u/Sea_Independent3641

I took a shot so you guys don't have to. Everyone talks about the devastating impact of a single hard inquiry on credit score. So I decided to test it out. The result? Basically nothing.

Here's the story.

I have had one credit card for the past 2.5 years. So I decided to add some new cards to my portfolio. I started this in the month of March. Within two days, I got all the cards I needed, thereby adding 4 new cards. By then, I had made about 5 hard enquiries. I didn't see any myself requiring any other card for another year or two, and the same case with any kind of loans, which meant I could recover any kind of damage my score would have by the time I applied for anything else. So, I decided to go all out. Whenever I got any free time - while commuting, or watching any kind of series, I applied for a CC somewhere. This summed up to 27 enquiries. And here is the CIBIL score trend:

February: 777

March: 774

April: 778

May: 774

Now, I'm not sure if this is a one-off case or this is the norm. I have heard stories from both sides. If you guys have noticed something similar or contradicting with your cibil, let us know.

When you apply for a new card, do you usually have a specific preference?

Who the hell is Reshma?!?

I was checking out the benefits of the Times Black CC. It was mainly because I was annoyed after seeing a huge crown inside the Delhi lounge. I don't usually use airport lounges but since I couldn't have my breakfast nor lunch, I thought I could have something at the lounge before my flight. But damn, the queue!

Since this has access to the less crowded lounges, I thought of applying. Again, the fees don't justify it for sure. And I'm not eligible for Infinia, EPM, etc. So this was anyway my only option. I was still on the fence when I thought of checking my eligibility.

Well, before I knew it, I received the approval mail in my inbox.

I have quite a bit of lounge access across my cards but I don't know if I will want to visit them after the recent experience since they are available for the usual ones.

Also, I don't have any straight up hate towards this card tbh.

Hence, I have a two-part question:

1. For people who have visited Prive lounges, how was your experience? Do they have a relaxing atmosphere or are they buzzing as well?

2. For people who don't spend a ton with this card, how has your overall experience been? Spending pattern towards having a break-even or decent ROI?