Interesting Money

Since I applied for an AMEX card with a sign-up bonus yesterday, I decided to go ahead a apply for a couple others. Why, you ask? Each time you apply for a new credit card, it creates a “hard” inquiry on your credit report, thus revealing the new “potential” debt and lowering your credit score by about 5 points. However, any “hard” credit inquiries of a certain type created within 14 days all show up as a single inquiry.

Therefore, there’s not much difference between applying for a single credit card and applying for five new credit cards all in one day. It’s MUCH better to do this than to apply for six new credit cards, one per month. This will result in six separate hard inquiries, lowering your score by about 36 points. Ouch!

Sign-up Bonuses

I applied for two new cards to take advantage of sign-up bonuses. Both cards are from Citibank, and both offer 10,000 free “ThankYou” points after you make your first purchase. The points are then redeemable in the form of a $100 gift card for a multitude of stores such as Target, Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, Circuit City, etc. I’m personally looking forward to the gift cards for Home Depot, since I need a new appliance for my house. The gift cards should give me a nice $200 discount.

The Cards

I applied for two additional cards, which is actually pretty conservative. I’ve heard of people going nuts and applying for 25 or more cards in one day, partly to take advantage of sign-up bonuses. Anyway, the two cards I applied for are both on Citibank’s web site and the sign-up bonuses are NOT targeted offers; anyone can apply for these and get the bonuses.

Citi Professional Mastercard (with “ThankYou” network)
More information

• Earn 10,000 bonus points after first purchase, redeemable for a $100 gift card
• Earn 3 ThankYou Points for every dollar you spend at restaurants, gas stations, certain office supply merchants and auto rentals
• Earn 1 ThankYou Point for every dollar spent on other purchases
• No annual fee

CitiBusiness Card (with “ThankYou” network)
More information

• ALL the same features as the above card, including the bonus and “no annual fee.”

Yes, the second card is considered a “business” card, but individuals can claim to be a business. Ever sold anything on eBay, or had a yard sale? Then you’re a business!

I was instantly approved for the first card, and my application for the business card requires more review. We’ll see if I actually get it!

No matter, I’m looking forward to at least $100 in gift cards.