DaveHanson said:

Now I just want to know how someone in (semi?)-retirement can document a $300K+ income. Talk about "hat's off"...
Not even semi-retired yet, Still putting in 60+ hrs a week, Will probably work till I drop, just knowing I could retire and sit on a beach keeps me going. Work is definitely a lot more fun and less pressure when you know you don't really have too.

Helps that I own the company. If I retired wife would make me help with kid and around the house and limit my computer time, So I need to work so I can search for bank deals and post on FW all day.

dbalkunjr said: I made him verify terms and the BT fee was 3% up to $75 max. I almost pulled the trigger on 30K...even went as far as to give them my bank info when I realized that I was not sure how this would look on my credit report as I am listed as AU on this card and I am planning an AOR in the next two weeks. So yes they do give money away waving the 3% fee just the $75 fee.First, they never should have even offered this deal to an AU, only the primary or joint cardholder. Are you sure this was your status? a little off topic but can anyone tell me if this would have showed up on my credit report as well? I assume so but have not come across a 100% concrete answer...that is why I walked away from that offer.If the card shows up on your credit report at all (likely), then the new balance (including the BT and fee) would be reported once the billing cycle closed.

MBNA seems a little odd when it comes to AU--at least if they are a spouse. My DH was an AU on my MBNA card and when he applied for one of his own, he got a really low limit which I thought was odd. A letter came in the mail saying that they noticed he already had an account with them with a high limit and that they were only able to grant him a small limit on his new card, but that he could call to reallocate. I called MBNA to confirm that he was only an AU on my account and they did confirm that, but also said I could reallocate to his card.

Right now the wife and I have a 3 cards where she is the primary and I am the AU. One of the accounts is a Chase Platinum w/ 14K limit. She also has two other chase cards with 23K and 25K limits. I am trying to figure out how I can use this to my advantage to build larger credit limits on new card apps in my AOR.

1.) I can have her reallocate everything but 1k on each of the other 2 cards to the account where I am AU. I figure this will show up on my credit profile as AU on an account with a CL of 60k. At that point I would hope that this and other three accounts that I have that have CL of about 15K will help in giving me a better chance at larger lines when I do my AOR. This would also allow me to use a Chase BT check for say 55k or so which I will use to launder money from my AOR while only paying a single $75 fee for the convenience which I would pay back within a statement period.(I realize that there are other ways to launder the money without getting hit for that extra $75 fee, but to be able to take care of 55K of my goal to get 100k in BT money @ <50% utilization on any card with no hassle at all is worth it to me.)

Other option would be..

2.) Keep the 3 accounts as they are. Use the BT checks on wife's two individual accounts as well as our joint account to launder the money. This will cost $75x3 so it definitely is an added expense to the AOR. The reasoning for this option would be a more favorable limits from chase on the 3 cards I am applying for during the AOR.

In the long run do you think the second method will have a bigger payoff later on since I will be establishing my own credit with Chase that I can then employ the above tactics to increase my own individual lines? Also which will have a better result overall druing this AOR. Sacrifice approvals from Chase or higher limits from the other 15 CC issuers I am applying with?

That was more speculation and questioning than any fact. Just trying to play out scenarios before I follow thru. Your opinion that it shouldn't affect it is probably made from experience...of which I have little in this game. Thanks for the input.

davef139 said:ok so ilogged into my citi account to drop a payment. I noticed on 2 of my cards that are newish I apped in May/June and doing some 0% BT. Anywho i noticed they riased my limited this month from 6300 to 8900 and 3800 to 5300 does this seem normal after only 4-5months of being a member? and having both cards near 80% utilzation?

I got CLI's after about 3 months with them automatically. Seems normal after they get some experience with you.

Beck446 said:See I thought that closing doesn't remove them from the age calculation -- hence the overwhelming instruction to keep them open. However, my concern is that because I have applied for so many cards in the last 5 years, it would be more to my advantage to close accounts, wait until they expire from the CC company's systems, and reapply for the great balance transfer deals that they advertise.

Anyone know for sure if closing a card removes it from the age calculation or not?

One of the problems I've been facing, (and maybe this deserves another thread though it is related) is:

How do you get credit limit increases when your utilization is high after an AOR?

In my own case, I have been asking for credit limit increases about once a month (on different cards) and I have been rejected on all of them. My total utilization is 64% and but I have all of my BT money parked in savings. I find it frustrating that even with my non BT cards like Fidelity or Citi Dividend or AMEX Blue (all of which I spend over 1K a month on and pay in full) they will not give me CLIs.

After reading supercreditman's thread: "I went from a $4K Lowes card to $1.5M biz & pers. credit in 32 months" I became interested in how it could happen for some, but not for me. What can I do to increase chances of CLI with high util?

highmktgoods said:One of the problems I've been facing, (and maybe this deserves another thread though it is related) is:
How do you get credit limit increases when your utilization is high after an AOR?
Ditto DaveHanson's advice. I had requested a CLI from BoA a couple of months ago (it was 6 months since my last CLI), when I was in the middle of my AOR/0% BT cycle with relatively high utilization (over 60% on the BoA, around 50% on a few others). That CLI was rejected – too many accounts with balances and balances too high. Since then I paid down all of my balances to below 50%, and just yesterday was able to get a CLI of $1500 (on a previous CL of $8800).