Velocity refers to how quickly you are opening cards. Each time you open a card, your credit score will go down a little. It will go back up over time. However, if you were to apply for several cards in a short period of time, you’re credit score will be down a lot more by the time you get to your third card. This could cause you to get declined.
Some websites suggest that you go 6 months in between applications. I think that’s a little too conservative. I’ve seen plenty of people apply for a card once a month without issue. A lot depends on your credit score, your income and your tolerance for a lower credit score. If you plan on buying a house in six months, you may not want to mess around with your credit score too much. If you have an 800 credit score and you don’t plan to use it much for anything important, a temporary drop to 750 won’t really impact you.
I think you could open up a Chase Freedom Unlimited and then open up a Sapphire in two months without much of a problem but I don’t think I would recommend it to everyone. I would then wait 3 months to open up the Freedom Flex. I think you’ll need the three months anyway to meet the minimum spend.
If you’re concerned about your credit score, you can always keep an eye on it. There are any number of ways to check it and a lot of credit cards will tell you what it is. That includes Chase. They have a free feature called Credit Journey where you can track your score for free. You just have to sign up for it. That’ll help you see if your credit score has been negatively impacted by opening up these credit cards. If so, you can then determine for yourself when you should open up the next card.
Although we are addressing the Chase Trifecta here, the same concept applies to all credit card applications. One of the ways to get around Chase velocity issues is to use two player mode which we’ll cover in another post.