Hi
-first time poster here- need advice! thanks in advance!

i need to get some credit lines/cards for inventory .Used up 90k in aug to buy a house.
my mortgage broker advises i cannot not pull any equity/refinance for 6 months.

my situation is this.
self employed- my credit score 752 in july 2006.
wife[works part-time] credit score 755 in july 2006.

bought a house for 550k in aug 2006 with 55k[10% ]down.18k closing plus 17k rehab.comps for 625k-645k.
first mortgage 417k @6.75
2nd mortgage[heloc] 78k @7.5%
no other loans.no late or missed payments on anything.


Home Business [internet retail]incorporated jan 2004.
2004 yearly revenue 600k ,60k gross profit, net profit 40k- household income 72k
2005 yearly revenue 300k ,90k gross profit, net profit 60k- household income 98k
2006 yearly revenue 350k ,95k gross profit, net profit 68k - household income 97k

Bus cards
AMEX bus.platinum 2004 -[to be paid in full each month] - no specified limit - i am primary cardholder [max used 80k / month ]

AMEX bus. line of credit card 2006 prime plus 4% $10000 limit- using $6800

Personal cards
AMEX gold rewards-2003 [to be paid in full each month] - no spec. limit - i am secondary cardholder [max used 15k in a month ]
chase mastercard- 2000 18% apr[$2900 balance] cl $5300 - i am secondary cardholder [max used 5k in a month ]
discover classic - 2005 [no balance] cl $1200 - i am secondary cardholder [max used 1k in a month ]
Sears card aug 2006 0% apr 12 mths.[$ 700bal] cl $1200 - i am primary cardholder
Sears card aug 2006 0% apr 12 mths.[$2500bal] cl $3500 - wife is primary cardholder

questions?
1.i need about 50k for black friday sales- am i a good candidate for app-o-rama?
2.the address on all cards and business is the old family house address-any need to change the old addressses?
3. Should all applications have the new or old addresses?
4. Should i clear all balances before attempting app-o-rama?
5. which credit cards should i apply for ?

karnal said:
questions?
1.i need about 50k for black friday sales- am i a good candidate for app-o-rama?
2.the address on all cards and business is the old family house address-any need to change the old addressses?
3. Should all applications have the new or old addresses?
4. Should i clear all balances before attempting app-o-rama?
5. which credit cards should i apply for ?

1. it's not the best time, but worth a try. Pay off all balances below 50%(or to $0) asap. Signup for credit monitoring where you can pull daily reports(i.e. trucredit.com. If new(lower) balance does not show up dispute it.
2.
3.
use old adress
4. pay off at least below 50%, if you can pay off completely it'll look even better.
5.
Citibank:
- 0% for life of the balance with 2(no min) purchases per month)
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=52&threadid=662414&highlight_key=y&keyword1=for+life
- Premier Pass Personal Card (0% BT for 12 month, can be used any time within 12 month)

Chase
-Cash Plus
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=52&threadid=524032&highlight_key=y&keyword1=cash+plus
code 2YL worked for me.
12/15 month BT

AMEX
-IN NYC (0% for 6 month, no fee)
-apply for 2 more AMEX cards to get more CL and then reallocate it to IN NYC

Discover
any card with 12month BT

apply through cardoffers.com to get signup bonuses.

karnal said:thx fotomaniak for the detailed advice.
1.trucredit points me to another site 'truecredit' with an e -for credit monitoring for 24.95 first month then 14.95.pl lemme know if thats the one,ill go ahead and subscribe.
2. can the cell phone no./new home no. be used as a home phone no. for the old address? does it matter?
3. apart from the 7 cards recommended, should i apply for any business cards?
4.i have a lot of pre qualified offers from wells fargo,bofa,mastercard businesscard etc.. that came by mail-do these offers really count for anything?

im really getting motivated.thx once again!!
1. I've made a typo, it's www.truecredit.com

2. If it's different from the phone # on the credit report it may be a problem, but I am not 100% sure.

3. If business cards offer BTs, why not
I think Advanta offer 0% BT for 15 month,
there are some business cards that offer good signup bonsues but no BT(i.e. apply through cardoffers.com for AMEX Gold Rewards get $75 from card offers and $100 statement credit after $100+ purchase and 5000 bonus points after 1st purchase.
Delta Skymiles - 75 from card offers and 15000miles after first purchase

4. you can apply for those as well as long as they offer BTs.
First apply for the cards you want most, then apply for everything else.

1. you should go with whatever your current address on CR is
I don't know which business address you shold use. I use my current home adress when I apply for business CCs

2. if your statements close soon enough try paying them off and then apply when your CR shows $0 balances. If it takes too long then don't wait til new balances show up and apply anyway.
Each CC issuer can see the balance you have on existing CCs from them, so paying off will benefit you even if paid off balances don't show up on CR, but of course it's better if they do.

by what date do you need to have $ in hand(in bank account)?

3. not familiar with this stuff

thx fotomaniak for the replies,
i actually need the spending power approval[to plan] by 20th nov.
or
actual cards to use by end of nov.
or
some money[25k] in the account by
16th dec.
or
all of the money[50k] by 16th jan 2007.
thx

A word about AMEX and BT's:

I applied for, and was approved for, a IN:NY card with a 25.5K limit last week. I put a 25K balance transfer request on the application, and it was initially approved. Just before all this I used my billpay feature on my MBNA(now FIA) card to 'pay' ameritrade and have a large balance on that card (~25K) for BT purposes. Well, after about of week of waiting to see the BT money in the MBNA account, I called AMEX to see where what the status of the BT was (I still haven't received the actual card). They said they called MBNA to see what my balance was, because they didn't want to create a large overpayment or have the payment rejected. AMEX said that MBNA says my balance is only 1.5K. They quoted the exact number of my last statement balance, which is also on my current credit reports. AMEX refused to process the BT, and they laughed when I asked if they could just send me check. I have no idea if they actually spoke to FIA or just were lying and just looking at my credit report.

I doubt that AMEX would allow an overpayment to citi, but maybe I just got 'special' treatment for some reason.

I wasn't sure where to post this in the real estate thread or the AOR thread, anyway here goes:

I've been planning to do an AOR for quite some time now. I have a ~792 FICO score. Problem is, I'm looking to buy a condo in the near future, (5-months to 1-year+ from now). I'm still hoping condo prices will continue to drop so I can buy somewhere at the bottom. What I'm worried about is my FICO dropping so much that I won't be able to get as good of a rate on mortgage loan. But I guess on the plus side of doing an AOR now, is that I can use some of the interest money towards my down payment. What do you guys think? Should I go for it now? Should I wait it out until I buy my home and then do an AOR, but risk missing out on free money? Any constructive suggestions/comments? Thanks!

karnal said:thx fotomaniak and vmaxer,
thx for your replies.

another question?
somehow on the trucredit , while chase and discover balances are latest,
AMEX gold balances reflected are a month old?any idea why? paid off 2 -one more to go.

what would be the difference on my credit report/score if after getting the cards
1. I use the credit cards to make purchases only[no BT]
or
2. use the cards to just do BT
or
3. do 50% of Bt and 50% purchases?

will it make any difference ?
and how much of the limit should i use for Either BT or purchases?
Pl excuse if im asking this question prematurely.
thx

does not matter weather you do purchases or BTs, it's the utilization that affect the score.
I would just do BTs trying to stay below 50% utilization if possible on most of cards, put $ in savings acct. Then make purchases on other cards(the one's that don't have good BT offers right now) and pay them off via money from savings account.
This way you earn some interst on BT money in your savings account and get CashBack/rewards for purchases.

Want2MakeMoney
What if a good property shows up on the market the day after App-O-Rama and you can't buy it because your score is 650?

Calculate potential profit from AOR and compare it to potential loss which would occur if you end up getting higher interest on mortgage(or can't get mortage at all) due to low credit score.

If you can't wait and want to do AOR, just do a small one. apply for 3-4 cards with largest signup bonuses and don't bother with BTs at this time.

sorry, my previous post was addressed to Want2MakeMoney, I've edited it.

fotomaniak said:Want2MakeMoney
What if a good property shows up on the market the day after App-O-Rama and you can't buy it because your score is 650?

Calculate potential profit from AOR and compare it to potential loss which would occur if you end up getting higher interest on mortgage(or can't get mortage at all) due to low credit score.

If you can't wait and want to do AOR, just do a small one. apply for 3-4 cards with largest signup bonuses and don't bother with BTs at this time.

Good point, that's one of the worries I have about doing an AOR right now. The fact that if a good property shows up on the market the day after an AOR, my score would have plummeted so much that I would end up getting a higher interest mortgage.

But then again, I'm really in no rush to buy a home, and if condo prices continue to drop I will have no problem holding out another 1 year+, and I can just end up doing an AOR today and not miss out on any potential free money.

In the end I suppose the real estate market is the one thats going to choose my timeframe to buy a home...Hmm... what to do... what to do...