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. edits 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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 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 2/13/07 My friend got 2 AMEX CLIs approved, and now has over 90k across 2 cards 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 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!! 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 se 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 #. 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. FWF Mega Business Card thread I have added new links to this thread. 1/15/07 New Additions |