SIS comes back with the App-O-Rama FAQ - AKA MAKING THOUSANDS OF $$ FROM CREDIT Link AOR stories and post your successes

fleetwoodmac said: Here are my questions about AOR

1) How many months/days should I wait after I payoff the previous BTs. Or does it hurt to aply for credit cards while carying huge debt?

2) If I am making $75K but declare $93K, how would they find out? Do they ever check or how would they check my salary anyway? Is it possible to declare say $135K, would that trigger an audit?

3) What is the ratio of how much I can borrow and CLI I can get vs my income? Is there such a ratio? In other words, is it possible to get $100K worth of BT while my HHI is $100K?

4) I have some business cards but none of them has a promotion for 0% BT offer. How can I utilize them? I do not have a business by the way.

1. Wait until the balances update on your reports. It does hurt to apply with high utilization/dti.

2. Not many issuers ask for financials/tax returns these days. This practice is not recommended because if you ever file for BK the debt may become non-dischargeable because of the fraud used to gain the credit. (not likely but thats what the moral police will tell you) For the most part there is zero risk.

3. This varies with each lender. There are people who have 500K of credit with less than 50K in HHI. This is becoming harder and harder but can still be done if you pick the right card issuers. My spouse has about 200K in credit and 0 income.

4. It depends who the biz card issuer is. Some issuers allow you to move the CL to another card that has a BT offer, biz or personal. Dont overlook using cards that have 0% APR for purchases instead of BTs and using the card to purchase dollar coins.

JAGLUR said: Would getting a car loan 1~2 month ahead of AOR hurt my chances of approvals in AOR? Or it wouldn't matter much as it's a secured loan?
I don't think it would matter much unless your reports get a shotgun blast of inquiries from seeking financing at a dealer. This shouldn't happen if you have good enough credit to be considering an AOR but to make sure get financing set up prior to going to the dealer. Definitely do not wait until after an AOR to get a car loan, your scores are most likely going to take a dump once you start pulling the trigger on apps and continue to fall as your new accounts and balances are updated.

retmilunless your reports get a shotgun blast of i said: nquiries from seeking financing at a dealer.

Maybe I am missing something, so if you seek financing at a dealer you get a bunch of inquiries? At this point, since i am still showing AOR balances here and there my score isn't super.

retmil said: JAGLUR said: retmil unless your reports get a shotgun blast of said: ]inquiries from seeking financing at a dealer.

Maybe I am missing something, so if you seek financing at a dealer you get a bunch of inquiries? At this point, since i am still showing AOR balances here and there my score isn't super.
It can happen if they need to shop your app around to get an approval or to get an approval for an interest rate you'll accept. I would definitely get financing arranged before you go to a dealer. The Penfed 3.9% deal is popular and it's easy enough to get an approval. You will still likely get one inquiry at the dealer to "verify your identity" which really means check for fraud.
If it's truly just a query for identity verification rather than pulling a credit report, then it should be a soft inquiry, not a hard inquiry. The former won't ding your FICO score with whatever bureau they use for the identity check.

I would definitely check out this recent AND very well documented AOR thread before any action is taken these days by anyone:

Hasty's AOR thread

JAGLUR said: Would getting a car loan 1~2 month ahead of AOR hurt my chances of approvals in AOR? Or it wouldn't matter much as it's a secured loan?

I was approved for a car loan of up to $26,000 from Penfed about a month before I launched my AOR. My approval expires on December 8th. It should be interesting to see if the honor it after I pull six figures of balance transfer money out of my credit cards.

jackcrawfish said: 2) 1st Southwest Bank of Alamosa CO gave MrsJ an $18000 limit and immediately closed her account AFTER her $16000 BT posted. I plan on applying with them.

MyDW got approved for similar CL recently and we planed to do BT sooner than later.
I think they allow BT only after you activate it. How soon was it closed after BT initiation? (Do they e-transfer or send a check?)
Thanks,

JAGLUR said: jackcrawfish said: 2) 1st Southwest Bank of Alamosa CO gave MrsJ an $18000 limit and immediately closed her account AFTER her $16000 BT posted. I plan on applying with them.

MyDW got approved for similar CL recently and we planed to do BT sooner than later.
I think they allow BT only after you activate it. How soon was it closed after BT initiation? (Do they e-transfer or send a check?)
Thanks,She initiated a BT on the day the card arrived (there was $0 debt reporting on her bureau at the time of BT request).

The account was closed very quickly. In fact, TransUnion still hasn't reported the tradeline at all. EX and EQ both show it as closed.

At this point, my DW doesn't care about reopen since she has the $16k for arbitrage....

Speaking of rough out there ...

I just finished a mini-AOR and I have mostly bad news.
1. US bank no longer does consolidations. $25K is the max line and $22,500 is the max BT
2. Citibank denied me for a professional card. Even after I had closed my $63K credit line with them
3. Chase will not do more than $30K toital in BTs or checks within 90 days (as per CSR)

I am down to $50K in BT cash (with a pending app for the coast-to-coast barclay's card)
Between me and the wife (she got in before the Chase limits) we have only $170K.
Just under 2 years ago we had over $1,000,000 of free money. So it goes.

jackcrawfish said: cameron2003 said: Here is an AOR I started a few weeks ago. Still in progress:

APR Mo. BT Fee BT Fee Issuer Card Thread Apply Notes
0% 12 3% $50 Barclays I Fly America card APPROVED - $5,000; Consolidated to $13k
0% 12 2% $30 BofA NEA Platinum Plus APPROVED - $5,000; Consolidated to $7400
0% 12 3% $75 Chase Disney Rewards DENIED
0% 12 $0 $0 Citi Drivers Edge Optns Plat Sel APPROVED - $7,300; Consolidated to $18,100
0% 12 $0 $0 US Bank TheLinuxFund.org APPROVED - $15,000
0% 12 3% $99 Wachovia Visa Platinum DENIED
0% 12 3% $75 USAA Total Rewards World APPROVED - $25,000 (Invitation)
0% 12 3% $75 USAA American Express APPROVED - $25,000 (Invitation)

0% 15 3% $75 Barclays BankAtlantic Business Card DENIED
0% 12 $0 $0 Citi CitiBusiness Card with TYN DENIED

Both my business cards were denied.I'm curious to know whether you had any adverse action? This spree was from June this year and I'm wondering whether USBank and/or USAA chopped any lines down for you?

USAA and US Bank didn't do anything. I have adverse actions galore from BofA and Chase. Cut lines and cancelled cards. I got 8 Chase letters in one day a few weeks ago about cut lines. Oh well.

Posted this in the newbie thread and nobody cared, so trying here as I'm considering an "Un-AOR/Cancel-o-Rama"...

I have over 30 CCs (mostly personal, some biz) including the wife's handful, very many obtained over a couple of AORs in the previous few years. With the chance of existing cards tossing worthwhile offers my way surely being nil, I'd just as well not have the "maintenance" of all these cards, or make my wife faint when she opens up the "master info doc" if I pass. Losing the ability to consolidate/reallocate and the general landscape makes scaling back the obvious choice for me. There's about 5 we use in the ol' optimal reward rotation, and then when I put the rest into piles I get 9 to keep with various reasoning and 11 to cancel (Discover Gas in Jan would make 12).

CreditKarma score at 751, I got a new mortgage in April and have no need for my credit score...would like to keep all the accounts I decide I want to keep is about it. Should I stagger the cancellations, request CLIs on cards I'm keeping before/after, by issuer? Or the hell with it and just do whatever? The total CL I cancel for personal may barely reach 10% of my overall looking at the stack; there's several business cards here.

If this matter is of any interest at all, I can make a new thread with more detail chronicling the process...

ColbyS said: MaddHatter said: If this matter is of any interest at all, I can make a new thread with more detail chronicling the process...
Vote +1

Vote +2

jackcrawfish said: specmaker said: ColbyS said: MaddHatter said: If this matter is of any interest at all, I can make a new thread with more detail chronicling the process...Vote +1Vote +2Vote +3

I like the idea very much.

It will be very interesting to discuss the issuers you have currently and draw strategize with you on your "UN-AOR"

Wowsers, alrighty then. I'll post a thread later tonight (and edit this post with its location) after compiling all the wonderful relevant data.

I think its a great idea also. I just finished closing a bunch of accounts (I had over 70 when you add in the wife

No retention offers at all. Only discover even asked me if I was sure I wanted to close them. Only a few even asked why.
That's 40 cards among Citi, Chase, Discover, Cap One, (biz and personal for those 4) US bank, PNC, Mechanics, Commerce Bank, UMB, Bank of the West, Vectra
Bank of America and AMEX were wife only, I'm keeping my $170K limit cards
There are probably a couple I forgot
And not a single offer.
VanceWade said: Great idea. I will be very curious to see if/which rentention offers they make available to you.

devildoc said: Just under 2 years ago we had over $1,000,000 of free money. So it goes.

Wow.

I did a 20K BT from BankAtlantic to a Bank of America card with 0 balance but when I called BOA to get a refund of the negative balance I was told that they'll have to send the funds back to its origin not to me. They will not send a check to me or do a direct deposit to my checking account.

Any thoughts on this and how to overcome this obstacle?

I spoke to one and she put me on hold to check.
She came back and she said it is against BOA policy to give me the funds.
I asked for a check to me and she said no, and after I asked for DD, also no.

A year ago they send me a check for overpaying but it was for around $100.

If anyone has any ideas please post.

double post, please delete

zxx7x said: cameron2003 said:

APR Mo. BT Fee BT Fee Issuer Card Thread Apply Notes
0% 12 $0 $0 Citi Drivers Edge Optns Plat Sel APPROVED - $7,300; Consolidated to $18,100


cameron, what was the method you or others have used to successfully consolidate a Citi credit line over to a 0% Citi card? I must have called 5 times after a recent aor and every rep I got said they couldn't do any credit line movement from one Citi card to a Citi card with a 0% offer on it.

Maybe they changed, I called once and they did it, back in June.

MaddHatter said: Posted this in the newbie thread and nobody cared, so trying here as I'm considering an "Un-AOR/Cancel-o-Rama"...

I have over 30 CCs (mostly personal, some biz) including the wife's handful, very many obtained over a couple of AORs in the previous few years. With the chance of existing cards tossing worthwhile offers my way surely being nil, I'd just as well not have the "maintenance" of all these cards, or make my wife faint when she opens up the "master info doc" if I pass. Losing the ability to consolidate/reallocate and the general landscape makes scaling back the obvious choice for me. There's about 5 we use in the ol' optimal reward rotation, and then when I put the rest into piles I get 9 to keep with various reasoning and 11 to cancel (Discover Gas in Jan would make 12).

CreditKarma score at 751, I got a new mortgage in April and have no need for my credit score...would like to keep all the accounts I decide I want to keep is about it. Should I stagger the cancellations, request CLIs on cards I'm keeping before/after, by issuer? Or the hell with it and just do whatever? The total CL I cancel for personal may barely reach 10% of my overall looking at the stack; there's several business cards here.

If this matter is of any interest at all, I can make a new thread with more detail chronicling the process...

I notice the CITI Identity monitor computes my average line of credit and states this is a positive (higher the better). My average is pulled down because I have a number of cards with $100 limits. These once had bigger limits but I had asked that the lines be reallocated, leaving a minimum in case there were attractive offers or for some other reason I wanted to use these cards again.

If it is true that having a high average ine is good, I (and probably many others) could raise our averages by canceling some of these cards. Would that be wise (usual caveat about not canceling cards with a long history). any advice as to whether that might be wise?