The Number One Myth About Opening Credit Cards for Travel

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Will Opening Credit Cards Hurt My Credit Score | Cobalt Chronicles | Washington DC | Travel Blogger

Michael and I are able to travel like we do because of points and miles. And how we accumulate those points and miles is through credit card sign up bonuses and spend. If you missed last week’s post, I talked about one of my favorite travel credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Long story short, the fastest and easiest way to accumulate a lot of points and miles for travel is to strategically open credit cards, meet the minimum spend requirements, and collect the sign up bonus (which is almost always in the form of points or miles).

For anyone that’s new to the points and miles game, the first question that always pops up when I say that the key is to sign up for credit cards is: “Will opening credit cards hurt my credit score?”

Will Opening Credit Cards Hurt My Credit Score?

Today’s post is all about dispelling the number one myth about opening credit cards for the purpose of accumulating points and miles for travel.

Spoiler alert – No, opening credit cards will not hurt your credit score.

As long as you’re responsible and on top of your finances.  First, I feel like this goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway, DO NOT open a credit card if you cannot pay off the full balance at the end of each statement period. DO. NOT. That would defeat the whole purpose of collecting points to travel for free.

Dispelling the Myth

You can check out an entire list of credit cards I currently have in my wallet here (I update this post at least twice a year). This list includes cards I opened strategically to get the sign up bonus and utilize for maximum bonus earning opportunities on my everyday spend. My credit score is “excellent” and consistently hovers around 800.  Check out how I use all my cards to maximize earning potential HERE!

When you first apply for a new credit card, your credit score may take a small hit simply as a result of applying for the card. When you apply, the credit card company will make a “hard inquiry” into your credit history (it’s taking a look at your credit history to see if it should offer you a line of credit). Any hard inquiry might cause your score to dip a bit temporarily, but don’t worry, it will bounce back. Another factor to keep in mind that may cause your score to temporarily dip is that opening a new card will decrease the average length of your accounts (the time that you’ve had credit accounts open). Creditors prefer that you have a longer history of responsibly handling lines of credit.

One factor that helps balance out this negative ping is that opening a new credit card adds to your total credit history. Your total credit history is essentially a plot map that creditors use to evaluate your credit-worthiness. You’ll notice that if you try to avoid using credit cards and solely stick to debit cards, for example, even though you might not have any debt, your credit score won’t be as high as you’d like it to be simply because creditors have nothing to gauge your credit history off of since you don’t have any data points to reference.

One Caveat to Keep in Mind

Overall, it really all balances out. The only caveat I would give you is that if you’re in a position where you believe you’ll be making a large purchase such as a car or a house in the very near future, you may want to hold off on opening too many new cards since those types of purchases lend themselves to deeper dives by creditors and banks into your credit history. You don’t want it to look like you’re continuously opening up new lines of credit.

Bottom line, so long as you’re financially responsible, always pay your bills on time, and carry very little debt, opening new credit cards will not hurt your credit score.

Check out the Chase Sapphire Preferred, it’s one of the travel credit cards I recommend the most.

Chase Sapphire Preferred | Cobalt Chronicles | Houston Travel Blogger

You can compare it to over travel cards here in this super helpful comparison list!  If you have any questions about the card or other travel credit cards, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] and I can walk you through any questions you might have!

*I am not a financial planner or advisor or anything of the like. I’m simply sharing my experience.

Disclaimer: If you click and/or sign up for a credit card through certain links on this site or any of my related social media platforms, I may make a commission from that click through. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned, and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are mine alone.

2 Comments

  1. Tress Johnson wrote:

    I still have one credit card I opened when I first got out of college…don’t use it but leave open to keep my cc history. I have since opened some cc’s for travel miles. Another thing they look at is availability. If you have a few cards but pay them off, the increased availability will give you a higher score. They like to see people who pay the cards off and have the option of credit if needed. One question…do you close cards after a year and then maybe reopen? Generally, fees kick in after a year. And the big bonuses are for new card openings. I’m still new to this so not sure!

    Posted 2.7.18
    • Ashlee wrote:

      Hey Tress! That’s awesome that you still have that original card open! In regard to closing after a year to avoid fees, it depends on what card it is. If it’s my Chase Sapphire Preferred, I gladly pay the yearly fee because I earn WAY more than the fee in points that I in turn use for free travel. If it’s a card that I don’t really use anymore (one that I essentially just signed up for the bonus), I’ll give the credit card company a call right when the yearly fee is about to hit and I’ll say I want to cancel the card unless there’s any way they can waive the yearly fee. I’ve been able to get a few waived.

      In regard to your other question about applying for the same card after closing it out to try and earn the bonus again … most cards have a time frame in which you’re not eligible to earn the bonus. For example, some cards say that you can’t receive a sign up bonus on the same card within 24 months. So you can’t close it out and shortly thereafter sign up again for a second bonus. Make sense?

      Hope that helps! I want to hear about y’alls trip to Turks! It looked amazing!

      Posted 2.7.18

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