SUCKISSTAPLES said:My view is that micro sprees are self defeating. the whole purpose of app-o-rama is to get as much credit as possible in one shot. Since you arent even guaranteed to be approved for 100% of the cards you apply for, if you apply for 5 but only get 3 with decent usable limits, its a waste.

thats why many like to fire off 20 or so apps for maximum possible total credit, you might get 15 approvals, but also get better realloation possibilities, larger total credit limits, etc. Plus more cards = more signup bonuses.

An important factor is to carefully select cards from different issuers, different card types, etc.

I disagree. A few well placed apps works great. Espcially if you already have a good credit line with that issuer and can reallocate. It helps to really know the cards and issuers.

there is NO BENEFIT to not activating cards. in fact it attracts unwanted attention since the cc issuers are cncerned you never received the cards.

There seems to be quite a few ppl who do not like to activate, I dont know why people believe there is some benfit to this. there is none.

Activate, get your 0% offer or signup bonus (which usually require a purchase to be made) then sockdrawer the cards. Or cut them u[ if you are that concerned about fraud.

SUCKISSTAPLES said:there is NO BENEFIT to not activating cards. in fact it attracts unwanted attention since the cc issuers are cncerned you never received the cards.

There seems to be quite a few ppl who do not like to activate, I dont know why people believe there is some benfit to this. there is none.

Activate, get your 0% offer or signup bonus (which usually require a purchase to be made) then sockdrawer the cards. Or cut them u[ if you are that concerned about fraud.

I don't usually rush to activate my cards. However, I eventually get aound to activating all of them since I make a small purchase (around $1) on any zero-balance card every six months or so to avoid closures due to inactivity.

One thing that (seems) to work for me is:

Call up the creditor when I receive the card.
Speak to a rep. They will ask me if I would like to activate the card.
I say "not quite yet; I'm very disappointed with the limit I was given." (bla bla bla it's not in line with my other cards or expectations bla bla bla)
Ask them to raise the limit.
After they do, agree to activate. (seems to work pretty well, YMMV)

Obviously I can't say for sure if the threat of not activating is actually helping here. However, I do recall a time (back before I started making my inactivity-avoidance purchases) when an issuer called me up and asked why I had never activated my card (I had had it for about 18-24 months and already used up the 0% promo). I told them that I would activate the card if they'd give me another 0% for 12 months and raise my limit. They agreed and I was happy.

P.S. The strategy I described above won't work for some issuers - at least one wouldn't talk to me about my account unless I activated the card. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Let's say I get a $20,000 credit limit from Emigrant Direct and do a BT of $10,000 to a Citi account without a balance. Can I get Citi to send me a check for my "credit balance" after the BT goes through?

Reading all this App-O-Rama stuff is getting me close to doing one, I figure what's the use of keeping my 800+ FICO if I never use it? First thing I did was go to opt-out and opt back in to see what offers come my way. Got my first offer the other day, Was E*Trade rewards Platinum. Have not been able to find much on that card here. You get 2,000 free points with first purchase. Is 0% BT until June 2007. Says it is 3% for cash advances, Does that apply to BTs also? Figure if I apply the smallest limit I would get is $25k. I have until 9/17 to apply, Would this be a good card to include?

scott1961 said:Reading all this App-O-Rama stuff is getting me close to doing one, I figure what's the use of keeping my 800+ FICO if I never use it? First thing I did was go to opt-out and opt back in to see what offers come my way. Got my first offer the other day, Was E*Trade rewards Platinum. Have not been able to find much on that card here. You get 2,000 free points with first purchase. Is 0% BT until June 2007. Says it is 3% for cash advances, Does that apply to BTs also? Figure if I apply the smallest limit I would get is $25k. I have until 9/17 to apply, Would this be a good card to include?I did that opt-out/opt-in and got the same offer from E*Trade rewards Platinum. On my offer it lists no fee for BT, but has the 3% fee for cash advances.

a flat $29 fee or certain % for BTs with $29 max fee?

I've never seen a flat fee per BT

hmm, thats a new one!

Pre approved doesn't even mean you have a pulse. My dog has received pre approved offers. I've received pre approved offers addressed to my favorite Disney character -- used as the name for a magazine subscription just for fun.

All it means is that they have your name and address and would like to explore doing business with you. They'll do a hard credit inquiry after your application and make a decision based on that.

cchen said:Actually, a pre-approved offer means that the company sending the offer has to approve 90% of apps that come back from that offer.cite your source for that info.