After enough research I am finally ready for my first App-O-Rama. I did take advantage of BT offers on my existing cards about 9 months ago and pocketed $2k in interest income but now I am ready to take the plunge and do a real AOR.
My current credit scores from CreditSecure are as follows:
Experian: 762
Equifax: 771
TransUnion: 783
My current account are as follows:
Card --------------- Credit Line ------------- Age (in years)
Citi Dividend----------$14k------------------- 7
Citi Platinum----------$18k------------------- 8
Discover Platinum------$11k------------------- 8
AMEX Blue Cash---------$13k------------------- 4
BofA Platinum----------$15k------------------- 5
Chase Platinum---------$30k------------------- 1.5
Chase Visa-------------$5k-------------------- 0.5
MBNA Platinum----------$23k------------------- 2.5
Citi Sears MC----------$4k-------------------- 1
No. of existing accounts: 9
Total Credit Line: $137k
I am carrying no balances on any of the cards.
I am applying for the following cards in my upcoming AOR:
Card----------------------- Bonus --------------------- BT Offer
Chase SonyStyle------------ $150 ---------------------- 0% for 12 months with $75 fee apply here
Citi Simplicity Rewards---- $100 ---------------------- 0% for 12 months with no fee apply here
Citi Professional SM------- $150+$40 cardoffers ------- 0% for 12 months with no fee apply here
Chase Cash Plus Rewards---- $100 ---------------------- 0% for 12 months with $75 fee apply here
Citi AT&T Universal-------- $50+$30 cardoffers -------- 0% for 12 months with no fee apply here
BofA Money Return---------- $30 cardoffers ------------ 0% for 6 months with no fee apply here
BofA Worldpoints----------- $75 ----------------------- 0% for 12 months with 3% fee apply here
Discover Miles------------- $75+$40 cardoffers -------- 0% for 12 months with no fee apply here
AMEX Starwood*------------- $100+$40 cardoffers ------- No BT offer apply here
PNC Platinum Rewards------- $50------------------------ 0% for 12 months with no fee apply here
BofA Rewards AMEX---------- $50 ----------------------- 0% for 12 months with 3% fee apply here
Chase Priority Club**------ $120 ---------------------- No BT offer apply here
AMEX Blue------------------ $50 ----------------------- No BT Offer (0% upto 15 months on purchases) apply here
GE Money Platinum---------- $0 ------------------------ 0% for 12 months with $75 fee apply here
Capital One Platinum------- $0 ------------------------ 0% for 12 months with $75 fee apply here
Citi Diamond Preferred----- $50+$30 from cardoffers---- 0% for 12 months with $75 fee apply here
Krogers 1-2-3 Rewards------ $0 ------------------------ 0% for 12 months with $60 fee apply here
HSBC GM Flexible----------- $35 from cardoffers-------- 0% for 12 months with $75 fee apply here
First National Rewards----- $50 ----------------------- 0% for 9 months with $75 fee apply here
* Annual fee of $30, waived first year
** Annual fee of $29, waived first year
Note: Bonus amounts are cash equivalents of points, miles etc where applicable
No. of accounts I am applying: 19
Potential bonuses from issuers: $1170
Potential bonus from cardoffers: $245
Potential interest from BT offers: **priceless**
If you guys have any comments or advices, please post them before I go ahead with my AOR within 3-4 days. I will post my results later this week. Wish me luck!!
***** AOR Results *****
I started my AOR at 8:30 am PST and was done in 2 hours. I have updated the list above to reflect all the credit cards I applied for. The results are not so encouraging as most of the decisions are deferred. However, there were no instant denials. I was really disappointed that Citi gave me meager CL on new accounts.
I first did soft CLI requests on some of my existing cards. I got instant CLI on my all the requests.
- AMEX Blue Cash: CL went from $13k to $20k
- BofA Platinum: CL went from $15k to $20k
- MBNA Platinum: CL went from $23k to $30k
Now lets come to the AOR results. I will be updating the list below as I hear from the issuers in the coming weeks.
Card -------------------- Instant Status---------------Final Status------------ Credit Line
Chase SonyStyle---------- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $10,500
Citi Simplicity Rewards-- Approved--------------------- Approved -------------- $7,800
Citi Professional SM----- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $1,000
Chase Cash Plus Rewards-- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $10,000
Citi AT&T Universal------ Approved--------------------- Approved -------------- $4,200
BofA Money Return-------- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $5,000
BofA Worldpoints--------- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $5,000
Discover Miles----------- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $6,000
AMEX Starwood------------ Approved--------------------- Approved -------------- $15,700
PNC Platinum Rewards----- Approved--------------------- Approved -------------- $8,000
BofA Rewards AMEX-------- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $1,000
Chase Priority Club------ Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $25,000
AMEX Blue---------------- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $10,000
GE Money Platinum-------- Deferred--------------------- Denied ---------------- Too many inquiries
Capital One Platinum----- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $2,000
Citi Diamond Preferred--- Deferred--------------------- Denied ---------------- Too many applications
Krogers 1-2-3 Rewards---- Deferred--------------------- Approved -------------- $10,400
HSBC GM Flexible--------- Approved--------------------- Approved -------------- $700
First National Rewards--- Deferred--------------------- Denied ---------------- Too many inquiries
Total cards applied for: 19
Total number of approvals: 16
Total number of denials: 3
Number of credit inquiries: 16 (4 on experian, 11 on Equifax, 1 on transunion)
Total new Credit Line: $141.3k
Total bonuses from issuers: $1070
Total bonuses from cardoffers: $215
Total Credit Line before AOR: $137k
Total Credit Line after AOR: $278.3k
Credit Scores Tracking (Date: EX/EQ/TU):
12/5/2006 (Before AOR): 762/771/783
12/11/2006 (After AOR): 762/762/775
02/10/2007 (all BTs posted): 725/725/738
06/18/2007 (6 months after AOR): 749/749/780
***** BT Harvesting *****
I doubled my credit line with this AOR and will receive $1,300 in bonuses. Now its time to do some BT harvesting.
First step was to consolidate my credit lines.
1) Reallocated $12k from Citi Dividend and $14k from Citi Platinum to my Citi Simplicity card. This was done over the phone and although the CSR said it will take 3-5 business days, the CL changes showed up online in 10 mins.
Total CL on Citi Simplicity card after reallocation is $33.8k.
2) Reallocated $25k from Chase Platinum, $22k from Chase Priority Club and $7k from Chase Cash Plus Rewards to my Chase Sony card. This was done over the phone and surprising no credit pull happened. The CSR said that they had my latest credit report on file (due to my AOR) and did not find it necessary to pull again.
Total CL on Chase Sony card after reallocation is $64.5k.
3) Reallocated $27k from MBNA Platinum and $17k from BofA Platinum to my BofA Money Returns card. This was also done over the phone. I also had to get them waive my BT fees on Money Returns card.
Total CL on BofA Money Returns card after reallocation is $49k.
Second step was to harvest the BT offers. All my BTed money will eventually end up in my Amboy online saving account.
- Krogers sent me a BT check with the card, I deposited it in my checking account.
- Chase refused to transfer directly to my checking account. So I deposited the BT check I received with my Sony card into my checking account. I hate the fact that BofA places holds on the large checks I deposit into my checking account but I have no other option here.
- Citi also refused to transfer directly to my checking account. Same story as Chase; deposit the BT check into my checking account and wait for BofA to clear the hold on the funds.
- BofA transferred to my checking account without any problem.
Card --------------------- Credit Line / BTed amount ------ Utilization ----- BT offer
Krogers Rewards ---------- $10,400 / $8,500 -------------- 81% ------------- 0% for 12 months ($60 fee)
Citi Simplicity ---------- $33,800 / $28,000 ------------- 82% ------------- 0% for 12 months (no fee)
BofA Money Returns ------- $49,000 / $35,000 ------------- 71% ------------- 0% for 6 months (no fee)
Chase SonyStyle ---------- $64,500 / $45,000 ------------- 69% ------------- 0% for 12 months ($75 fee)
Total amount BTed: $116,500
Total utilization: 42%
Now, lets calculate the potential interest income from the BTs. I am assuming the following:
- Bank Interest APR (not APY) of 5.1% for the year of 2007
- Min payment of 2% of balance per month
- Tax bracket of 25%
- 1 month loss of interest (for 12 months offer I calculate interest income for 11 months)
Card -------------------- BT fees ---------- BT Expires ----------- Interest(before taxes/After taxes)
Krogers Rewards --------- $60 -------------- 12/1/2007 ------------ $308 / $216
Citi Simplicity --------- $0 --------------- 12/31/2007 ----------- $1,212 / $909
BofA Money Returns ------ $0 --------------- 06/1/2007 ------------ $721 / $541
Chase SonyStlye --------- $75 -------------- 12/17/2007 ----------- $1,873 / $1,386
Total Potential Interest Income (before taxes) : $4,114
Total Potential Interest Income (after taxes) : $3,052
***** Conclusion *****
I would rate my first AOR quite successful. I will receive around $1,300 in bonuses and potentially around $4,114 in interest income (before taxes) over the next 12 months. My total utilization is around 42% which is worrisome. On hindsight I shouldn't have used the BT offer from Krogers Rewards card. I plan to pay down this card and also reduce my utilization on Citi Simplicity card to around 70% next month to bring my overall utilization to 35%. Idea is to get it under 30% within the next 3-4 months. I will keep this thread updated.
I hope my AOR thread is useful to other FWers who are planning their own AORs. Best of luck!!
Update: I have started a thread for my second AOR.
