Which Signup Bonuses to Get First

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Chase 5/24

Other guidelines

• Get the Barclay Arrival card as soon as your finished with the Chase cards. According to the web, they have a 6/24 policy, so its now or never. Their 50,000 point standard offer is valuable and easy to use on a very broad range of travel expenses, and higher offers are sometimes available.
• Once you've reduced your credit utilization percentage, you are generally better off collecting business cards first. As you start to expand the number of personal cards you have, your credit limit will rise. Since the amount you spend is fixed, your credit utilization will drop, and your credit rating will typically rise. Once your credit utilization is reliably below 10%, it doesn't make much difference. You should probably already be there by the time you are done with the Chase 5/24 cards and Arrival card. If not, keep getting personal cards to drop your utilization further.

Otherwise business cards are a better option, all other things being equal. With all of the major banks, with the exception of Capital One, business cards won't be listed on your personal credit report. This makes it more likely that you'll get approved for new cards. But business cards are a free lunch. When you apply for the card, the banks will generally do a "hard pull" on your personal credit report, and these inquiries are visible to other banks, and affect your future approval chances.

• You want to get the clock started on any Citibank and Bank of America cards.
• Citibank limits you to one signup bonus per family every two years. More precisely, to qualify for a bonus, you may not have opened or cancelled a card in the same family in the last 24 months. Personal and business cards are tracked separately. It is useful to apply for a ThankYou rewards card, a personal Citibank American Airlines card, and a business Citibank American Airlines card relatively quickly, so you can get the clock started on your next set of signups.
• Bank of America limits you to a total of four personal cards every two years. The sooner you get your first one or two cards, the sooner you can get more. You want to get on a pace of about two cards per year. Choose the Bank of America cards that are most valuable for your individual circumstances.

The Amex Platinum Card

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