I've finally taken the plunge and completed an App-O-Rama this morning. I've been reading about AORs for years (literally) and I finally decided to complete one. I researched the cards I wanted and other user's AOR summaries (thanks to Unbelieevable, WashWest, Cyberkost, and others). Now on to the details.

Goals
1. BT 0% monies to HYS accounts
2. Collect rewards/miles/points
3. Acquire cards from new banks

Pre-AOR Account Status
Current Cards / Limit / Age / Utilization:
AMEX Costco / $24,000 / 6 / 0%
AMEX Blue Cash / $24,000 / 6 / 2% (paid in full monthly)
Discover Platinum / $15,500 / 8 / 0%
Charles Schwab Visa / $9,100 / 2 / 0%

Store Cards / Limit / Age / Utilization:
JC Penney / $4,000 / 2 / 0%
CompUSA/HSBC / $1,400 / 9 / 0%

Total Credit Before AOR: $78,000
I keep 0 balances and pay in full monthly.

Credit Scores
Pre-AOR from TrueCredit.com FAKO 3/19/07
TransUnion: 772
Experian: 754
Equifax: 780

Personal Info
Household Income: Not quite a member of the FW 100K club, but close
Mortgage: $1400
Age: 31

Date of AOR: 3/20/07 6:30AM PST

AOR Game-Day
Cards Applied for: 12 (10p & 2b)
Instant Approval: 8
Deferred: 4

Cards Applied For
Personal:
1. Chase SonyStyle - Instant Approval: $5,000; Card Arrived: $10,000; Reallocated: $32,500 - $100 st credit w/ purchase
2. Discover The Miles Card - deferred - Approved: $8,000 - 1k miles/mo w/ purchase
3. Chase United Mileage Plus - deferred - Approved: $25,000; Reallocated; $2,500 - 25k United miles w/ $250 purchase
4. Citi Professional TY - Instant Approval: $6,000 - 15k TY pts = $150
5. Citi AT&T Universal Rewards - Instant Approval: $6,800 - 6k TY pts = $50
6. PNC Bank Platinum - Instant Approval: $8,000; REQ: CLI - $20,000 - $50 st credit w/ $500 purchase
7. Juniper I Fly Free - deferred - Approved: $10,000- $15 st credit + mag sub w/ purchase
8. BofA WorldPoints Platinum Plus - App Never Received by BofA; no card issued
9. BofA Financial Rewards - Instant Approval: $11,500
A. AMEX IN:NYC - Instant Approval: $15,500; Reallocated: $48,500 - $40 CO
B. State Farm Good Neighbor - deferred - Rejected: Too many inquires yeah, three from you!!!
New Personal Credit (known) From AOR: $112,800

Business:
C. AMEX Business Gold Rewards - Instant Approval: No Pre-set Limit - 25k pts = $250, $75 CO
D. Advanta Platinum BusinessCard - Instant Approval: $5,000 - $50 CO
E. CitiBusiness Card w/ TY (Applied 3/21/07) - deferred - Approved: $15,000- 10k pts = $100 w/ purchase, $10 CO
New Business Credit (known) From AOR: $20,000 + AMEX No Pre-set Limit

Total Available Credit: $210,800

Credit Bureaus Inquiries:
FIRST USA,NA 03/20/2007 Experian
BANK OF AMERICA 03/20/2007 Experian
DISCOVER FINANCIAL SER 03/20/2007 Experian
AMEX 03/20/2007 Experian
ELAN FINANCIAL SERVICE 03/20/2007 Experian
ADVANTA FINANCIAL CORP 03/20/2007 Experian
STATEFARM 03/20/2007 Equifax
ST FARM BANK 03/20/2007 TransUnion
CITI 03/20/2007 TransUnion
CITI 03/20/2007 TransUnion
BRCLYSBANKDE 03/20/2007 TransUnion

DISCOVER 03/21/2007 Equifax
CITI/CBSD 03/21/2007 TransUnion
DISCOVER FIN 03/21/2007 TransUnion

STATE FARM FINANCIAL S 03/24/2007 Experian

Credit Scores Immediately After AOR:
Post-AOR from TrueCredit.com FAKO 3/20/07
TransUnion: 767
Experian: 741
Equifax: 780

Expected Bonuses
$165 - st credits
$550 - gift cards
$175 - card offers
37000 - miles
Flying Magazine Sub

Balance Transfer Plans
1. SonyStyle - Reallocated to $32,500 from United Mileage. Use the check in the welcome package
2. Discover Mileage - shift existing Discover CL to this card (tried and failed) and request BT checks via telephone (completed, waiting for checks)
3. Not for BT
4&5. Citi - Combine CL and request checks from the Citi website?
6. PNC - No-fee BT checks after 3 weeks?
7. Juniper - Request checks/Checks in Welcome packet?
8. Not for BT
9. BofA Financial Rewards - Via phone.
A. AMEX In/NYC - Reallocated to $48,500. Need to transfer balance to Chase/Citi
B. State Farm - NO CARD ISSUED
C. AMEX Business - Not for BT
D. Advanta - Transfer to checking account via telephone
E. CitiBusiness - Request checks from the Citi website?

Completed Balance Transfers
1. SonyStyle - Transferred $28,925 to checking via check
2. Discover - Transferred $7,120 to checking via check
9. BofA Financial Rewards - Transferred $10,235 to checking via phone call
C. Advanta - Transferred $4,450 to checking via phone call
A. AMEX IN:NYC - Transferred $20,600 from Sony, Discover, and BofA to bring all cards under 50%
6. PNC Bank - Transferred $9,856 to checking via check
7. Juniper - Transferred $4,957 to checking via check
All BT money in HYS. Total: $65,500+

To-Do Balance Transfers
Citi Personal Cards
CitiBusiness

Credit Score Summary
TOTAL DROPS TO DATE:
TU - 82 pts
EX - 72 pts
EQ - 32 pts

Date..TU..EX..EQ
3/19 772 754 780
3/20 767 741 780
3/21 761 741 775
3/22 761 741 775
3/25 763 741 775 (TU up 2; one more pull for EX but no drop)
3/27 763 741 772 (EQ down 3)
3/28 753 741 772 (TU down 10)
4/01 747 727 772 (TU down 6; EX down 14)
4/02 747 730 772 (EQ up 3)
4/18 747 730 772 (scores have not changed since 4/02. Still no Chase Sony/United or AMEX IN:NYC reporting)
4/24 726 708 772 (TU down 21; EX down 22. Sony $16K BT showed up)
4/29 726 701 748 (Sony $16K BT showed up for EQ. Still no BT for AMEX/BofA/PNC/Juniper. How low will they go?)
5/06 699 682 748
5/07 690 682 748 (Should be the lowest for TU and EX. They both have all BTs now. EQ still doesn't report about $10K BT money)
5/09 690 682 748 (EQ has all the BTs now and the score didn't drop any more. EQ only dropped to the same range where EX was before the AOR)
5/11 690 693 748 (EX up 11, Discover now reports 49% usage instead of 89%)
5/14 710 693 748 (TU up 20)
5/24 713 693 748 (TU up 3, my first inquiry dropped off of TU!!! Bumpage is working!)
5/28 720 693 748 (Only 2 more inquiries left on TU; haven't bumped any from EQ; wish bumpage worked for EX)
6/11 732 702 750 (All TU inquiries are gone; haven't yet bumped the first EQ)
6/18 720 702 750 (Not sure why TU went back down)

Running Summary
As of 3/22:
Applied: 13 (10p & 3b)
Approved: 9
Deferred: 4
Denied: 0

As of 3/27:
Applied: 13 (10p & 3b)
Approved: 10
Deferred: 3 (2p & 1b)
Denied: 0

As of 3/29:
Applied: 13 (10p & 3b)
Approved: 10
Deferred: 2 (1p & 1b)
Denied: 1

As of 3/30:
Applied: 13 (10p & 3b)
Approved: 11
Deferred: 1 (1p)
Denied: 1

As of 4/03 (All Complete):
Applied: 13 (10p & 3b)
Approved: 12
Deferred: 0
Denied: 1

Any thoughts/comments? I figured 13 cards was a good first AOR, and many approvals came instantly. I'll keep this updated as data comes in. Thanks for looking.

Notes
-Both Discover and State Farm pulled from all three credit bureaus. Discover was approved but I haven't heard a thing from State Farm. I applied for it because some people were getting very generous limits, so we'll have to see what they give me, and if they are worth including in future AORs.

Day 7
-Day 7 was a big day for the mailbox. Five personal cards arrived with three surprises. The SonyStyle which originally had a $5,000 CL showed up with a $10,000 CL. The Discover Miles which I knew was approved had an $8,000 CL. And the big surprise, The Chase United Mileage card, which I hadn't heard a thing about, showed up with a massive $25,000 credit limit! My highest limit yet. I also received the BoA Financial Rewards card and Citi ATT Universal Rewards card with the expected $11,500 and $6,000 CL, respectively.

Day 8
-Day 8 brought me two more cards. The AMEX IN:NYC card arrived with the expected $15,500 CL. Also, the Advanta card arrived with a small $5,000 CL. If I take the max BT on this card (~88%) and earn 5.2% on the money, after the $50 BT fee, I'll make a little more than $200 before taxes. I do suppose it's better than nothing, but I would have liked a CL on the order of 10-15k from this card. I guess I did apply for this card last.

Day 9
-Day 9 involved reallocating credit lines and making initial purchases. I was able to bump the AMEX IN:NYC card up to $48,500 and the Chase Sony card up to $32,500. Discover would not reallocate from my old card to the new one so that stays at $8,000 for the time being.

Day 10
-Day 10 I called State Farm to inquire about my application status after hearing nothing. I was told, "No card for you!" Too many inquiries. Those suckers put three of the inquiries on there! Lose-lose for me. State Farm is NOT a good neighbor.

I haven't heard from Juniper yet either. I check the web page daily but nothing. I don't think I'll call them, I'm just going to assume I was denied. Too bad. I could use that cash in my savings account. So I've struck out twice with the smaller banks, but I did get the PNC card.

That leaves two cards yet to be received, both from Citi. I already know I'm approved for both of them. I will leave those Citi cards for Phase 3 of my BT plan and commence Phase 1 as soon as the Chase and Discover purchases are paid for.

Day 11
-Day 11 I received email confirmation from Juniper today that I was approved! They gave me a $10,000 CL. That was a nice surprise given the denial from State Farm yesterday.

I also went to the gas station and charged about $5 on each of 5 different cards. I'll get those paid of quickly and then the BTs will begin.

Day 13
-Day 13 Of the five charges I made at the gas station, only the AMEX showed up. I want them to show up so I can quickly pay them off and start the BT.

I checked my CR this morning and TU was down another six, and EX was down 13 more because Juniper showed up. So far, EQ has only dropped eight pts total, and still holding strong at 772.

The plan is for BTs to begin early next week, as soon as the payments clear for the Sony and Discover cards. I'll transfer 89% from both of those cards using the included checks. When those clear, I'll use AMEX to BT 40% from each of those cards. That will keep all three under 50%, with a bit more BT funds available on the AMEX and still keeping it under 50%. When I use the checks from PNC and Juniper, I should be able to get the rest from AMEX. That leaves the Citi cards for a few months later, I think, and the BofA.

Week 3
I finally received my CitiBusiness card. It came with a $15,000 CL. I'll make a quick purchase and use this for another BT.

I also called about my BofA WorldPoints card and found out they don't have it in the system. I could apply again, but I don't know if I will. I've removed it from my plans, for now.

I initiated several balance transfers today. Two bank transfers and two via check. My bank is putting a hold on the large Chase check so I won't have access to it for about a week. All this BT cash is heading for an Amboy 5.35% account.

BT transferred to date: $50,730
BT total expected: > $70,000

Week 4
The first good news, my request from PNC Bank for a CLI came through very easily. The original line of $8,000 was just increased to $20,000. Yeah! Also, I decided getting the $50 st credit was worth more to me than a couple days of interest on 9800+ (about $1.40/day). So yesterday I made a $500 purchase to the card and when that clears I'll BT from PNC via the welcome checks.

As of now, many of the purchases/BTs are completed. This is the current BT status:
Chase Sony: $16,001 49%
Discover Miles: $3,956 49%
BofA FR: $5,709 49%
AMEX IN:NYC: $20,618 42%
Advanta (bus): $4,450 89%
------------------------
TOTAL BT: $50,730 (earning 5.35% APY)

Given the CLI from PNC Bank, soon another $9,800+ check (no BT fee) will be deposited in my account. Which still leaves three Citi cards and the Juniper card untapped. I made a quick purchase yesterday with the Juniper card to grab the $15 credit, so when that clears in a couple day I can use this card for BT. I think I'll call for a CLI today before depositing the check. Anyone have luck with Juniper/Barclay giving CLI immediately after approval?

My AMEX Gold Bus card shows the -25k 25k points problem. I'll wait until after the statement to see if this corrects itself. I haven't seen any other points/rewards or credits post yet.

Week 5
I received the $50 st credit from PNC very quickly. I have not yet received any other rewards except for the AMEX Business Gold 25k pts, but those are still cancelled out by the -25k pts.

I completed two more BTs from PNC and from Juniper. Now, all BTs are complete except for the Citi cards. I think I might use the Citi cards to transfer the balance from AMEX and BofA when 6 months are up, or I might use the CitiBusiness BT after the next statement.

Week 7
Many of the rewards have posted. Sony $100 st. credit, PNC $50 st. credit, Juniper $15 st. credit are all received. From Citi I've received 15k, 5.6k, and 10k ThankYou pts which I'll probably redeem for GCs. I don't plan air travel in the foreseeable future.

But, I lost my AMEX Gold 20k bonus pts. They just disappeared. I remember reading about others' problems with this so I'll have to find those posts. Very lame.

My scores are still dropping as expected. All are still above 700, but barely. 726 701 748.

-Pakaderm

Nice set of instant approvals there.

Even though your util. on the PIF account is low, always keep in mind that it looks like you carry a balance that never grows (or grows sometimes if your monthly spending increases one month, then decreases the next). But it's good though, I know some people have been denied because of 0% utilization (strange, indeed).

Congrats on getting your feet wet, though I'm not sure why it took you so long to get started. It's not a Ph.D. thesis!

Not bad so far! You could probably flog some of the major lenders for another card or two, if you wanted to rack up some more bonuses. CitiBusiness cards might be the best bet. You could also probably sneak in an app to one or two other lenders out there.

Looking forward to hearing your BT plans.

Pakaderm said:markkundinger said:Not bad so far! You could probably flog some of the major lenders for another card or two, if you wanted to rack up some more bonuses. CitiBusiness cards might be the best bet. You could also probably sneak in an app to one or two other lenders out there.

Looking forward to hearing your BT plans.

I wanted to apply for PNC Bank Business, but I don't have a TaxID and they required it on the application. I was also looking at the CitiBusiness but I keep thinking one can apply for no more than two Citi cards safely. But, I also keep thinking CitiBusiness does not count as one of those. Anyone know for sure, or I'll look it up.

-Pak


You can definitely get more Citi cards. When I did mine (with not as good of a credit file), I got the PremierPass Elite, Professional, AT&T, and the Citibusiness with no problems.

I agree with Thytimo on the business card. I just ran my AOR last Tuesday, and was approved for PP (4k), Prof (6k), Biz PP (5k) and Biz w/TY (8k). Still waiting on the AT&T decision, but not too worried now I have those four.

Looking forward to your CL reallocation experiences, as well as BT's! I have managed to consolidate Chase and MBNA so far. Citi Professional is supposed to be a pig to reallocate!

Check the credit pull database for EQ creditors and go app some more if u ask me.

QUESTION:

A couple of my existing CCs have not been used in 1-2 years. What will happen if I call them up and ask for a credit increase? Is there a good chance they will grant it, even though the usage is 0?

Thanks,
-Pak

Doh! It looks like Discover pulled from all three. They pulled EX on 3/20, and both TU and EQ today. Also, the latest CitiBusiness card I applied for today pulled from TU.

That gives me a total of inquiries of:
TU: 6
EX: 7 (one falls off next month)
EQ: 3

Also, yesterday I pulled the CR before State Farm has a chance, so today I find out State Farm pulled both TU and EQ. Thank goodness they did not pull EX, I don't need another there.

-Pakaderm

The first card arrived today: AMEX Business Gold Rewards came UPS next-day air. I activated the card online and determined it had "No pre-set limit". How does that account to my total available credit?

However, none of the information in the welcome package mentioned the 20k Special Bzz bonus points which it said on the application. All the welcome package mentioned was 5k points after the first purchase. I'll have to look into this. Anyone know if the 25k points show up after making the first purchase?

I updated the OP with the new information.

-Pak