4 questions:

1. what is the savings/mma account with the best combination of convenience/high interest? i looked through the stickied thread on this and there are so many responses, i dont know where to begin. is there a general/consensus "best" place to put your money? seems like it would be EmigrantDirect but there are lots of places with substantially (i.e. .30%) higher rates. can anybody recommend one of the 5.30+% places? ideally, i'm looking for a savings/mma account that is as easy-to-use and convenient as emigrant/ingdirect but with the higher rate.

2. my only real big fear about doing an AOR and then transferring tons of money to a savings/mma account is the possibility that my credit score will divebomb to such an extent that some of the cards will see fit to unilaterally raise my 0% BT rates to usurious levels (i.e. 25+%)... has this happened to people before? what can i do to make sure it doesnt happen to me? if a card wants to increase my rate, they WILL notify me right? i worry, though, because i'll probably be getting so much snail-spam from card companies i might not notice/pay attn to something like that.

3. has anybody had success asking the different cards to WAIVE the BT fees? i.e. tell them "well, you know, a competitor card of yours offered me the same 0% deal but they have no fee..." does it work?

4. do you gus keep track of ALL your cards/transfers/promotional gifts/free points etc. in Quicken or money? it seems like it would be an enormous hassle to keep track of all that junk and also kind of difficult...

Warrior1994 said:I just did an apporamma about 4 months ago. I checked my credit score and its at 665! Before the apporamma my score was at 750. My total credit card balances due is about $25K but I have about $100K in available credit. None of my cards use over 50% of the credit limit. I got hit with 12 inquires from the apporamma, no late payments, defaults, ect. Is it normal for my score to be so low at this point? Will a credit score of 665 be bad if I'm applying for jobs (i'm a cpa)?

I've read several places in FWF that 6 months seems to be the key point for inquiry dings to wear off, so give it a couple of months and see if your score doesn't bounce up a good bit. I expect with most jobs, the score doesn't matter so much as delinquencies, public records, or really excessive debt. Each employer is going to have their own view of that, though.

crazyapps said:How important is it to do an AOR early in the day? I am working during the day and it would be easiest for me to do the AOR at around 5-6 PM EST until late at night (midnight). I've seen people mention doing it early in the day/early in the week..... why is this vital?

Depends on how important you think the inquiries are. The theory is that the shorter amount of time you complete the applications in, the (possibly) less inquiries you could have. Some companies may only pull credit once for several applications in one day. It's pretty hit or miss from what I can gather though. In my AOR, they pulled like crazy.

also, what does CLI stand for? credit limit increase?

Yes

665 is still a decent score (average/better than average) and it's only going to go up over time.

The effects of a hard inquiry will be reduced after 6 months.

There is no way your credit score will affect your job search.

cclyde said:Warrior1994 said:I just did an apporamma about 4 months ago. I checked my credit score and its at 665! Before the apporamma my score was at 750. My total credit card balances due is about $25K but I have about $100K in available credit. None of my cards use over 50% of the credit limit. I got hit with 12 inquires from the apporamma, no late payments, defaults, ect. Is it normal for my score to be so low at this point? Will a credit score of 665 be bad if I'm applying for jobs (i'm a cpa)?

I've read several places in FWF that 6 months seems to be the key point for inquiry dings to wear off, so give it a couple of months and see if your score doesn't bounce up a good bit. I expect with most jobs, the score doesn't matter so much as delinquencies, public records, or really excessive debt. Each employer is going to have their own view of that, though.

Hope this isn't too off topic. Does anyone have an estimate of how many pulls (I've got True Credit) one must do to knock a couple of TU inquiries off?

kamello said:Has anybody used roborm to do an AOR ??
Has anybody figured out how to get people to use the search form?

I have developed a plan for a follow-up to my casual AOR from early January, I wanted to run the plan by the sages here so they could tell me if it’s a stupid idea and not to bother.

My first (Casual) AOR:

Began early January 2007

HHI $90k

FICO: approx 790 (I didn’t do any credit monitoring, that was what I was told my score was when I applied for a HELOC (which I did not close on) about a year ago)

Original Cards:

Chase BP CL: $30k (12 years old) balance approx 2k, paid in full every month

Chase plat visa: $5k (14 years old) bal 0 (never use card)

Cards and limits (all cards I applied for I received):

B of A NEA Card (0%, 12 statements, $30 max fee) $12.6k, increased to $20.1k via consolidation with BofA Financial Rewards plus) BTd $12k

Citi Professional (0%, 9 months (oops). $16.8cl, BTd $8k

Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards (0%, 12 months, cl $5.7k) BTd $2.6k

ATT Universal: (0%, 12 months, cl $4.5k) BTd $2k

Discover Miles: (0%, 12 months, cl $5k) Btd $2.4k

GE Money Plat MC: (0%, 12 months, cl $20k) Btd $12k

Juniper Natl Parks: (0%, 12 months, cl $15k) BTd $7.5

Total New credit: $87k

Total BT to HYS: $46.5k

Overall Utilization: 38%

Highest utilization 59% (on GE and BofA cards)

All other cards below 50%

I do see several newbe mistakes (no Chase or AMEX lines, the ‘unconsolidatable’ ATT card, etc.) and I do realize I have been conservative with my utilization. However, this conservatism resulted in a credit score that still seems reasonable: 3/31/07: 736 (via the TU freebie promotion from another thread, all lines and balances had reported)

I was generally pleased with how the AOR went despite its informality (I did not apply for all the cards in one day, the process stretched over a month). However, the small Cls with Discover, ATT and Citi Diamond seem silly, I tried to consolidate the ATT and Citi cards in every possible combination but the CSR told me it was impossible. I would like to make the small lines more usable, extend my 0% (the Citi Professional card 0% BT will expire in September) and get some more $$$ in my HYS.

These small credit limits, combined with:

my surprisingly healthy credit score (correct me if I am wrong)

An increase in HHI to $140k in July

My lack of BT money from Chase

Has led me to consider a follow on mini AOR in August. My plan is this:
Late May:

Pay down GE and BofA below 50%

Pay off Discover, Citi Diamond Preferred and ATT. This payoff would be about 5 months before expiration but I think it would provide a worthwhile bump in scores in return for paying off small balances.

Mid August:

Apply for a Chase 0% BT card, (reallocate approx 30k to the promotional card from my other chase cards)  BT 50% (wish I jumped on the Freedom promotion).

Apply for another Citi card and consolidate Diamond and ATT (hopefully) CLs to it  BT 50%

Possibly apply for three(?) other cards that I don’t have yet. (if I can find decent BT terms)

My questions are:

Am I being greedy? (is it stupid to try again after six months?)

Would I be better off if I wait until the bulk of the 0% approaches expiration?

Some have said that if you don’t get any denials you haven’t pushed hard enough, should I keep pushing?

What about CLIs? Should I ask for them before applying for new 0%? (so far, I have had no ‘free’ opportunities for CLI with my cards, but it has only been a few months, my new and improved HHI will help, but the duration of the 0% offers on those cards is getting shorter)

I guess I am just looking for advice from those folks who have done more than one AOR, is rushing the next one (including paying down small BT balances prematurely) a foolish strategy or is it worth a shot?

I'm think I'm in the midst of a huge AOR failure. I applied for 14 cards (two should be shot down immediately because I did three Discover aps before I found out about 1 per 30 days). All were defered except two. A $3000 Travelocity card (oddly says $17,500 on the Juniper ap status lookup) and a $600 GM Card. Great. I did a mini AOR in December and I didn't receive any especially large lines there either (biggest $8000), but when I asked for increases they all went over $10,000. Spidey sense has REALLY low ones coming this time. 765 score, $5000 tied up in a 0% Chase Sony, $6000 left on my car, $3000 probably showing on my Citi (paid it off today), and around $100,000 free credit (thanks AMEX). Since I went after cards for BTs rather than bonuses for the most part, am I just screwed and have to live with a bunch of low limit cards that probably won't receive increases since I now have so many inquires and lines of credit? I'm bumping like a madman for what that's worth.

Moving my post here:

Ok, after reading for a while I've decided to start an AOR, but I'm trying to find the best possible credit cards for it.

Some background on me:

23 Years Old

Veteran of the military, now full-time student

I'm not currently working, but I'm pulling $1800 a month from GI Bill + other extra money from investments/interest. Made $26k taxable + ~11k GI Bill last year. I will be getting a job shortly and my fiance is working so that counts towards household income of about $40k.

I don't know my FICO, but my credit is spotless with a Best Buy (4k limit) credit card and credit union card (6.5k limit) from 2003, motorcycle payment from 2004 - 2005 paid off, car payment 2005 - still paying. Have USAA AMEX card for $8k limit that I just got in late 2006. I carry no balance on any of my credit cards.

I did not see this question anywhere though I am sure it is here somewhere. I currently have 11 credit cards (4 Buss and 7 personal) and was wondering if the experts could tell me if I would be better off closing accounts or leaving them prior to my AOR. I have not had an hard pulls in a month on my credit and am planning my AOR in 5 months.