Question
I was just looking at my credit report and FICO score and noted that it said something like "multiple credit inquiries within a short period of time do not negatively affect your credit score." This is intended for those shopping for a loan.
I have always tried to avoid applying for too many cards within a given time period, but maybe I should reconsider this. Would applying for 3 or 4 (or more) cards at the same time be a smarter way to do things?
Answer
This may work for loans and mortages but it doesn't seem to work for credit cards.
I had a Citi AA application refused because of too many other applications in a short time (3 or 4 within a week if I remember correctly). They did give me the card 3 months later when I re-applied.
Answer
There are actually a number of people that do this on in the FatWallet finance forum. This thread for instance:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?start=0&catid=52&threadid=265432
(search under App-o-rama or something like that for more)
Basic upshot is that if you do them all at once, you can get in before the credit reporting agencies update their databases. If you apply multiple times to the same company, they may either aggregate the hard inquiries or possibly other companies ignore multiple hard inq's from one company within a short period of time. I know for a while people were doing back-to-back-to-back Citi PremierPass applications though that door is now shut. As for the longer term effects on your credit score, I'm not sure but possibly some of those threads on FW contain some discussion.
Answer
As the previous poster has said, the credit bureaus are not updated right away. If you apply online at the instant approval sites you can get 4 or 5 credit cards in a day or two.