Hi, I'm a longtime lurker who's decided to jump into the AOR arena. Many thanks to all the pioneers, optimizers, and other hardy (and some fool-hardy) souls that have mapped out this terrain and all its hazards. I'd appreciate any comments on the AOR I'm planning and, once executed, I'll update with results.
AOR Goals: * Increase available credit to ultimately increase credit scores in 9 mo - 1 yr * Get easily accessible 0% BT cash-money * Get FF miles & other easily commoditized rewards
Pre-AOR credit stats: FICOs free-ish thx to SleekWallet - TU: 695, EQ: 730 EX: ??? Oldest card - 8 years, but most cards are 3 years or younger; 2 new ones in the last 2 months Largest CLs - $25k Am3x, $25k Chase Recent activity - a handful of inquiries for new bank & CC accounts in last 3 months Other debt - $100k in student loans HHI - $200k (thanks to multiple wage-earners in household)
Issuer distribution: Am3x - 2 personal, 1 biz, 1 no-limit Chase - 2 personal (but both co-branded) Citi - 1 professional (any different from personal?) Discover - 1 personal Misc department store - 1
Any thoughts on max apps or cards per issuer, issuer mix, or other good opportunities? I don't mind a few rejections, but would prefer to avoid FR w/ Am3x since they have my oldest card. Thanks in advance!
Updates: Fixed links, added Am3x business gold rewards, substituted Discover Miles for Gas.
To enter a coupon code in your post please enter the following info:
Coupon Code:
Coupon Offer:
Merchant:
Expires (optional):
Restrictions (optional):
saving...
Quick Summary is created and edited by users like you... Add FAQ's, Links and other Relevant Information by clicking the edit button in the lower right hand corner of this message.
Hope you are a teacher..... under terms of service of BofA NEA WorldPoints Platinum Plus MC you linked in bold about 1/2 down it you will find the following:
The NEA is not involved in the credit decision process; standard credit procedures are followed. All applications are subject to confidential standard review by FIA Card Services, N.A. Absolutely NO membership dues are used to market this program.
The NEA Credit Card Program® has been developed for NEA members and their families only. If a member decided not to renew membership, that person and his/her family will no longer be eligible to receive the preferred rates, fees and special promotions offered through the NEA Credit Card Program. If eligible, a replacement card will be offered. Any account opened in response to this offer will be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware.
Looks like you're mostly interested in Northwest miles? There are also Southwest, USAir, American, United, etc cards out there. Even if you don't have a frequent flyer account yet, you can get enough points for almost a free ticket just through the sign-up bonuses. Also have annual fees but I think most tend to be waived for the first year like the ones you've listed for US Bank. Worth checking out, IMHO.
Adding the Citi PremierPass would net you 15k more TY points, and a No-Fee 12 month 0% BT. 4 Citi apps in an AOR was cake for me.
Also, Chase United Airlines United Mileage Plus cards(Biz and Personal) each give 25k miles(25k = flight) after $250 purchase/BT, and Chase seems to give pretty high CL's, which address your #1 and #3 bulletin points. I'm not sure how many miles your USBank Northwest cards require for a ticket, but they could be just as good.
Thanks djspray & limey. I'll take a look at the other airline cards. Djspray - I wonder why those cards you mention give so many more miles than USBank? That's a full free ticket waiting to be had!
perfectsilence said:All the BofA 0% BT offers I see have 3% uncapped fee, wouldn't that eat up most of the return if you put that money in a MMA?
The Worldpoints is uncapped. The NEA is 2% capped at $30, unfortunately dolmar pointed out you need a teacher affiliation to qualify. The Financial rewards Visa is no fee, but only for 6 months of BTs.
DaBunker said:dolmar said:Hope you are a teacher...
Unfortunately not! That BofA NEA card has 2% BT fee capped at $30. Any idea what they do to check your affiliation?
No Idea how they verify if you are a teacher. But lying on bank or credit card application is bank fraud. And according to terms of the service if they do find out you are were never or no longer a teacher then "if a member decided not to renew membership, that person and his/her family will no longer be eligible to receive the preferred rates, fees and special promotions offered" which I guess means they could retro actively apply an uncapped BT fee, jack up interest rates imidiately ie mid month which would force you pay interest till you paid the balance off at a ridiculous high rate of something like 29.9%, take way any promo BT rate, close all BOA accounts, etc. And you would have no recoarse either as you lied on the orginally app which makes all of there adverse actions valid and justified. Best possible outcome could be they closed your account and ask for imidiate repayment.
Why take a chance on something like this anyways. Any possibe benfit would disappear if any of the above adverse actions were taken against you.
Most people tend to apply for BOA card and leave $0 balance on them never use them for BT but to help there over all credit utilization %.
map174 said:Have you considered Discover Miles card instead of Discover Gas? Both will get you cardoffer bonuses and miles -- Discover Miles does require monthly purchase, but it can be small.
Just looked at Discover Gas vs. Miles - and you're right. I'll try Miles and if purchases are required, go with the $0.01 of gas or small chewing gum type of purchases. Right now the T&C don't seem to say anything about purchases...
Does AMEX limited the # of biz cards? I just applied and received one recently so don't want to push my luck but the Starwoods does seem to offer great incentives!
Netbank offers a FIA/Bank of America card with a $75 fee cap on BTs and a low minimum monthly payment.
Should I take the Netbank/FIA/BofA card with max $75 BT fee over the uncapped BofA WorldPoints with $75 back on Cardoffers... decisions, decisions!!
If your Discover card was opened too recently, you may get a rejection based on that. My card was about 6 months old when I applied and I got rejected -- see my AOR thread.
Also, I was approved for 3 AM3X biz cards in my AOR with very generous limits.
DaBunker said:Netbank offers a FIA/Bank of America card with a $75 fee cap on BTs and a low minimum monthly payment.
Should I take the Netbank/FIA/BofA card with max $75 BT fee over the uncapped BofA WorldPoints with $75 back on Cardoffers... decisions, decisions!!The Netbank website/FIA application now lists an uncapped BT fee @ 3% for either of their cards.
I dont think BOA has anymore Capped BT Promo's for 12 months. But even at 3% uncapped you can still make a profit on BT. If you get lucky like Scott(see his App-o-Rama) and get a nice BT rep they do sometimes agree to cap the fee at $75 but again that is YMMV. Also if you get in the mail one of there pre-screened offers they tend to have capped fees like one I got about 1 month which I used in my App-o-rama.
Why not Citi Diamond Preferred 0% for life (with F1K7 code)? Citi seems to give pretty low CL, though, so the $75 BT fee might not be worth the extended 0% period if you don't have other Citi cards to reallocate.
The PNC card gives $50 credit after $500 purchase, didn't see that you listed that. Might be too much trouble, but my credit was made immediately after reaching $500. I paid it off, then did BT.
I second the Discover Miles card vs. the Gas card. Remember to reallocate your CL if you want.
LOL at the "multiple" wage earners in HH, you in Utah? (kidding)
Citi gives low credit lines? Sheesh, not to my wife last month, they gave out the highest total $ amount of credit limit. Discover and RBC Bank had the ignominy of being tied for lowest until HSBC reconsidered and approved her for a whopping $1000 limit.
Well, maybe not low, but not high in our case either. We have 10 Citi cards, all between 7000 and 15000 (actually, my wife and I got the exact same CL for the same 3 cards in the respective AOR a year apart from each other).
Anyway, that wasn't my point, I was just mentioning the Citi 0% for life offer really...
WalStMonky - that list of cards is incredible. I'm still working through it! 2Cor521 - thanks for the reassurance on # of biz cards with AMEX. I'll add a few more. My Discover was a 5% restaurant card (the good old days!) so should be old enough not to affect this AOR. ToHellWithUGA - Citi just told me I've applied for 2 cards in the last 60 days, so not allowed anymore. I'll have to take the Citi personal cards off my list. "Multiple" wage earners = lots of roommates.
Ok, some bad news -
* As mentioned before, just found out that I've applied for 2 citi cards in last 60 days so can't apply for any more with Citi.
* Found out what's wrong with my Experian report: I'm getting another name and SSN (in addition to my own) showing up on the report. Huh? I lived in a huge apartment building 4 years ago, and there was someone else in the building or who had previously lived in my unit with the same last name and first initial. I remember b/c I'd occasionally get his mail. In the last year, that guy's name and SSN have been pulling up under my name/SSN/old-address as an "alternate" identity. Weird thing is, I pulled my free Experian report in Oct 06 and none of this showed up. I was just on the phone with new accounts at HSBC (re: my early Feb app for 6% savings) and the helpful CSR walked me through all this... then finally said - We can go ahead and open the account anyway...
Should I try to get this cleared up with Experian first, or just go ahead with the AOR? I've never been instantly approved for an online application and now I'm wondering if the Experian report is part of the problem. TU is also showing an old employer for me, not sure how much that matters.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
in student loans
(kidding)
