So, what is an app-o-rama?
An app-o-rama is where you sign up for multiple credit cards in one day. Many banks offer huge sign-up bonuses to entice people to apply for credit cards. Oftentimes, these sign-up bonuses are worth tens of thousands of miles or points. The reason why someone would sign up for multiple credit cards in one day is to reduce the chances that each bank will see the credit inquiries made to other banks. This increases the chances of getting approved for each credit card attempted in the app-o-rama. While there are exceptions, the general guideline is to wait at least 90 days between app-o-ramas. This is based on the belief that the banks care the most about recent inquiries in the last three months or 90 days, something like that. So, if it's just over 90 days since you last signed up for a credit card, then the banks might view your account has having no recent inquiries, and you might be able to sign up for an assortment of new credit cards. Some frequent flyers have 20 or 30 credit cards in their wallet (such as Grant), and a big reason why they do is because they can get a sign-up bonus for each card. |
Wait, isn’t that a “churn”?
Although the term for such an event described in the left column is an "app-o-rama", some people incorrectly call it a "churn". However, I consider the term "churn" to be signing up for the same credit card over and over again. For example, if you sign up for a Citibank AAdvantage business card now, and then sign up for the same exact Citibank AAdvantage business card 6 months from now, then you are churning the card. The Mr. Pickles sums it up pretty well by saying this: App-o-rama: Different cards, same day Churn: Same card, different days Also, you don't necessarily have to do one or the other at any given time. In the Citibank AAdvantage example, if you sign up for that Citibank AAdvantage business card a second time 6 months from now, and you sign up for 4 other cards that day, then you're doing an app-o-rama and churning. |
Basic Tips for Doing an App-o-Rama
- Diversify:
In general, it is oftentimes best to sign up for 1 or 2 cards from any given lender at a time. If you limit it this way, then you would increase your chances of approval for those cards. So, instead of signing up for 4 or 5 credit cards from Chase in the same app-o-rama, it might be better to sign up for 1 or 2 cards each from 5 different lenders. - Business cards: In any given app-o-rama, it's usually good to sign up for a mix of personal and business cards. A lender might be more likely to approve 1 personal and 1 business card application rather than 2 personal cards. Also, it allows you to get two sign-up bonuses for, in some cases, signing up for very similar credit cards. On the other hand, signing up for the same exact credit card twice in the same app-o-rama might not work. Of course this begs the question, what if you don't have a business? First of all, is there anything you do that earns money? If there's any informal activity you do that earns money, such as garage sales, or selling merchandise on Amazon or Ebay, then that qualifies as a business. If you can't think of anything, then you can still sign up for business cards. What many people do is sign up for a business credit card as a start-up. What you can do is write your own name as the business name, and use your social security number as the tax ID number. On the application, write that your business has 1 employee, $0 annual revenue, and 0 years in business. Don't lie about a business you don't have; instead, create a start-up business on the spot when signing up for a business credit card.
- Credit bureaus: There are three different credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. Whenever you apply for a credit card, the lender will pull one or more of these bureaus, to put the application on your credit record. Go to creditboards.com to find out which lender pulls from which bureau in your city. If the applications in your app-o-rama are spaced out among the three credit bureaus, then you have a better chance of approval than if all the applications are pull from the same bureau. There is also an advanced option to do "credit bureau shopping", where you can freeze your credit report from one of the bureaus, and request the lender to pull from a specific bureau you have in mind when applying for a credit card. For more information on that, click here.
- Special offers: While the banks generally offer high sign-up bonuses for credit cards, they sometimes raise the sign-up bonus for a specific credit card for a limited time. Your timing of app-o-ramas ideally should be a balance. If there currently aren't a lot of special offers, then it might be worth it to wait a little bit before doing an app-o-rama until the banks make some special offers. On the other hand, if you do app-o-ramas closer to 90-day intervals, then you would be able to do app-o-ramas more frequently and sign up for more credit cards.
- Targeted offers: Some banks offer especially good sign-up bonuses to just a select few people. This could be a special e-mail offer, if you play around on an airline website and hope for a larger sign-up bonus to appear, through Card Match, or if you apply for a credit card at the physical bank (such as for Chase cards). Try to seek these targeted offers if you can. The Points Guy has a good description of the basics of Card Match. To go to Card Match, click here. In general, a good way to be aware of the best credit card offers would be to subscribe to some of the major blogs (e.g. One Mile at a Time, Frequent Miler, and Mile Value).
- Reconsideration calls: Sometimes when applying for a credit card, you get approved instantly. However, other times, you get rejected by the computer, or the application goes to pending. If that's the case, then what you can do to either reverse the decision (in the first case) or expedite the decision (in the second case), then you can call a bank's reconsideration number. This will get you on the line with a representative from the bank who will review your application and credit history, and make a decision of whether to approve you or not. The Mr. Pickles has some advice for doing reconsideration calls here.
Frequent Miler's List of Best Credit Card Offers
Click here to look at Frequent Miler's list of best credit card offers. When trying to decide which credit cards to sign up for, this is a great page to go to for reference.
Click here to look at Frequent Miler's list of best credit card offers. When trying to decide which credit cards to sign up for, this is a great page to go to for reference.
Guide to Which Credit Cards are Churnable
This blogger, A Man of a Thousand Places, has a good guide to which credit cards are churnable here. If a credit card is churnable, then that means it's possible to sign up for that credit card over and over again, as described at the top of this page. Note that American Express changed their policy since he wrote that post. Now, American Express cards are no longer officially churnable. Also, I don't think Barclays cards are churnable anymore, either.
This blogger, A Man of a Thousand Places, has a good guide to which credit cards are churnable here. If a credit card is churnable, then that means it's possible to sign up for that credit card over and over again, as described at the top of this page. Note that American Express changed their policy since he wrote that post. Now, American Express cards are no longer officially churnable. Also, I don't think Barclays cards are churnable anymore, either.