YAAOR - TheRivler1's App-and-Accounts-O-Rama

I have decided that it is time to throw my hat into the AOR and BT ring.

I do not travel and try not to use consumer products, so my AOR is going to be limited to cash and potential for BTs. However, I included the TigerDirect offer b/c the holiday season is quickly approaching and I know that I will need to buy some presents (also, CardOffers would only give $75). I am sure that some of the bonuses listed below will have to be cashed out as gift cards. Oh well, at least I tried.

I will also be applying for a few checking/brokerage accounts at the same time since I think they do a hard pull. Even if they don't, if not now, when?

Relevant information:
Age:24
Income: 60,000
Credit Score: A few months ago it was in the 770 range. I refinanced over the summer, so I don't really care anymore. I am not going to be checking and updating it religiously. I will probably check it in a few weeks just to see where it ended up.

I included the relevant information about each offer in parentheses. If you have a better deal or I missed something, please let me know!

• Current cards for CLI (2)
  Chase Cash Plus Rewards (limit 10,000)
  CrapitalOne (limit 5,500)
  
  
• Personal (16)
  Am_Ex
  Blue ($40 CardOffers,0% purchase for 15mo)
  IN: NYC ($40 CardOffers,0% for 6mo, no BT fee with offer)
  BofA
  WorldPoints Platinum Plus MasterCard ($75)
  Money Return Visa Platinum Plus ($30 CardOffers,0% for 6mo, no BT fee)
  Chase
  Sony Card ($100, 0% for 12 mo, 3% <= $75)
  CashPlus MC 1-888-787-0329 with the 94F code ($100, 0% for 12 mo, 3% <= $75)
  Chevy Chase Bank (local bank with my checking account)
  Platinum Visa ("Generous Credit Line", 0% for 12 mo, 3% <= $75)
  Citi
  AT&T Universal Reward ($100, 0% for 12 mo, no fee with offer)
  Professional Card with ThankYou Network ($40 CardOffers, $100, 0% for 9 mo, no fee with offer)
  Diamond Preferred Card (F1K7, 0% for 6 mo, 2 purchases/month to extend 0%, 3% <= $75)
  Discover
  Platinum Clear Card ($40 CardOffers,0% for 12mo, no BT fee with application)
  HSBC
  Direct Rewards MasterCard (0% for 12 mo,3% <= $75)
  GM Flexible Earnings($35, CardOffers, 0% for 12 mo,3% <= $75)
  PenFed
  Visa Platinum Variable (No Cash Advance Fee, No Balance Transfer Fee)
  PNC
  Platinum Rewards MasterCard($50, 0% for 12mo, no BT fees)
  Pulaski
  Pulaski Bank Gold Visa ($40 CardOffers,0% for 6mo, no fee with offer)
  
  
• Business (7)
  Advanta
  Advanta Platinum Rewards BusinessCard MasterCard ($50 CardOffers,0% for 16mo, 3% <=$50)
  Am_Ex
  Platinum Business Credit Card ($75 CardOffers)
  Business Gold Rewards Card($100,$150 from TigerDirect)
  Citi
  CitiBusiness Card with ThankYou Network ($100, $10 CardOffers, 0% for 12mo,no fee with offer)
  CitiBusiness PremierPass ($150, $10 CardOffers, 0% for 12mo,no fee with offer)
  Discover
  Business Card ($45 CardOffers, 0% purchase for 12mo)
  PNC
  Platinum Business Rewards MasterCard($50, 0% for 12mo, no BT fees)
  
  
• Other (I prefer no DD requirements, for simplicity)(6)
  BofA Checking ($125)
  Fidelity Brokerage ($100, fund $10,000.)
  NetBank Checking ($75, fund $500 for 1 month)
  NetBank Money Market ($75, fund $1000 for 1 month)
  ShareBuilder ($20 Ebates, $50 after 1 trade. fund $20)
  Citi Checking (100, fund 1500 for 60 days. There is potential for another 100 for DD or paying 2 bills a month for 6 months. Call in code: MGCH)
  

I'd apply for bank/brokerage accounts a week after app o rama, to make sure all CC issuers have got a chance to pull your credit report (some pull same day, some wait a few days before pulling the report).
Your score does not matter much when opening bank accounts, but if CC issuer sees several additional pulls done by banks it may be bad.

Do you get $100 cash from AT&T Universal rewards? If it is, please tell me what's the offer code.
if it's a GC then it's better to apply for Premier Pass Elite and get $150 GC, then convert to basic and get a refund of annual fee.

apply for both AT&T & PP, worst case you get a decline
I thought the limit was 2 "core", 2 cobranded and 2 business

therivler1 said: Good point about the bank/brokerage accounts, I will keep that in mind.

The AT&T Universal rewards is a giftcard, so you are right that the Premier Pass Elite would be better. However, I remember some threads where people could only get 1 "core" citi card, but more "store/branded" cards. I didn't want to get denied from the Premier Pass Elite and pass up the, probably easier, AT&T Universal rewards. Something to think about though.

I applied for both the AT&T and the PP Elite and got accepted by both. Just apply for everything. Apply for the Citi Professional card too.

djspray said: fotomaniak said: apply for both AT&T & PP, worst case you get a decline
I thought the limit was 2 "core", 2 cobranded and 2 business
Is PP considered co-branded?
No.

Hindustani said: I am planning my AOR in a month or so and paying off my balances on all my cards.

- Does anyone know when credit card issuers report to the credit bureau my new $0 balance?
- Does it change from one credit issuer to another?

I am sure it has been discussed on the forum but I could not find the thread. Please point me to the right thread if you have it bookmarked. Thanks!!

It's been asked and answered in other threads, but it depends on the issuer. For me, Cap1 and Citi report when the statement closes but AMEX always reports around the 20th of each month. It all depends on the issuer. The easiest way to check is to get a credit report and see when each item was last updated. Recently Cap1 updated my info mid-cycle after a modest credit limit increase. Short answer: IT DEPENDS...

Hindustani said: I am planning my AOR in a month or so and paying off my balances on all my cards.

- Does anyone know when credit card issuers report to the credit bureau my new $0 balance?
- Does it change from one credit issuer to another?

I am sure it has been discussed on the forum but I could not find the thread. Please point me to the right thread if you have it bookmarked. Thanks!!

Ive been keeping track by pulling daily and its usually a couple days after statement cuts. Exp is usually the fastest to update.

To OP:
Instead of the Freedom card, why not try for the CashPlus (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=52&threadid=524032). $100 statement credit after 1 purchase. Also, my friend got 15 months 0% purchases and bt, with a fee of 3% capped at $75.

Platinum Clear Card ($40 CardOffers,0% purchase (and BT but no max fee) for 12mo)

There are a few Discover cards, under issuer Morgan Stanley at co.com, that has no fees for the bt including the Gas and Miles card I believe. Unless yours was a typo, that is way better than a no max on the bt fee.

GoodLuck.

AH!

The CashPlus is different from the CashPlus Rewards. I always figured I has the CashPlus Rewards; I need to verify which one I have and apply for the other.

Thanks alleni!

It looks like a lot of the discover cards waive the BT fee if made with the application.

My problem is that I do not have anywhere for it to go yet. My only idea is to put down the my debit card number that goes to my checking account. If it goes through, great. If not, it will take a few days for them to straighten it out, and then I can say, Oops, I put the wrong number in. I would then give them one of my new accounts. I guess its worth a shot. The worst that would happen is that they would say no.

Approved for the following:

AMEX Blue 10,000
Chase Sony Card 4000
Citi Professional Card with ThankYou Network 4000
HSBC GM Flexible Earnings 700
PNC Platinum Rewards MasterCard 5000
Advanta Platinum Rewards BusinessCard MasterCard ????

No instant denials, and everything else was deferred.

I had errors on the 2 business AMEX apps. I'll wait a little and then call to see if it went through. Pulaski also wants a paystub.

Thats it for now. I will update more as I hear more.

I was bored, so I pulled my credit with the myFico free trial.

Current Equifax score is 740, and it is showing 12 inquiries. So, the bulk have been pulled and my score is still pretty good. I am getting excited for the accounts-o-rama next week.

Interestingly enough, I was approved for 3 AMEX cards, yet no inquiries here. They must have pulled elsewhere.

If this question has been answered before, please excuse my ignorance, i couldn't find it. here it goes: what do you guys do after the promotions/perks/whatever end? Say you are left with 15-20 cards. You have to pay them off. But how do you start anew? Since you can't have more that a certain number of "core" cards from the same issuer, I suppose you cancel them and then go for another AoR? how long do you usually wait?

thanks a lot.

awsome. i was under the impression that you can have only a certain number of cards from the same issuer. didn't occur to me that it's only application-time limited! that explains the avalanche of CC offers of the type i already have that i keep getting! thanks a lot fotomaniak!


fotomaniak said: there is no hard limit on # of cards you can have from a certain issuer, you may be limited by total CL based on your income etc...
So I can do an AOR today and get 2 "core" citi cards and then another AOR in 6-8 month and get another 2 "core" citi cards.</blockquote>

awsome. i was under the impression that you can have only a certain number of cards from the same issuer. didn't occur to me that it's only application-time limited! that explains the avalanche of CC offers of the type i already have that i keep getting! thanks a lot fotomaniak!</blockquote></blockquote>

DirtyBastard said: Hi,

Do you have more details on this........

Citi Checking (100, fund 1500 for 60 days. There is potential for another 100 for DD or paying 2 bills a month for 6 months. Call in code: MGCH)

Any expiration date??
valid througth 3/31/07
"Get $200 from Citibank; $100 for opening account ($1500 fund) and $100 for Billpay/DD" thread here

I went ahead and opened all of the accounts. I have 30 days to fund the Fidelity account, so once all my cards come, I will BT to that account.

I should have payed closer attention to the funding requirements. Since I have 30 days for Fidelity and 60 days for Citibank, I should have left they money in eLoan longer. Right now, its sitting in my checking waiting to be moved earning nothing. I moved some of it back into eLoan, but its still frustrating to lose that interest.

I also thought that I would be receiving the credit cards faster. So far, I have only received 4 (out of 24 applications), and it has been a week. When they do finally come, I should be able to get some nice reallocating/BT from Citi/Chase/AMEX. I have not heard numbers from most of the random banks, so time will tell.

Yes, I actually do have an update for BofA.

I was approved for WorldPoints Platinum Plus MasterCard (6600). I have still not heard about the other card though. I am pretty sure that I applied for this one first though.

On another note, I got my first denial! Surprisingly enough, it was my local bank with whom I have had a checking account with for years They said I had too many recently opened accounts, which is valid, but still slightly surprising.

According to the Credit card issuer FAQ, Discover will send BT checks, and AMEX will send BT checks for some. I am at work without the specific CC #s right now, so I will call when I get home tonight.

EDIT: Both AMEX and Discover agreed to send me BT checks. I should have called sooner, because it will take 7-10 business days. Better than nothing though.

Maybe the in:LA card is different from the in:NYC, but my cardmember agreement has 0% until 5/07, with no restrictions.

charliek said: charliek said: per the terms on the app on cardoffers...

Balance Transfer APR: 0.00% (0.0000% DPR) during the first 6 months of Cardmembership on balance transfer requests submitted on this application.

I noticed this earlier when I was thinking about applying for the IN:LA card.

Actually those BT terms above I copied from the cardoffers IN:NY app. They were the same as the IN:LA app.

charliek, therivier1:

It's been reported in these forums that AMEX actually gives a larger window for doing an initial BT than their customary "submitted on this application" language. This thread was the best I could find - see in particular DaveHanson's post at the end.

Well color me silly.

Kind of rare for a CC to change the terms in YOUR favor. Nice!

Hope this works out for you, therivler. I wasn't trying to take the steam out of your engine. I was just trying to give you a heads up, in case you overlooked this and it later put a cramp in your bt plans.

Pulled credit score with BofA, and it looks like I have bottomed out at 638, which is a little over a 100 point drop. The numbers differ slightly from all 3 bureaus, but pretty consistent though.

Interesting Positive Factors:
You have 5 installment loan(s).

Interesting Negative Factors:
You owe debt on 10 revolving account(s). This only includes accounts you opened in the past 12 months.
You are currently using at least 50% of your credit limit on 6 open bankcard(s).
You opened 19 account(s) in the past 24 months.
You applied for credit 16 time(s) in the past 12 months


Also, I did the credit analyzer, and it said that once all my balances are paid off, my score should rise by 119 points to 756.