ILikeDollars's App-O-Rama (Status: updated with results so far)

My last App-O-Rama was Oct 2004. I never got around to sharing the details of that one, so I'll try to make up for it by documenting this one pretty well.

I've been putting off an App-O-Rama for a while now, but I've got a 0% for life offer on my Driver's Edge card that's going to expire soon, so now's the time.

Current Cards & Limits (& balance, where applicable): (updates where applicable)

Advanta Business Plat $15,000 ($14200 balance) (does not report to CRAs)
CapOne Miles Business $7,000 ($6800 balance) (does not report to CRAs) ------APPROVED CLI, now $9000
Chase Rewards Plus $12,600 (small balance, <$1k) ------APPROVED CLI, now $24,000
Discover Platinum Gas $14,000 (currently utilizing ~$6700 at 0% for life) ------NOW $8000 limit after reallocation
Household 2% Rewards $500 (showing $440 balance on my report, unfortunately)
RBS CustomCash 3% $5,060 ------APPROVED CLI, now $15,000
Bank Of America Plat $10,000
CapOne Visa $1,000 ------NOW CLOSED at my request
Citi Driver's Edge $12,600 ------NOW $22200 after reallocation
Citi (Associates) Card $3,300 ------APPROVED instant CLI, now $3,600 ------CLOSED BY CITI to open MTVu
ETrade VISA $10,000 ------APPROVED CLI, now $13,500
Fifth Third Bank $11,000
GM Card $4,000
MBNA Motley Fool $11,300 ------REDUCED automatically to $6300 (auto-reallocated to Fidelity 529) -----now $500 after reallocation
MBNA college-branded $4,100 -----now $20000 after reallocation + CLI
GE Meijer Platinum $4,500
GE Meijer Store Card $800
local credit union card $4,500
Providian $3,000

Mostly I'm looking for 0% money and a few new rewards cards, but I'll be grabbing a few cardoffers bonuses where available as well.

New cards I am going to apply for (in approximately the order I will be applying):

discover 0% for life (if still available?) -----APPROVED $10000 (after reallocating $6000 from other card)
Citi mtvU (will reallocate to Driver's Edge) ------APPROVED $3600 (moved over from old Associates card) ------now $1000 after reallocation
Citi Dividend (will reallocate to Driver's Edge) ------APPROVED $7500 ------now $500 after reallocation
Norwegian Cruise Line MBNA ------APPROVED $4000 - CLI TO $9000
Chase Rewards Plus Visa ------APPROVED $400
Chase Cash Plus Visa ------APPROVED $400
Fidelity 529 MBNA ------APPROVED $5000 -----now $10000
AMEX business cash rebate ------APPROVED $6000
Emigrant Direct 1.4% ------APPROVED $17500
AMEX blue sky ------APPROVED $5200
Wachovia Signature ------DENIED
GM Flexible Earnings ------APPROVED $2500
Citibusiness
Citibusiness w/ Thank You Network ------DID NOT APPLY (paranoid about too many Citi apps)
Chase Business Card with Premier Cash Rebate ------APPROVED $8000
PenFed 1.25% ------DOCS REQUESTED, PENDING
Wells Fargo Cash Back Platinum ------DID NOT APPLY (have to be WF customer)
Washington Mutual Platinum Mastercard ------"our records indicate you've already applied" (providian app below)
National City Diamond Edition Elite VISA
Providian Visa Plat ------DENIED
RBS Platinum ------DENIED
BB&T Visa Platinum
Capital One TJX Visa Platinum ------APPROVED $500 ------CLOSED at my request
State Farm Bank Good Neighbor VISA ------DENIED
US Bank Professional Bull Riders Cash Rewards VISA ------APPROVED $15000
Fifth Third Cash Rewards ------DENIED
HSBC Cash Back Rewards ------APPROVED $5000
Principal Bank Super Low Rate Platinum Visa ------APPROVED $2500
Advanta Platinum Rewards Business Card ------"our records indicate that you already have an advanta business card"
Capital One business platinum with preferred no hassle miles ------APPROVED $7000
AMEX Blue Cash (not originally on list, got greedy) ------APPROVED $2500
AMEX Biz Plat (not originally on list, got greedy) ------APPROVED $6000 ------CLI to $24000


Once I'm done with all the applications, I'll be:
Calling all current creditors to ask for line increases
Signing up for Citi Credit Protector on my Driver's Edge card (I'm moving)
Reallocating lines to take advantage of offers
Signing up for a few bank account deals (TBD)


Sorry if this post is a little sloppy, I'm quite tired after researching all of these cards. Will post back with results after app later today.

Advice always welcome.

Good googly moogly that's a lot of apps!!

Good luck.

Can you edit in the card details? Like 0% for how long, or signup bonus, or whatever the reason is you chose that card? It would also be helpful if you indicated where you found the info on all those.

That's a lot of cards. And a few of your credit lines may appear "maxed out", so I do expect you'll get rejected for some. But the law of large numbers says you'll get a bunch of approvals.

Any idea on your credit score?

I guess theoretically, you could do someworth to try to get soft-pull increases, and pay down balances to boost your score, then wait a month, then do your apps. But, you know, water under the bridge and all that.

theman2 said: markkundinger said: I guess theoretically, you could do someworth to try to get soft-pull increases, and pay down balances to boost your score, then wait a month, then do your apps. But, you know, water under the bridge and all that.
Yes. 88% utilization on a card with a $500 limit cannot be good for one's credit score...

...and 88% utilization on a card with a $500 limit cannot be *that* good for one's bank account unless one is nearly near homeless (this is coming from a grad student making under 30K a year, no offense intended). At least get a hundred dollars in interest a year or more before you take that kind of utilization hit.

ILikeDollars said:
Once I'm done with all the applications, I'll be:
Calling all current creditors to ask for line increases


If you haven't I'd try for hard free CLI first. Might be able to double up some of those inqueries for apps and CLI on the same day.

SUCKISSTAPLES said: Rajjeq said: Can you edit in the card details? Like 0% for how long, or signup bonus, or whatever the reason is you chose that card? It would also be helpful if you indicated where you found the info on all those.the terms and benefits of many of those cards are listed on my site

SIS, what site are you referring to?

Oranje said: RobMc45678 said: SUCKISSTAPLES said: Rajjeq said: Can you edit in the card details? Like 0% for how long, or signup bonus, or whatever the reason is you chose that card? It would also be helpful if you indicated where you found the info on all those.the terms and benefits of many of those cards are listed on my site

SIS, what site are you referring to?

just guessing..

Might want to check with Tim if you're going to start advertising your CC referral site.

Consider consolidating some of your credit lines if it isn't too late. You may find that with higher credit limits reported, your credit limit offers will try to match. (Giving you a much better utilization of 0% offers.)

fotomaniak said: I don't think you can get so many citi cards in one app o-rama
probably 2 at most.

I think you can do it, 2 personal and 2 business (that's what I did).

Now, which card to apply for depends on what you want to do with it.

AOR Phase 1 complete, OP updated with preliminary results (most apps are "in review").


In response to a few posts:


I chose my cards by reading posts here and looking at every single (ok, well, most of them) card available on cardoffers.

I chose mtvU and Dividend so that the cards will still be useful to me once I reallocate some of their limits back (in a few months after minimum payments free up some credit on my Drivers Edge card).

I already requested CLIs from all cards a month ago (soft pulls only).

I did not have any cards that were eligible for consolidation except the MBNA. I chose to leave those as is, since I receive BT offers at different times for those accounts.

I chose to apply for two personal Citi and two Business Citi after markkundinger's AOR results. However, I got spooked by all of the apps being in review so I skipped one of the business cards.

Annual Household Income reported as ~$350k.

FAKO scores from truecredit (still going strong for over 2 months since cancelling privacymatters) were ~770.

Oh, and I requested CLIs from most of my current creditors. In general, I was ineligible since I had already requested them a month or two ago (soft pulls). My old Associates student card gave me an instant increase of $300. The others are "in review".

ILikeDollars said: Signing up for Citi Credit Protector on my Driver's Edge card (I'm moving)


Why are you signing up for this?

hiphiphooray said: ILikeDollars said: Signing up for Citi Credit Protector on my Driver's Edge card (I'm moving)


Why are you signing up for this?he answered in your quote..it pays a benefit for moving

citi credit protector is extensively discussed here, you can call citi, etc. dont wait to be spoonfed.

hiphiphooray said: ILikeDollars said: Annual Household Income reported as ~$350k.

Is this true, or did you just say that to get approved for more?
Quite likely "gross income" do to home based business.

Mark is right. I applied for 2 personal and 1 biz in my app-a-rama and already had 2 personal from before. Got approved for all and am floating 0% on them.


markkundinger said: fotomaniak said: I don't think you can get so many citi cards in one app o-rama
probably 2 at most.

I think you can do it, 2 personal and 2 business (that's what I did).

Now, which card to apply for depends on what you want to do with it.

ILikeDollars said: but I thought a Bull Riders card was too hilarious to pass up.

Yours might be the first AOR to max out on irony. I mean, I thought I was being ironical when I got a Discover Gas card with a picture of a baby seal on front, but you win, hands down.

SUCKISSTAPLES said: citi credit protector is extensively discussed here, you can call citi, etc. dont wait to be spoonfed.

Why would I call Citi when I can ask it on here? How was I supposed to know it's been discussed extensively here?

Hey, that is one I have! What a surprise, considering my nick. Too bad there are no good rewards to go along with it, unless one frequents Vegas much, then you get a discount at the ST Experience at the Hilton.

cameron2003 said: Oh I WILL get the Star Trek card next AOR...

arouncoumar said: g10ny said: Another one bites the dust. Too bad you missed "my" strategy.
Whats your strategy?
Check this, the May 30 discussion

ILikeDollars said: mhesidence said: ILikeDollars said:
The Bull Rider's Cash Rewards Card has no fees on BT, unlike the regular cash rewards card. I could have also gone with the "Softball" cobranded card (same deal), but I thought a Bull Riders card was too hilarious to pass up.


No sure about the "no fee" The page you link says "0.0% balance transfer Fee for the first 6 months". 0% Fee makes no sense, probably a typo and should be 0.0% APY. The link to the terms and conditions on the same page has BT fee of 3% $5 min. doesn't say anything about a max, so probably uncapped.

I considered the possibilty that it may be a typo, but I figure worst case scenario, I'll argue with them and fax them a copy of the page (might work).

Update: the webpage is correct. There was no fee for my BT. Didn't need to argue with them or anything.