Credit Score Question

[TygGer]

Does it hurt your credit score if I sign up for a credit card just to get the initial benefits? Not a small store credit card, but a Visa to get a $30 off?

I currently have about 4 cards. I was planning on signing up for this card to get the discount and then close it after I pay it off. Would this be bad for my credit score?

Thanks

 

[flexy]

too many cards are always bad. i read somehere 3 is a good amount...

 

[Nocturnal]

Yes, opening and then closing a card will hurt your score. Just closing a card itself will usually hurt your score although it may not be significant if the card was only open for such a short period of time although it may be. I don't know the specifics other than closing cards can hurt your score.

 

[TygGer]

n/m

 

[Nocturnal]

Yes, canceling a card is bad. I'm fairly certain opening and then closing one that quick will hurt your score.

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
Yes, opening and then closing a card will hurt your score. Just closing a card itself will usually hurt your score although it may not be significant if the card was only open for such a short period of time although it may be. I don't know the specifics other than closing cards can hurt your score.

The reason why closing a card usually hurts your score is because you lose the good history of that card, and it's like you never had it. That doesn't apply to this case.

I can't say definitively whether it's good or bad, but I wouldn't advise you to do it. Things like the number of cards you've applied for recently can hurt your score.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: flexy
too many cards are always bad. i read somehere 3 is a good amount...

If you are a irresponsible person, then yes, too many cards almost always turns out to be bad. Credit score wise though, it really doesn't matter on the quantity of the cards. Its your utilization that plays a huge factor. Probably holds alot more weight over just the quantity of cards you have. You can have those 3 cards you say that is a good amount to have, but if you utilizing 80% of the credit limit, then your scores could see a "hurt" factor.

 

[George P Burdell]

Not worth the $30

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: jlbenedict

Originally posted by: flexy
too many cards are always bad. i read somehere 3 is a good amount...

If you are a irresponsible person, then yes, too many cards almost always turns out to be bad. Credit score wise though, it really doesn't matter on the quantity of the cards. Its your utilization that plays a huge factor. Probably holds alot more weight over just the quantity of cards you have. You can have those 3 cards you say that is a good amount to have, but if you utilizing 80% of the credit limit, then your scores could see a "hurt" factor.

Actually I thought even though you had a zero balance on all those cards it's basically the liability of having that much credit open to you on so many different cards although I don't know what the difference is between having one card with a limit compared to having several with several smaller limits but I thought that it still did affect your score even having several open accounts with a zero balance.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: jlbenedict

Originally posted by: flexy
too many cards are always bad. i read somehere 3 is a good amount...

If you are a irresponsible person, then yes, too many cards almost always turns out to be bad. Credit score wise though, it really doesn't matter on the quantity of the cards. Its your utilization that plays a huge factor. Probably holds alot more weight over just the quantity of cards you have. You can have those 3 cards you say that is a good amount to have, but if you utilizing 80% of the credit limit, then your scores could see a "hurt" factor.

Actually I thought even though you had a zero balance on all those cards it's basically the liability of having that much credit open to you on so many different cards although I don't know what the difference is between having one card with a limit compared to having several with several smaller limits but I thought that it still did affect your score even having several open accounts with a zero balance.

I do believe the "0 balance" thing hurts also; I don't have the experience though.

If you go to over to Creditboards, you'll see alot of people talk about how they'll open up 20-30 credit accounts, and utilize very little of their limits. They'll charge small items on the cards, pay them down, then off.. then repeat the cycle. Their scores are through the roof.

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: jlbenedict

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: jlbenedict

Originally posted by: flexy
too many cards are always bad. i read somehere 3 is a good amount...

If you are a irresponsible person, then yes, too many cards almost always turns out to be bad. Credit score wise though, it really doesn't matter on the quantity of the cards. Its your utilization that plays a huge factor. Probably holds alot more weight over just the quantity of cards you have. You can have those 3 cards you say that is a good amount to have, but if you utilizing 80% of the credit limit, then your scores could see a "hurt" factor.

Actually I thought even though you had a zero balance on all those cards it's basically the liability of having that much credit open to you on so many different cards although I don't know what the difference is between having one card with a limit compared to having several with several smaller limits but I thought that it still did affect your score even having several open accounts with a zero balance.

I do believe the "0 balance" thing hurts also; I don't have the experience though.

If you go to over to Creditboards, you'll see alot of people talk about how they'll open up 20-30 credit accounts, and utilize very little of their limits. They'll charge small items on the cards, pay them down, then off.. then repeat the cycle. Their scores are through the roof.

LOL! That's pretty crazy! I bet though they know a lot of the tricks and trades lol.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: jlbenedict

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: jlbenedict

Originally posted by: flexy
too many cards are always bad. i read somehere 3 is a good amount...

If you are a irresponsible person, then yes, too many cards almost always turns out to be bad. Credit score wise though, it really doesn't matter on the quantity of the cards. Its your utilization that plays a huge factor. Probably holds alot more weight over just the quantity of cards you have. You can have those 3 cards you say that is a good amount to have, but if you utilizing 80% of the credit limit, then your scores could see a "hurt" factor.

Actually I thought even though you had a zero balance on all those cards it's basically the liability of having that much credit open to you on so many different cards although I don't know what the difference is between having one card with a limit compared to having several with several smaller limits but I thought that it still did affect your score even having several open accounts with a zero balance.

I do believe the "0 balance" thing hurts also; I don't have the experience though.

If you go to over to Creditboards, you'll see alot of people talk about how they'll open up 20-30 credit accounts, and utilize very little of their limits. They'll charge small items on the cards, pay them down, then off.. then repeat the cycle. Their scores are through the roof.

LOL! That's pretty crazy! I bet though they know a lot of the tricks and trades lol.

Its crazy and takes alot of discipline. Imagine having $100,000's worth of credit lined up in your wallet. Imagine a 20 year old, "Halo 2" tshirt wearing ATOT geek owning that much credit... "Quad core Conroe, quad SLI here I come!!"

 

[kranky]

Your score will be affected, but you can't assume the result will be "bad".

Let's say your score is 750 and after getting the other card it becomes 742. Is it lower? Yes. But it doesn't matter, since your score was high, and is still high. So it's not a bad thing.

Let's say your score is 500 and after getting the other card it becomes 480. It's lower, and that's bad because your score is very low and you don't want to make it any worse.

You need perspective.

 

[shortspanishguy]

Originally posted by: flexy
too many cards are always bad. i read somehere 3 is a good amount...

I have 9 cards and my score is 742.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Your score will take a small dip from the inquiry but quickly recover. In regards to 0 balance cards hurting you, you need to have a large amount of available credit in relation to your income before it becomes a problem and then it's usually only when going for a mortgage in which case you can typically close a few cards and reopen then after closing. All in all, you can get much better back for opening a card. I just got $200 for opening two Citi cards of which I'll make about $1300 pre-tax on by floating the 0% loan out for the next 12 months. So it's basically $1500 for opening the two cards, transferring the money and scheduling online payments for the next 12 months.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Originally posted by: TygGer
Does it hurt your credit score if I sign up for a credit card just to get the initial benefits? Not a small store credit card, but a Visa to get a $30 off?

I currently have about 4 cards. I was planning on signing up for this card to get the discount and then close it after I pay it off. Would this be bad for my credit score?

Thanks

I would never open a card for a measly 30 dollars. Go take a look at fatwallet's finance department and you will see MUCH better offers. Sony card offering $150.00 credit, airline cards offering enough points for a free roundtrip ticket (worth around 250 or so). You can also get 0% finance cards for a 12 month period, use the balance transfer to transfer the whole amount to themselves, put the money in a 5.5% interest bearing account and make 1000+ a year if you have enough of a credit line.

 

[bobdelt]

worth the 30 bucks... do it. Your credit score will have no significant damage done to it, i wouldnt close the account either... having lots of credit cards != lower score!!! It will actually improve your score because your outstanding credit will now be even smaller compared to your total line of credit.


What could happen, is that if you apply for a loan, a company might see that you have many lines of credit and you could abuse that (accumulate lots of credit, rack up the debt, go bankrupt) (this is how too many cards can hurt you and the reason why people think its bad to have too many cards-but this wont hurt your score)..... But odds are it wont affect your whatsoever, and its probably worth 30 bucks. And at the same time... this bank or whatever considering your for a loan, could have the logic that "if all these other companies offered him this much credit, then we shouldnt worry about this"

But to sum it up, basically its no big deal and wont have a significant influence on your score.

 

[TygGer]

Thanks for the comments. I was just curious since I was buying something on Amazon and it would have been convenient just to signup for a quick $30 off.