Just for grins I thought I’d lay out a potential 2012 application schedule for someone who is new to the game of applying for credit cards. As I start this post, I have no idea how many points I’ll come up with or if I can find enough cards for a whole year. Remember, this is mythical as the card offers will certainly change. If you can’t find two or three cards out of this list to put in your wallet permanently, you are not studying the products. Chase, Amex and CitI have some great card offers available. Ready? Let’s go:

January 1, 2012

Chase Sapphire^SM Preferred Card, 50,000 points
Citi ThankYou^SM Premier Card – $500 in Gift Cards, 50,000 points
Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, 25,000 points (look for the 30K link as well, but I think it expired on 12/12)
Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines card, 35,000 points
Barclays US Airways Premier World Mastercard, 40,000 points

What I’m currently recommending:

April 2, 2012

ALL-NEW United MileagePlus® Explorer Card, 40,000 and maybe more if it gets bumped up first quarter.
Citi AA Amex and Visa cards, 50,000 miles each using the two browser trick.
Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® Visa Signature® Card – 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles
Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard®
Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express, 30,000 miles.
Bank of America Alaska Airlines for 20,000 points. (Let’s hope the 40K comes back.)
Barclays Spirit Airlines, 15,000 points.

July 2, 2012

Marriott Rewards® Credit Card, 50,000 points. (The 70k offer may still be around. Watch for it.)
Citi Preferred Thank You Points, 25,000 points.
American Express(R) Premier Rewards Gold Card, 15,000 points.
Bank of America Virgin Atlantic, 20,000 miles.
Pentagon Federal CU Premier Rewards Card, 20,000 points.

Things getting thin yet? Running out of offers yet?

October 4 (my birthday — don’t forget!), 2012

Chase Priority Club Visa for 60,000 points, or alternatively Hyatt card for two free nights.
Citi Hilton Honors Visa card (Yep) American Express and Citi each have Hilton cards, 40,000 points.
American Express Hilton Honors card, 40,000 points sometimes more, and then the Surpass card.
Bank of America Asiana Airlines, 5000 miles and add the biz card as well for another 10K.
Oops: I ran out of personal cards? Naw, Barclays Choice Privileges card, 16,000 points.

So there you go — Five cards each 90 days. The mythical points total is =

646,000 miles and points per person per year.

Disclaimer; Some of these cards I get a referral on. Some I don’t. I just picked cards based on the issuers to prove to you and myself that I could easily get to 20 cards in one year. Admittedly, the Asiana card and Spirit card may not work for all of you, so substitute something else or just skip it.

Some of these offers will change throughout the year. Some will increase, some decrease, and some will disappear, although I don’t think many will.

Oh, by the way — We haven’t even taken into account the currently available business cards. Read my blog post of August 13, 2008, and we’ll do a mythological business card edition in the near future. Below is a typical business card offer. Plug that into your January bunch of applications if you choose. Chase will allow one business and one personal card every 30 days.