

I am still a student until December when I graduate. I have never owned a credit card, mostly because I am pretty scared of my poor financial responsibility, but I think its about time I start to get some credit in case I decide to buy a house or nice car when I graduate. Is there any advantage to waiting to get a credit card once I can show the bank a full time job offer or should I go ahead and get one now? Also, what is the best card for my situation?

TIA.

[steve dave]

I think its time I put some of the knowledge in this thread to good use.

I am still a student until December when I graduate. I have never owned a credit card, mostly because I am pretty scared of my poor financial responsibility, but I think its about time I start to get some credit in case I decide to buy a house or nice car when I graduate. Is there any advantage to waiting to get a credit card once I can show the bank a full time job offer or should I go ahead and get one now? Also, what is the best card for my situation?

TIA.

You have to give them your income, job, time at job, etc. on the application so some may shoot you down but not all will.  pm if you want to give the SPG card a whirl.  will need your name and email addy.  you should probably go ahead and get one to build credit.  someone will give you one eventually. 

[ChiComCat]

SPG would be a big longshot with no credit.  Capital One was my first card.  It wasn't good for points or bonuses or anything, but they will give them to about anyone and will allow you to build credit.

[steve dave]

that's probably a good tip chicat.  I have no idea which cards are selective and which aren't.

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

Sounds like we should have this conversation in December... Thanks for the help.

[sys]

Is there any advantage to waiting to get a credit card once I can show the bank a full time job offer or should I go ahead and get one now?

before i had a job, a lot of card offers turned me down when i told them i was a student, so then i started telling them i had a job and they stopped turning me down.  pretty good lesson in there for you, if you search for it.

[Dugout DickStone]

Is there any advantage to waiting to get a credit card once I can show the bank a full time job offer or should I go ahead and get one now?

before i had a job, a lot of card offers turned me down when i told them i was a student, so then i started telling them i had a job and they stopped turning me down.  pretty good lesson in there for you, if you search for it.

Is the lesson that we should all lie like Spencer Kietzman?

[shivvyman]

I think its time I put some of the knowledge in this thread to good use.

I am still a student until December when I graduate. I have never owned a credit card, mostly because I am pretty scared of my poor financial responsibility, but I think its about time I start to get some credit in case I decide to buy a house or nice car when I graduate. Is there any advantage to waiting to get a credit card once I can show the bank a full time job offer or should I go ahead and get one now? Also, what is the best card for my situation?

TIA.

I believe AA are a little tougher for approval than the average card, but I'm fairly certain you can apply for whatever CC your bank offers and be approved. Unless your credit score is complete garbage, you'll get approved. If you don't have any credit history, you'll still likely get approved, but your credit limit will be minimal.

Come to think of it, I think my credit limit for my first card was $500. As soon as you pay off your statement balance a few consecutive months, you can call up and get it raised to whatever you deem necessary.

[Trim]

worth a shot?

ITT, the answer to that question is always "yes." 

I didn't even have to turn in the expired voucher. 

[ChiComCat]

I would try for a mid-range card, like an AA, which should be more attainable than any AMEX.  If that fails, get whatever CapOne card you can and run with it for a while.  Good thing about a crappy Cap One for starting though is there won't be an annual fee so you can just keep it forever and extend your credit history

[bubbles4ksu]

Sounds like we should have this conversation in December... Thanks for the help.

open a card now, even if it is a student one. and apply sys' lesson.

as a full-time student i have been approved for the chase sapphire and capital one venture rewards cards. the amex and citi cards have been a bitch though.

[raquetcat]

Jfc Hawaiian miles is a cluster eff. I called to transfer my miles to Hilton the first lady basically took a message and had to have somebody call me back, the lady who called me back couldn't get my Hilton number right and had to repeat it to me 3 times, all the while I can hear other people yammering on in the back ground and it's going to take 2 weeks for the transfer, I guess I shouldn't complain; I am getting 140k Hilton for it, but still

[steve dave]

It was really smooth when I did mine

[Stupid Fitz]

Got my Marriott card.  When I called to activate it, the guy asked me if the $24,999 credit line would be enough.     I am going to use it 1 time for a Starbucks and pocket the points.   

[steve dave]

protip:  unless you actually need that high of a credit line it's a good idea to tell Chase to GTFO and move it down to $10k or whatever the minimum is you will need each month.  they base a lot of their new card decisions on maximum credit given to each customer and will decline a card app if you already have $45k+ in available credit.  you can call and lower it whenever you feel like it though.  I always tell them "I don't trust myself with that much credit" and imagine the look on their faces staring at the screen showing my 6 current Chase cards with zero balances....then immediately fire another application at them. 

[Dr Rick Daris]

protip:  unless you actually need that high of a credit line it's a good idea to tell Chase to GTFO and move it down to $10k or whatever the minimum is you will need each month.  they base a lot of their new card decisions on maximum credit given to each customer and will decline a card app if you already have $45k+ in available credit.  you can call and lower it whenever you feel like it though.  I always tell them "I don't trust myself with that much credit" and imagine the look on their faces staring at the screen showing my 6 current Chase cards with zero balances....then immediately fire another application at them.

i'm not sure this is true anymore. i applied for the ritz carlton card a month ago. got a call from chase the next day asking me to call them back. i didn't. a week later i got the card in the mail. two weeks later i got a letter in the mail letting me know that upon my application for the ritz card, they reviewed my total credit available with them and decided on their own to decrease the limit on my southwest card by 5k while simultaneously approving me for 5k on the ritz card. pretty fantastic really/no need to call the reconsideration line.

[steve dave]

protip:  unless you actually need that high of a credit line it's a good idea to tell Chase to GTFO and move it down to $10k or whatever the minimum is you will need each month.  they base a lot of their new card decisions on maximum credit given to each customer and will decline a card app if you already have $45k+ in available credit.  you can call and lower it whenever you feel like it though.  I always tell them "I don't trust myself with that much credit" and imagine the look on their faces staring at the screen showing my 6 current Chase cards with zero balances....then immediately fire another application at them.

i'm not sure this is true anymore. i applied for the ritz carlton card a month ago. got a call from chase the next day asking me to call them back. i didn't. a week later i got the card in the mail. two weeks later i got a letter in the mail letting me know that upon my application for the ritz card, they reviewed my total credit available with them and decided on their own to decrease the limit on my southwest card by 5k while simultaneously approving me for 5k on the ritz card. pretty fantastic really/no need to call the reconsideration line.

that's a fantastic idea on Chase's part.  good news. 

[Rams]

I have 11

well...so now I have 13 and over $130k in available credit and I'm beginning to wonder when enough is too much. There are a couple of other cards that I'd like to do right now (really the US Airways is the main one) but I'm concerned eventually I'll start getting denied for too much overall available credit.  Is that even a thing?  Obviously Chase has it's max and I've had to call reconsideration and transfer credit on my last 3 Chase apps, but does anyone look at total credit?  All but 2 of the cards are less than 6 months old so I really don't need to cancel any of them to avoid the fee, but should I start canceling to bring down my number of cards and available credit?

[Mikeyis4dcats]

protip:  unless you actually need that high of a credit line it's a good idea to tell Chase to GTFO and move it down to $10k or whatever the minimum is you will need each month.  they base a lot of their new card decisions on maximum credit given to each customer and will decline a card app if you already have $45k+ in available credit.  you can call and lower it whenever you feel like it though.  I always tell them "I don't trust myself with that much credit" and imagine the look on their faces staring at the screen showing my 6 current Chase cards with zero balances....then immediately fire another application at them.

i'm not sure this is true anymore. i applied for the ritz carlton card a month ago. got a call from chase the next day asking me to call them back. i didn't. a week later i got the card in the mail. two weeks later i got a letter in the mail letting me know that upon my application for the ritz card, they reviewed my total credit available with them and decided on their own to decrease the limit on my southwest card by 5k while simultaneously approving me for 5k on the ritz card. pretty fantastic really/no need to call the reconsideration line.

yeah, Chase seems to regularly adjust credit lines.  Not sure about others.

[Mikeyis4dcats]

I have 11

well...so now I have 13 and over $130k in available credit and I'm beginning to wonder when enough is too much. There are a couple of other cards that I'd like to do right now (really the US Airways is the main one) but I'm concerned eventually I'll start getting denied for too much overall available credit.  Is that even a thing?  Obviously Chase has it's max and I've had to call reconsideration and transfer credit on my last 3 Chase apps, but does anyone look at total credit?  All but 2 of the cards are less than 6 months old so I really don't need to cancel any of them to avoid the fee, but should I start canceling to bring down my number of cards and available credit?

I would.    Eventually they will start denying credit for either too many open lines or the income/potential debt ratio

[8manpick]

Sounds like we should have this conversation in December... Thanks for the help.

open a card now, even if it is a student one. and apply sys' lesson.

as a full-time student i have been approved for the chase sapphire and capital one venture rewards cards. the amex and citi cards have been a bitch though.

yeah, I've got 2 totaling $9,500 in available credit.  I would apply for one, the worst that can happen is you get denied.  I got one of the Citi cards last fall and have had the basic one from Commerce since right before college.  I actually got a denial email for the Citi one, then they sent the card to me in the mail anyway a few days later.

[raquetcat]

Are the bank of America and bank of Hawaii Hawaiian airlines cards churnable? If so what's the turn around time on them?

[Rams]

Are the bank of America and bank of Hawaii Hawaiian airlines cards churnable? If so what's the turn around time on them?

my wife originally got the BOA Virgin card a little over 3 months ago (don't remember exactly and don't have my spreadsheet in front of me) and completed the spend.  she just got an email invitation for the same offer so I applied again for her without canceling her old one and was approved.  so A) the minimum turnaround is probably about 3 months and B) you don't have to cancel your old card first.

no idea on the hawaii card.

[Trim]

My SPG business AMEX plans are all mumped.  I tried applying 2 weekends ago and has to stop mid-app b/c I was missing some info, saved my app, and got back on it the next day.  At that point I saw it was showing 25K instead of 30K.  I did a new one from scratch where the 30K was clear and submitted and within a minute got a "still evaluating" screen and an email telling me to log in and read a letter that already said I had duplicate apps which they've resolved & I'm approved & card en route.  As of yesterday, no card.  Called and they said I wasn't approved after all and the duplicates caused further review so she'll make that happen now.  Basically, no new card w/$5k spend requirement will be had by tomorrow before I go on vacation where I'll be spending money like Brewster.