Multiple Citicards application Experiences : to 60days or not to 60days

Ok, having gone through my own AOR, I was warned that Citi has a sometimes-enforced, sometimes-not-enforced policy of allowing only 1 application every 60 days. Indeed, I got a letter saying just that from Citi when they denied my application for the Diamonds Rewards card (after I was instant-approved for the Premier Pass).

BUT!

About a month before my AOR, I applied for the Citi ATT Rewards card and was instant-approved. AND, 12 days later, I applied for the Citi HH cards and also was instant-approved. So what gives?

My guess is that the "store" Citi cards (like ATT, HH, perhaps AAdvantage etc..) are not counted in the "1 per 60days limit". What do you all think? With all the juicy citi promos floating around, such experiences may be very useful for others to plan their AOR's.

I'll start :

9/9/06 Citi ATT Rewards : Instant-approved
10/8/06 Citi Premier Pass : Instant-approved
10/8/06 Citi Diamond Rewards : Denied "due to too many applications within 60 days"
10/20/06 Citi HH Honour : Instant-approved
10/29/06 Citi AAdvantage Gold : Denied "You have applied for credit within past 60 days". No pull.

Awesome! You read my mind. This is exactly what I was wondering, so I'm eager to read some experiences. I keep reading how 2 personal apps per 60 days was the limit, and as such I was planning on applying for..

5 Total=

2 Personal
-Citi Diamond Preferred (w/0% for life BT)
-Citi Premier Pass or Driver's Edge (haven't quite decided which)

1 Business/Personal?
-Citi Professional - does this count as a personal app? or is this in its own "business/personal" category w/Citi?

2 Co-branded? (read these didn't count in regards to the personal apps limit)
-Citi Shell Platinum Select
-Citi AT&T Universal Rewards - correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming this might belong here per Miles' prior experience

Wondering if this is doable, especially after you mention this 1 app per 60 days limit. Hmmm.

i recommend just applying for every citi card you want...what comes will come, whats denied will be denied. youll have the best chances by just applying and seeing what happens.

it does seem cobranded cards and biz cards are not counted in the 2 cartds every 60 days rule...

I think some the co-brnaded cards dont apply to the rule. The Citi HH for one made me make a new login for online stuff and couldnt add it into my excisting account. I know that if u wait exactly 61 days it will approve you again =D

MilesHeighway said: Now should I apply for that 25k AA miles Citi card, you know, in the name of FWF-science?

(ok I am looking for an excuse...it is soooo tempting.)

Of course you should. I did. It was my 4th Citi card. As part of my AOR, I applied for a Citi AMEX, Upromise, and AT&T Universal card. I got all 3, with lower CLs as each was approved ($17K, $12K, and $8K - with a $21K existing card). Within a month, I stumbled onto the AA bonus mile offer, and decided, what the hell, and applied. I got approved with a $2K CL.

BTW they just dropped ATT Universal.

CS has told me on the phone only 1 app per 30 days, yet just yesterday allowed applying for a business card when checking the status of a personal cc app two days earlier. BTW Both were approved, but with stingy limits.

Earlier this summer, during an AOR, applied for ATT Universal & got approved-- a week later received 2 pre-approved offers: both Diamond Preferred-- Platimum MC & AMEX....which I applied simultaneously for-- all 3 cards arrived thereafter...BUT, A bit less than a month afterwards, Early Fraud Warning called & snail mailed to verify identity: two separate processes-- 1 for att, 1 for the 2 diamonds combined.

Reason given was they found the multiple apps suspicious(so why do they send multiple pre-approved offers, why don't they just discard extra apps, why don't they combine CL's & close a card or two? BTW They wouldn't accept any middle ground-- either verify to keep all cards, or close all accounts).

I have always found their CS to be atrocious, inflexible, & non-cooperative/communicative amongst themselves...yet there are advantages to posessing Citi cards.....

Conclusion: i see no reason why 4 personal along with 2 or more business cards are not attainable by anyone/everyone...& eventually each with high limits: wait 31/32 days between apps, spend their probationary early period charging close to the limit & paying it off before billing cycle ends while requesting a periodic CLI, open some token banking/investment accounts, then dangle large BT's in front of them for each card. If they resist, a talk with Retention / Credit Analyst should take care of it-- in my case i will point out how any of more than a handful of cards EACH carries a CL 10-20 times their puny limits, but would rather transfer my business to them because of their superior service <wink>, etc.

HTH

I just completed an App-O-Rama on 12th October. One of which is Citi Premier Pass Card. I was approved for $11k CL ($100 gift card thru 1 purchase). I went thru new FW thread that started on 17th or 18th October about Citi Diamond Preferred (0%APR for life with 2 min. purchases) and applied for that card also last week and I just got it approved for $7.3k which I didnt expect as in this thread, OP talk about Citi enforcing 1 application for every 60 days. In my case, they didnt enforce their policy and I should feel lucky for that.

10/10/06
AT&T Universal reward ------------------ *Instant Approved*
Citi® DiaPrefRewardsAmEx ------------ *Instant Approved*
Citi® DiaPrefRewardsMC -------------- *Instant Approved*
Citi Professional Card -------------------Defered - Denied "credit report shows 0 balance on all cards"
CitiBusiness ----------------------------- Defered - *Approved*
Citi Simplicity -----------------------------Defered -Denied "you may only apply for two card in 60 day period"

Citi Professional Card -------------------Defered - Denied "credit report shows 0 balance on all cards"

Very interesting...........

charleslanger said: BTW they just dropped ATT Universal.
.
Huh? No, the ATT cards are still offered and still have 0% for 12 months with no BT fees.

smkrishna said: ...approved for $7.3k which I didnt expect as in this thread, OP talk about Citi enforcing 1 application for every 60 days.

I believe the limit is two applications every 60 days as posted in other threads.

I would guess that at least one card with a balance would have avoided the issue, but applying for for 6 citi and cobranded cards in a short time was the more likley reason

tim2357b said: I would guess that at least one card with a balance would have avoided the issue, but applying for for 6 citi and cobranded cards in a short time was the more likley reason
Yeah, he's lucky some were / won't be summarily closed(w/o chance to even dispute)...or an audit / verification process started...

I would immediately charge some stuff on each & pay it off before billing cycle-- at least to demonstrate activiy & good paying record to Citi-- who gets very nervous of new accounts-- don't give them a chance to suspect fraud or close any card for inactivity. I would also make sure to have at least a token CITI bank account...
Just because all the card approvals slipped thru does NOT mean they get to stay open....

tim2357b said: I would immediately charge some stuff on each & pay it off before billing cycle-- at least to demonstrate activiy & good paying record to Citi-- who gets very nervous of new accounts-- don't give them a chance to suspect fraud or close any card for inactivity. I would also make sure to have at least a token CITI bank account...
Just because all the card approvals slipped thru does NOT mean they get to stay open....

I enrolled all of them in click to pay from checking, charged $.25 through google video to get the extra +1000 TY points per card and paid all of them off using click to pay from bank account. should have 49,000 or 50,000 TY points from the 4 cards total bonuses to cash out when the points post.
Very good--All the best!

I got reject for the AAadvantage for same reason 60 days reasoning!

Thanks for all the data points! And they are all over the place!

So far I got

(a) Business Cards are not considered in the personal app limit and that seems to include the Citi Professional card.

(b) Cards that have gotten "too many apps denials" : Diamond Preferred, AAdvantage, ATT Universal, Simplicity

(c) Cards that seem to be immuned : Citi Hilton HHonors, Citi Shell Platinum, mtvU

(d) Cards that seemn to count when considered for "too many apps" : Diamonds Preferred, AAdvantage, ATT Universal, Citi AMEX Premier Pass, Simplicity

Unknown : Driver's Edge

Now, (b) and (d) is slightly different : a card that can get denied because of too many apps does not mean it is counted.

Although tim2357b's triple approval especially the double Diamonds Preferred approvals of the MC + AMEX version, before getting denied is interesting...could it be that we need to consider MC/AMEX/VISA as a parameter too.

I've found that if you keep on applying, they basically get tired of you and give you a card. In fact, I have on multiple occasions been told that I could not apply because I had recently applied (and been denied) only to then get the card in the mail.

Download roboform, include your name and address, social security, telephone number, etc., and it makes filling out an application painless as it fills out all of the fields automatically with the click of a button. Then you can apply as often as you like and they will eventually give you a card just to stop having to run a credit report on you. And of course, you are entitled to a free credit report when they deny you, so if you like to get more than the free annual report, this is a cheap way of getting one.

Obviously, if you're concerned about scuttling your credit score, don't do this. Me, I don't care. I owe $230,000.00 due to zero percent financing, and I have it all sitting at HSBC earning 6%. I shall continue to apply for any zero percent offer I come across in the hopes of socking away $1,000,000.

Here's my experience from a little AOR conducted last November:

11/21/06 Apps:
Citi Diamond Preferred Card F1K7.......Approved $7300 11/22
AT&T Universal rewards card.................Approved $7500
PremierPass..............................................Declined "Too many applications."
City Professional.......................................Approved $1000 11/25 with credit rep on phone
Citibusiness PremierPass.....................Approved $13500
Citibusiness with Thank You Network..Approved $7000

11/22/06 Apps:
Citi Honors HHilton Signature................Approved $15000
Citi online CLI requests for 2 existing accounts deferred and declined.

My data seems confirm that only 2 new "core" cards are allowed within a certain time period. Professional, Business and Hilton cards don't seem to count as "core" cards.