I am planning a mega tag team app o rama. My primary goals are for BT offers, and simply new credit to help with utilization, as backup CCS, and for more options to get future offers from existing cards. I am helping 2 friends plan an app o rama, and one thing I want to emphasize is adding smaller lesser known banks, and credit unions. I am aware there are thousands of Credit unions in the US, but I often see people talking about the same ones.. To make execution of the AORs easier, I plan bookmark the links to the Actual CC app for each bank. For credit unions, I will need to bookmark the APP, and the Application to Join the CU, and in some cases need to Join prior do the AOR. I did see one thread with 1000 credit card links, but as some of the replies mentioned, there were good ones missing. I think it would be in our interest to create a mother thread that has exactly this -- Direct link to CU Joining page and separate link for CC App. For banks, one link to CC App.
Some banks may have multiple CCS to apply for. A link to the page with the different options is fine. In execution of AOR, most of the time is wasted scouring for banks, especially CUs, as several are lesser known. A mother thread with 3000+ Banks/CUs will be great. Be sure to specify any special requirements to join (Such as having to live/know someone/work in a certain area or work in a certain profession.) Credit union research will be tedious and the hardest part. I plan to look at Credit Union Locator to start. I am aware we have quite an arsenal already on Fatwallet, and links to the threads with the info can help as well. Creditboards and other site links would be acceptable also if it is in Mother thread format 
I do want to try for 150 apps and want to start within 100 days. Thanks for any feedback, and I know FWF diehards will help!
edits
I have been working hard to add links. I have found a ton of cards. My strategy is to search for banks on the FDIC site. I tried to put the bank name, and if needed, who services their card(s). In some cases, the app needs to be done by phone, or mail. A small portion may only serve certain areas, although I left some out that I noticed. I have seen lots of promotions, and terms. Be careful you are aware of all the terms before you Apply for any credit card!! I have seen banks that charge an annual fee if your finance charges aren't $100, or if you don't charge 3k on their card. I have also seen alot of 0% promos, and think saw a few signup bonuses. I am just looking up banks for now, but will work on CUs later. I hope you like my list, and if anyone has success at any of these smaller banks on my list, please share! I have the majors on there also for conveinence.
I will want to sort this list by servicer. I also did not bother mentioning 0% promos, and annual fees, maybe I will at some point. Banks without a servicer in () run their CC program in house.
As people have warned, I want to make sure I don't waste my time, and apply for too many cards from the same issuer.
The top issuers (Citi, BofA, AMEX, Chase) tend to have different category's of cards.. like store cards, business cards, and cobranded cards. If I remember right, some people apply and get approved for many cards with the top issuers in a single AOR, by utilizing the different divisions at the issuer. I won't be trying for more than 1 of 1 type (ie Citi dividend) I am not going to bother with store branded cards.
As I am creating my list, alot of servicing institutions are the same, and many independent issuers want faxed/mailed/phone/in person application, which can add up to an hour to process the app. Perhaps this may involve more extensive planning that I thought, such as mailing/faxing very many apps on the same day, in addition to the many Online apps. In person apps will take the most time, so these will be done last, if at all.
After discovering several NEW banks, I will be tempted to do an AOR myself, although I don't know if I will do 150 apps. My WAMU FICO score is about 100 points less than my last AOR. I was declined for a CLI w/ AMEX recently, and my WAMU, citi, and chase BT offers have dissapeared! Does not look good. Still have Barclays and discover offers.
AOR planning progress
12/14/06
Planning
12/15/06 I am researching CUs now, and am finding most have certain requirements for joining, but it is implied almost any business can apply to be on their approved org lists. If you have a business (such as S corp or LLC) that should get your foot in the door. I found a nice search engine for CUs which I am using. I found over 15,000 financial institutions in total.
12/18/06 over the weekend I added more banks, and a few CUs. I am leaning away from CUs as you must open a savings, and may need to join an association (co-op) I will add some Local CUs which my friends may qualify for already. I have also heard some CUs may charge a minimum acct fee on the savings such as if the balance is < $100. I still have plenty of time to plan this AOR, and have nearly 200 links. I have gone thru the Visa website, and the "1k card thread" and added everything I could find. I have added some banks from the FDIC web site, and I found creditunions.com to be a good CU searcher. I want to make sure the best promo's are posted also. I only have 1 15mo 0% offer so far. Feel free to post opinions on my progress. 
I have added some more CUs in my area. Some interesting questions come to mind.. Some CUs state that you qualify if you "worship" in a particular area. This leaves the door open to getting your foot in the door IMO, although YMMV. Some will even let you apply for the CC first before joining. This seems like the best route, as why would you want to waste time getting a membership, opening an acct, and maybe a Hard inq for the share acct, only to be declined? One strategy also is to fill out some of the printable mail in/fax in apps, and send them all in near the beginning of the AOR, but fill them out in advance.
12/22/06 I decided to check out cardoffers.com a bit more. You need to create an account with them before you can see the offers. It looks like you can get up to $75 cash for approvals, and an average of about $35. They have quite a few issuers. I will see if it is possible to add cardoffer specific links for those with accounts. It took me less than a minute to open the account
12/24/06 It seems maybe the summary has gotten too big, as there seems to be a glitch in letting me add new links.
For the time being, I will add them here, if I can't seem to add them in the summary.
12/27/06 I am still adding CUs. I have gone through most banks, and think I should have just about every issuer w/ an Online Application. I searched banks manually by using the FDIC site, sorted by Assets. From the top, down, I got down to the mid to low $600MM range. There were a few that may offer phone apps, or mail in, which I skipped over. I am adding CUs sorted by Unsecured credit card loans outstanding, from the highest going down (nationwide) and have also added a few local ones to me. I am currently doing the 40MM outstanding CUs, some of these have assets over $1B. It seems that the size of this thread has gotten pretty big, and I may need to split this up, with perhaps the CUs making a move. Suggestions for a new home, or if they should stay here would be appreciated. I have added CUs down to $30MM. Most of the bigger ones should be in there now. I am still waiting for the AU accts to show up on my friend's report. Nothing yet (on EQ at least) Waiting on AMEX, Chase, and HSBC. Got chase, and HSBC cards in the mail, no AMEX yet! AMEX is SLOOOW!
12/29/06 I just talked to one of my friends, and he said he may want to do the AOR sooner rather than later. Possibly very soon. He said he may do 150-200 apps!! We also discussed possibly getting UK and Japan based credit cards. I need to finalize the list, and make sure the best 0% promos are applied for.
1/12/07 Called EQ and disputed 3 mortgage inquiries from late oct/early nov. Friendly CSR said they would be deleted. She would also update my address. It can take 30 days. It is the first time I've disputed anything, but seemed painless. I'm trying to bump the same 3 inqs off my TU report, and pulling TU 3x a day for now. TU let me change my primary address online, so I should have my new address updated on all 3. Once my utilization gets below either 50%, or 30%, I will be ready for my AOR. I will have to time some BTs carefully. Some AU accts will be used strategically also for utilization benefits. My True credit FAKOs dropped down to 658-681, and my BofA PS fako down to 608. Suprisingly, my Prosper credit grade is an E, which is 540-599, very low. I am showing over 100k in revolving debt, and slightly over 70% utilization now. I have some work to do.
1/13/07 Pulled my EQ today, and they took care of everything already! The 3 inq. are gone, and my addy was updated. The AMEX AUs may take about 5 weeks to show up. I pulled my true credit scores, and EQ is the same (658) I also noticed EQ is reporting my address as a variation slightly wrong, and is reporting it as of 1/07, so it looks like it is brand new! EX has it as of 01. EQ has it as a previous address also, as of 01 or 02. I will need to call them about this. This will redflag me for sure if anyone pulls EQ. I hope I don't have the same issue w/ TU. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about the addy.
1/14/07 I couldn't pull my BofA PS for some reason yesterday, I got a weird error. I hope my EQ file didn't get locked. It's been almost 24hrs for my TC & EQ CWG, so I will see. My friend who was planning to apply for mortgages is now leaning towards doing the app o rama first, as he might not need a mortgage for 3+ months. He may start soon as his Fico is ~ 740. I just got off the phone with him, and he may want to do the AOR imminently. He has an S Corp already, so he can get some biz credit too. I need to plan how many cards at each of the major issuers to go for. I am thinking 1-2 pers, 1-2 biz, and 3-8 cobranded cards. We'll try for 1-2 cards with the minor banks, and try for 15-30 credit union cards. He used roboform before, and will try that. I may also help him by doing some apps for him as well, on the same day. With some issuers reporting possibly within 12 hrs of the app, time is very precious. I haven't decided if a weekend or weekday would be best. He may decide not to do as many apps as originally planned, but I should be ready for my AOR after his. My other friend w/ the auto late, and ~605 fico may try to for an AOR just for kicks once the auto loan shows current.
1/15/07 My friend now seems indecisive on the AOR timing. He says he may want to get the mortgages first. He pulled his true ficos today, and his EX is 689 and EQ is 749. TU WAMU Fico was 720 as of 12/1/06. EX seems a little low. One 89% card will show paid off soon, and there are some inquiries in the last year. I moved the business card links to the Mega business card thread. Using the myFICO estimator, my friend w/ the Auto late should recover some points once it shows as paid, even with the late there.
1/16/07 TU updated my address, and EQ corrected the variation w/o me needing to call, but they would not change the "date reported" when I called to ask.
It still shows it as a previous address reporting correctly on EQ. TU is reporting it the same year as my PMB! Ex has it correct. I decided to scrap the Nevada corp, and do a CA corp, to minimize red flags w/ DNB, and u/w depts at banks. I can always domesticate it in another state, and dissolve the corp in CA.
1/20/07 I filed my articles of Incorporation w/ the CA Secretary of State. According to the IRS SS4 form, I need to wait for my Corporation# before I can apply for an EIN. I should get it within 2 weeks hopefully. I am already listed w/ 411, and should have a website by then also. It will be an S Corp. I may try for some Biz lines of credit, towards the end of the AOR, or afterwards.
1/22/07 All 3 AU accts finally showed up my on friend's EQ report. (The one w/ the recent 30 day late) I will try having my friend get the CRAs to dispute the late as "Never ever late" and time the AOR while they are investigating. I think FICO may not include those accounts, which would be a plus.
1/24/07 I got my corporate papers back from the CA Secretary of state today! I guess it was worth it to go file it in person, than mailing it in. I got my corporate #, so now I can apply for an EIN#. I suppose I could get a Duns# too.. I also got 2 TU inquiries bumped off this week, and 1 left. EQ is clean also. EX has 3 in the last 6mos, and about 10 in the last 12mos. Just got the EIN online instantly. I just need to wait for the 50k in AUs to show up
now.
1/27/07 Bumped my last TU inq today. I need to pay off some BTs now, and time them to get my utilization down. I want to minimize BT fees.
1/31/07 Here is my preliminary strategy for the AOR strategy: Pre-fill out the mail in applications, and get them ready to mail. Research AOR statistics, and find out which banks tend to "wait a few days" before pulling a report. Apply for those first. Then, apply for banks with online apps in rapid succession, with the ones more likely to give favorable terms, and high CL first. Some banks, such as Juniper & BofA have known to report new accts quite quickly, so I may do those towards the middle, or end, or do these over a weekend with the hope it might not report on a Saturday or Sunday. The mail in apps will be mailed before hand by a day or two, and the slow banks applied for first, to try to get as many inquiries within as few days as possible. I do also plan to do some phone apps on the following Monday, or the day of the online apps. I will use roboform to help save time, and may have another person help me do them simultaneously. Once the denial letters start coming in, I will have a nice letter written up for reconsideration based on the reasons they give. I probably won't call in to underwriting in the hope that it may spark a manual review which I don't really want. I will try for some CLIs on Activation when I feel necessary.
2/3/07 Just pulled my EQ Fako on BofA PS and it's only 621. Only a few points up from the teens. My friend just got a 20k CLI on an AMEX using the reallocation method. He also told me his only BofA card is 1 day past due 
I told him how bad that is, and how it may adversely affect his future AOR w/ BofA, and CLI success with them. He was going to request a CLI w/ BofA, but he is going to call them Monday to see if he can sweet talk a CSR into removing any negative notation on his account. It is on a pay in full card, and NOT a 0% card. He did get an old tax lien removed off his experian report, and his FICO jumped from 693 to 734! He will wait to do his AOR until March 1st now, so the AMEX will report the new high 45k limit.
2/13/07 My friend got 2 AMEX CLIs approved, and now has over 90k across 2 cards I'm an AU on both, so this should only help. I hope a FR isn't in the cards. I applied for a free DUNS number today. It takes 30 days. It's been about 2 months since I started planning this AOR.
3/4/07 No DUNS number yet. I am considering purchasing an "Aged" or "Shelf" corporation, possibly one with seasoned credit to maximize the AOR effect. Our timeline has been pushed back, but I plan to do it tag team style, so when I start, I will have a series of AoRs to talk about. My female friend screwed up her AOR by getting auto lates, and my other friend wants to hold off since he's planning to get multiple mortgages. I have a 3rd friend, who wants to do an AOR now. He has no credit at all. I'm building him a score by adding him to 6 accounts as an AU, a combo of 3 aged accounts, and a 3 high limit ones. Hopefully he will be ready by the first week of April.
3/14/07 No duns # yet, but I'm listed in 411, and the B2B telemarketing calls are ramping up, so I know I'm doing something right
The biz phone is in my personal name, but I opened a cell phone in my Biz name. Since it was a new acct, they wanted a deposit, which I paid, but they say they report to the Biz bureaus. The 3rd friend I mentioned had a snag. We added 4 AU accounts, and they reported already, but when we pulled his reports, we found a collection, and a fresh 30 day late on a CC 
All that wasted for nothing. I was told he had NO credit. We have a 4th friend lined up, but they live out of state, and have some debt which needs to be paid down. Their FAKOs were right around 695-705 so hopefully this will work out. I guess I need better friends. This will set us back until mid-late april most likely. As I mentioned in another thread, I want to make a master list of Business lines of credit. I'd like to see perhaps 50 or more.
3/22/07 4th friend has paid down their cards, and I am waiting for the new AU accounts to report. As soon as they do, and the balances show paid down, it should be AOR time! Hopefully early next month if the reporting is in our favor. I can't wait!!
I have more people lined up, 4 potential people, including me. No DUNS number yet, either.
4/2/07 Still no duns# yet. I signed up for Myfio scorewatch, which only monitors EQ. It was suprisingly close to my TrueCredit FAKO.
I need to get to work on getting the biz lines of credit apps lined up.
4/16/07 First AOR in progress. Early results seem dissapointing, but more details to come. Finally got a duns#. 2nd AOR should be ready to start in a week or more.
4/21/07 More approvals are rolling in and popping up. 18 so far, plus some CLIs but it is still early. Some denials. Some mistakes were made as well. Over 100 Inqs. Some late apps, and inquiries popping up too. Plenty of deferrals still in the pipeline. Plenty of docs requested.
4/27/07 I don't have the info in front of me on the First AOR, but I will try to get a detailed report soon. I haven't heard from some banks yet, and sent out some requested docs, and recon letters. EX score was 740ish at the start, and now in the 690s last time I checked. Once 0% debt hits, I expect it to tank even more. FNB of Omaha Closed the account asap, by the way. Infibank, and FNB pulled from a little known 5th bureau. Infibank denied due to inquiries (along with many others) I haven't seen one credit union approval, even though many called and requested more info. Some late or possible 2nd peek inquiries are still popping up.
HSBC approved 3 cards, and one was for $4k, along with the infamous $600 lines (2). BofA approved at least 105k in new credit via CLIs, and new cards. Only 1 AMEX card was applied for, and it was denied. Just finished w/ an AMEX FR in which the accounts were closed at my request. The next AOR won't be as agressive as this one, and I will be adjusting the order. Barclays rapidly reported 2 new accounts within 24hrs or less, and that hurt quite a bit.
4/29/07 2nd AOR started tonight. Will finish early AM. Early results seems discouraging. Applied in a different order. Is it just me, or did Chase shorted 0% to 6months from 12months? Believe it or not, AMEX gave the highest instant approval. 2nd AMEX app gave a deferral, and they were down the list. I found a small minor bank offering 0% for 12mos, Fulton financial services. I think I remember that one from the last AOR, but forgot to move it higher on my list. I don't remember any discussion about them. Juniper gave a measly 1k instant approval! TC Fakos were 770-780 EX, EQ, and TU 700-710 before the AOR start. The first AOR had plenty of deferred approvals. The 2nd one had some instant approvals, but small lines given out <5k. Quite dissapointing. Some of you even warned this may happen. Perhaps I should have waited for TU to update a paid down balance for a nice boost. 3rd AOR AoR I think will be in 5-6 weeks or so. I'll try to see how these 2 play out, and try to plan from there. I spent about 10 man hours doing the apps today.
5/1/07 2nd AOR for the most part done. For denials that come in, I do plan to send out letters of reconsideration. Applied for some new banks on this one, and left others out. Found some new GEMB branded banks, including San Benito, and first bank of San Luios Obispo, they both had 2.99 for 6mos I believe. BMW Bank took adverse action and closed one new account, which may have been triggered by a CLI request, and them seeing many new inquiries, and new accts. FNB Of Omaha also closed an account. Expect at least 30-40k, up to 80k or so from Citi. Fia approved another card, so BofA keeps on giving. I believe there is over 150k in 0% money from the first AOR so far. GEMB Did send 2 denial letters (the first non-approvals from them, I believe) One from Hancock bank (too many inquiries) and one from Dillards but the reason was "Could not confirm Identity".
5/3/07 Have at least 23 approvals from the 1st AOR. Some of the Mom & Pop banks weren't too picky after all, as they didn't get the application until excessive inquiries were showing. One small bank gave 8k, and some have 0% offers. I did some extensive research, and found a bunch of other small banks, but haven't added them to my list here.
5/6/07 1st AOR still going, haven't heard from some Citi cards, and haven't heard back from about 40 others as well. About ~25 approvals so far, and there were even some late apps, that didn't pull until after a few new accts, and many inquiries were showing, and they still apprvoed. I found some new 0% offers as well. I am just starting to get the 3rd AOR started. It may be ready next month sometime! A warning, Barclay's/Juniper reports the new accounts the quickest. GEMB, and BofA were also fairly quick. Juniper within 24hrs, and BofA, GEMB within 24-72hrs. This is why it's so important to get all the inquiries in a short period of time. GEMB, and Juniper give instant approvals pretty easily. GEMB Seems to pull EQ, and Barclays/Juniper TU normally.
2nd AOR barely going. 1st AOR used a slightly aged Corp, and 2nd a sole proprietorship. All with Eins. Some banks are still doing pulls from the 1st AOR after nearly a month. I guess this is what you call a "Rolling AOR".
5/11/07 up to 27 Approvals. Nearly 300k in new credit, and still have to hear back from some places. BTs starting to show now also.
2 banks took adverse action, and closed their new accounts (by grantor!).
5/14/07 Elan did a fresh hard pull. Haven't heard from them yet, but with them seeing many new accts and inquiries, it doesn't look good. They had 0% for 6mos w/ no fee I believe. 
Getting any pulls this late in the game can't be good. Balances from 0% bts being taken out are starting to show, and the score is tanking. Since this is a friend's AOR, details aren't easily available, but I will post more as it comes. Can't wait to hear from Citi. They requested ID docs, and at least one approval already. Other than that. Some of the recon letters resulted in 2nd denials.
5/23/07 Got at least 40k from Citi between all the cobranded cards, but there may be some still in the pipeline. Overall, got over 300k in new credit from AOR #1. Got late BofA cobranded card. Nice suprise. Still waiting for some recons. AOR #2 had less apps, but at least 1 approval that was denied on the 1st AOR. Since i'm a 3rd party to these, the info is coming in slow. I did find out that you can get approved for multiple cards if you have more than one business EIN, at one bank. Should have tried it with more places. Maxed out cards ae showing everywhere on AOR #1, so any more apps will probably have to wait until the 0% is paid down. It's now time to open bank accounts at many places. Everbank said they'd approve if a deposit account was opened with them, and they initially denied. I should find out more info on AOR #2 shortly. 3rd AOR could begin in a few weeks.
Ok got info for AOR #2. What sucks on this one, many denied due to the fact they pulled TU, the lowest, but if we would have waited a few more days, some balances would have updated, and the score would go up about 40+ points. Plan to recon all of those.
Got alot of requests for ID verification. 14 approvals so far, 11 more potential approvals with docs requested, and some more may be in the pipeline. Over 100k already.
6/10/07 Since my last update, the 1st AOR had one last 18k approval come in after a Recon letter sent. It was from Commerce bank.
More denials, including a notable denial for opening a deposit account at an internet bank! Reason: Too many inquiries, and new accounts. No chexsystems. EQ was pulled. They sent back a 10k check, and wouldn't take his money! This is after the CSR stated if he opens an account, they'll aprove a CC as well. Looks like around 325k for this AOR. Not too shabby, but not a record either.
TC Fakos are now in the 630s and 640s. This AOR is pretty much done with. 2nd AOR still in progress, will report back on what approvals came in. Seemingly, it looks like having existing deposit accounts with the banks you do AOR with helps quite a bit.
Also, NO credit unions approved AFAIK on the 1st AOR, or the 2nd, but some small banks approved after seeing many inquiries, and new accounts, and possibly some balances, who pulled late, or repulled on recon. Should have gone for more BIZ credit on both.
3rd AOR still in the planning. Will start on that possibly late next month.
6/28/07 2nd AOR pretty much done. Less apps, and less recons. Got only about 100k in 0% BT money. Was less agressive with CLIs also.
3rd AOR planning taking awhile, and will want to be planned correctly. May not be able to start until August now. Hopefully the last is the best. I hope to have some totally new banks in the cards as well. As I mentioned in the beginning of my post, there are thousands of financial institutions. I'm going to try to find some more not on my list. I found a couple of 0% offers already not listed. I really need some more Biz cards/LOCs - To be listed in the Mega Biz cards thread. Does anyone want to help out?
I'll consider taking some volunteers to mine the lists, and sort it out. It's very time consuming, and it's perhaps 100+ hour of work.
7/3/07 A late approval came in on AOR #1..16k, 0%! Brings the grand total to about 35 NEW cards, and about 350k in total new credit, from one AOR. This came in after initial denial with the issuer. They did do a hard pull more than 2 months after the original AOR, so they DID see at least 30-40 inquiries, and 34+ accounts, even some closed by grantor, HUGE 99% utilization, and 630ish fakos. I guess banks still do approve based on 'good character' rather than just credit scores now.
8/8/07 Time for an update. I have potentially 2 more AoRs in the pipeline, and hopefully get started by the end of this month. I'm concentrating on building up FICOs, and finding more biz apps to do. 1 of the 2 AoRs will be done with subprime credit - Something I haven't seen done before. Will be interesting to see. We're trying to clean it up as much as possible, first, however.
10/12/07 Been trying to update the links below. Some FIA App links don't seem to be working anymore. Some other links don't work either, but using google, you should be able to find a new link. SunTrust bank switched from Fia to InfiBank I believe. Infibank is owned by FNBO I believe, which is stingy. I did notice most of the "phone app" links listed, don't actually take apps over the phone, but must fax, or mail a written application to you. A few may require you to also have an account with them, or apply in person. Some better offers for some of the major's are available in other AOR threads. Elan & US bank offers suck now, but I hear there is a Baylor phone offer that is good. Some of the offers can be outdated now, so be sure to check the links.
10/27/07 Did roughly a 60 AOR recently. Will try report on it soon. Would like to mention that Advanta reported in about a week to EQ Biz for a 2 week old Corp, and must have created a file. No D&B, or EX Biz file yet. Did not bother setting up a DNB #.
Still haven't heard from some banks yet, but notably PNC Denied for "being out of area" I guess when they went independent, they decided they don't need biz from CA. Should have tried for more BIZ LOCs. Totally forgot to try BofA, Cap1, US Bank BLOCs. Cap1 BTW Approved for 20k for their Biz card. 0% on purchases only I believe.
11/14/07 The guy who did the AOR in April is itching for another AOR after 6 months. Should be ready to start next month. The twist will be he'll use 2 corps instead of one. Should be quite interesting! I expect alot of apps as he's pretty crazy when it comes to going all out.
List of 60+ credit unions which offer Credit Cards has been moved HERE
FWF Mega Business Card thread I have added new links to this thread. 1/15/07
New Additions
Message edited by: PolarDude on 2007-12-07 03:17:06 CST
