The college all-nighter App-O-Rama

Well, I finally pulled the trigger on my app-o-rama.
I started at 10:42a.m. today (Tuesday March 27), and was playing around with apps throughout class, etc...

I didn't get sleep last night due to setting up for today's app-o-rama, so I am a little dilirious, but I wanted to go ahead and put up the nuts-and-bolts of the app-o-rama. I will make it more thorough soon (after my nap), so don't red it yet!
Here is some more about me:

Age: 21 (senior undergrad student)
Credit age: 4 years
App-o-Rama goals:
Get as much BT money
Start my relationships with new banks (I realize I am young and at the beginning of the app-o-rama life, so this is key)
Get signup bonuses
Get it over with, so I can finally stop spending my nights lurking FW!!


Current Credit History:
Card-----------------------------Age------- Limit--------- Balance------------
Citi Dividend---------------------- 09/2003----- $500---------- $122
Citi Dividend---------------------- 09/2003----- $14,100 ---------- 0
Citi Diamond Preferred------------ 03/2005----- $500 ----------- $102 ***
Citi PremierPass Elite-------- 01/2005----- $2,000 --------- 0
AMX Blue-------------------- 09/2005----- $25,000 --------- $5
Chase Sony Card--------------- 09/2005----- $5,000 ---------- 0
MBNA Charles Schwab ------ 08/2005----- $10,000----------- 0
Discover Titanium ------------- 09/2005----- $1,300----------- 0
Delll Financial Services------- 04/2005----- $3,000----------- 0

Totals---------Average age: 26 months------ $61,400---------- $229
*** This card doesn't report to TU. To the other 2 it is reporting 14,100 because I reallocated the line after it had updated bureau, and before my Citi Dividend did (so both reported 14,100).

!!PLUS the AU Discover card listed below is also reporting on all 3 bureaus!!

MY FAKO;s from TC on 3/26 were: TU/EX/EQ 761/793/783


Stages I went through:
•I cleaned up some mess on reports (credit limits not reporting, etc)
•I raised Credit limits during the prior months (got 25k on AMX CLI on crack, Scwab up to 10k, etc)
•I added myself as Authorized User on following 2 cards:

Discover Card-------- Age= 05/1989 -- CL= $3,300
HSBC BANK---------- Age= 12/1992 -- CL= $10,000 (THIS ONE NEVER SHOWED UP. over 3 months! I CALLED SO MANY TIMEs..)


Reported HHI: $160,000
-Some guidelines I tried to follow during app were to make sure I get at least 1 no annual-fee CC at each issuer, plus at least 1 0% (no fee if possible) BT offer, so that I can reallocate lines to that and do 1 BT.
Below are the cards I applied for in the order applied (Some have times to the right, to give a clue as to my progress)
All were deferred except for the 3 notated.

(I am starting to update the below list with links, promos, etc)
The list is in the order I applied. To the right is the link (if it says LINK, it is a direct link to application. If it says COit is a link to Card offers page). Then I go on to list the BT promo, any other promo, my logic for applying, and maybe some general FW knowledge about the card. IF you have any particular requests for how I present the info let me know!)
* Note: I changed AMEX--> AMX and Delta-->DLTA So that there won't be unnecesary blue links diverting your eyes from the prize

1) Citi Professional (10:42): CO. 0%/12mo/no fee. 15k TY points (close window for popup for 15k offer). $40 CardOffers. This card gives 3TY points for restaurants & other categories. Also doesn't count as part of 2 app max at citi.
2) Citi Business PremierPass: CO. 0%/12mo/no fee. 15K TY points (close the window and there should be a popup)
3) Citi Business Card w/ ThankYou: CO. 0%/12mo/no fee. 15k TY points (close window for popup). $10 CardOffers.
4) Discover Business (10:58)
5) Discover Miles
6) Chase United MP Personal:LINK 25k Bonus miles, (and possibly move line to another Chase card for BT)
7) Chase United MP Business Visa:LINK 25k Bonus miles (and possibly move line to another Chase card for BT)
8) WaMu (Targeted)0%/till Jan08/$75 max fee. 6,000 points. WaMu offers 1 free real FICO score monthly.
9) Juniper I Fly Free: .LINK. 0%/12mo/$50 max fee. $15 statement credit.
10) AMX Business Gold Dlta (11:30): CO. 15k Dlta miles. 9.99% BT (0%/6mo on purchases). $75 CardOffers. $75 annual fee (waived first year).
11) RBS Custom Cash (Targeted): Did a phone app. 7.9% fixed/no fee.
12) RBS Kroger 1-2-3:LINK. 0%/12mo/2% fee up to $60.
13) State Farm Good Neighbor Visa: LINK 0%/9mo/no fee (apply for BT within 30 days). I wanted to get a new issuer, as well as the BT promo. 2 FW'ers reported: 1 denied for too many inquiries (so maybe apply earlier on list). 1 Received 25k CL.
14) AMX Starwood Preferred Business: CO. 2.9%/6mo/no fee. 10k points. $75 CardOffers. $30 annual fee (waived 1st year). This is a good travel card (can convert 20k earned points into 25k points on most airlines).
15) Chase Sony Card: LINK.
0%/12mo/3% up to $75 (apparently you can retroactively request credit on BT fee.. All chase or just sony card?) $100 Statement credit.
16) BofA (FIA) TARGETED offer… (12:15)
17) BofA US AIRWAYS
18) Advanta Business Card (12:38): CO. 0%/15mo/$50max. $50 CardOffers. Has 5% rewards program for several categories (but tiered very high so not very useful).
19) Citi ATT Universal Rewards (1:13): CO. 0%/12mo/3% up to $75. 6,000 TY points. $30 CardOffers. I was actually interested in the cell phone insurance provided (but apparently it only covers up to $150 with a $50 deductable..)
20) Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards: CO. 0%/12mo/no fee. 6,000 TY points. $30 CardOffers. 5TY points for Everday purchases promo for 1st 12 months.
21) Chase Plat Visa Business (0%/12 months) (1:49)
22) AMX IN: NYC: CO. 0%/6mo/no fee. $40 CO. I needed an AMX with BT offer (not too many good one's out there).
23) PNC Business
24) PNC Personal
25) First National Bank of Omaha Platinum Edition Visa Card: LINK 0%/15mo/3% BT fee ($75 max). New Issuer.
26) WorldPerks USBANK Visa Business
27) AMX Blue Cash (4:17): CO 0%/6mo for purchases. $40 cardoffers. I wanted this card since I still don't have a 5% EDP/1.5% all else card, and this is at least a backup for that (only kicks in after like $6,500 spending).
28) Pulaski Bank (requested income verification….)
29) Chase Freedom Card
30) HSBC GM FLEX CARD - HSBC tends to give out crappy CL's (usually $600). Applied for CardOffers $.
31) Juniper Midwest Airlines (10:00p.m)
32) BofA (FIA) Merrill Lynch: CO. 1.9%/12mo/3% up to $75.
33) PenFed 5%/1.25% card (1:40am)
34) Citi MTVu Student card (applied 3/28 @ 11:15): CO. 0%/6mo/no fee. $33 CardOffers. Applied because 5% rewards for restaurants/bookstores/entertainment & I was told that it doesn't count towards Citi's limit of 2 personal
35) Citi HHonors Visa Signature (applied 3/28 @ 11:20): CO. 2.9%/6mo/no fee. 15k HHonors points. $10 CardOffers. Applied because also told that it doesn't count towards citi's limit of 2 & they are generous with
36) Captal One Platinum MC (Targeted): 7.99% fixed BT rate for life/no fee. Applied b/c it was in my mail today (seemed like I was destined to)- Wanted to start my banking relationship with CapOne (maybe better BT offers, etc)
37) GE Money Platinum MC: LINK. 0%/12mo/3% up to $75. Just another bank. Fatwalleter's have reported that they give small CL if one has a lot of credit.... We shall see


STILL WORKING ON UPDATING THE ABOVE... any formatting preference or additional information requests?

Anyways, I wanted to post this NOW in case anyone has some immediate in-process advice?
Are there any issuers I might be able to hit up more? (or that I missed) I have read so much that I often forget what I even know... Thus I forget which issuers don't count co-branded as part of max, etc...

I believe my breakdown as of now is: ( I will also include what I Know to be the supposed max # of cards to apply for these issuers-- this is a general rule of thumb. I know there are exceptions)
Advanta Business: 1 (max 1)
AMX: 2
AMX Business: 2
BofA: 2 (or 3? My Merrill Lynch card is an FIA, not sure if it counts as cunts as a CORE BofA card)
Capital One: 1
Chase: 3 (possible max of 1? Not sure, I got a strange email)
Chase Business: 2
Citi: 2 (2 citi personal cards within 60 day period)
Citi Co-branded: 2 (MTVu & HHonors)
Citi Professional: 1 (considered own category)
Citi Business: 2 (Unsure?)
Discover: 1 (max 1 in 30 days)
Discover Business: 1 (unsure)
FNBO: 1
HSBC: 1
Juniper: 2 (2 has been reported approved. Unsure of more?)
PNC Business: 1
PNC: 1
Pulaski: 1
PenFed: 1
RBS: 2 (2 has been reported approved. Unsure of more?)
State Farm: 1
US Bank Visa: 1

Couple Questions to finish out the night
•Are there any cards that you can quickly reccomend I apply for?
Or are there any issuers I can hit up more-- I can't remember all of the limits? (e.g. can I still get a Bank of America Business for example (business different than personal?).

•Is there ANYTHING I should proactively do to ensure my apps go through (Call certain issuers?)

•Also I was going to apply for some checking accounts and CLI on current cards, but I am thinking I should wait? I would hate for a CLI request to interfere with a new card possibility. they don't really care too much about my credit status, right?) Is that a silly concern? (Have all of the above cards probably already pulled my report?)
And applying for checking accounts probably doesn't matter right away

•One more, personal question... Should I be at all concerned about the sharp pain in my right shoulder and back (due to horrible positioning and stress from app-o-rama all day). Further my complete lack of feeding myself (until just recently) and also not sleeping to do credit card applications..... Am I taking this a lil too seriouslys ! Any of yall like this?


Alright, well I will transform this post into a useful resource shortly! Thanks for all of your help!

$160,000 as a college senior?!?! Impressive!!! I can't even imagine what you'll make after you graduate!

Wow you have a pretty decent credit history/lines already for an undergrad.

Looks like you hit your limit with the Citi personal apps (2 = AT&T + Diamond Pref Rewards). The Professional card is in its own "personal/business" category so doesn't count toward the limit. CitiBusiness I have no experience with. Expect about a week for a reply if it was deferred (or check your credit reports daily and look for new accounts).

Also US Bank and PNC cards are managed by Elan Financial Services. So if you applied for both in one day, chances are the credit pulls will either merge or they will only pull your report once. That was the case with me. Btw, US Bank is its own bank and not a part of Chase.

If you got the docs to support your income, no worries. If not, I'd go easy on any planned A/E BTs, as you probably will spook them with all the new credit lines you'll probably get.

Anyways good luck.

Thanks for the replies. Pooey about the WaMu if that is true-- I was really excited!.. Do you know if I can try for more US bank then if they are independent of Chase?

Good luck! Keep us updated!

So what is that CITI limit? Only 2 applications for new personal acounts in 30 days?

Well you had some high scores from Truecredt going into this one. I have mcuh more established credit with high lines and long histry but even after cleaning up old 0% VTs etc I havent matched those scores yet myself. 30 apps is aggressive and it will be interesting to see what is approved and for how much.

Rob

jimbocobb said: I better do some reading up on AMEX BT's....hope they don't mind sending a big chunk to a CITI card that only has a small balance on it.

If you send a big BT to a Citi card, make sure the Citi has a large CL that exceeds the BT size. i.e. if you are BT'ing 30K from AMEX, make sure your Citi card has at least a 30K limit).

Snyder81 said: jimbocobb said: I better do some reading up on AMEX BT's....hope they don't mind sending a big chunk to a CITI card that only has a small balance on it.

If you send a big BT to a Citi card, make sure the Citi has a large CL that exceeds the BT size. i.e. if you are BT'ing 30K from AMEX, make sure your Citi card has at least a 30K limit).

This isn't always the case.

I just did an AOR last month and shuttled $21,000 from a new HSBC card to a Citi card that I had reduced to a $500 credit limit. Citi took 2 weeks, but the refund check for the full $21,000 came yesterday.

babaamit said: Thanks for the response Charliek! Very useful. I am thinking to apply for the MTVu and the HHilton. I was just thinking I might try to call citi first to see what the status of my prior apps are... However, I couldn't figure out how I would do that! If I just give them my social to check on an app won't they see 5 pending apps (which would be awkward/possiblly raise a flag?)... I'm only wondering because Citi hasn't hit my reports yet.

The HiltonHonors card has been reported to be quite generous with initial CLs as compared to Citi's other personal cards. So this would be good to apply for, just for the sake of getting more CL to transfer to a Citi 0% BT promo. The MTVu is one of the last 5% cards left, so its a must-have for you.

They do seem to lag a bit compared to other issuers. Unless you REALLY need to know and can explain why you applied for so many cards at once, I would hold off on calling Citi about the apps. (There used to be a thread with phone numbers to check application status with card issuers, but I can't seem to find it now.) Just need to be patient, and pull your credit reports daily to see what pops up (inquiries & accounts). When I applied for 5 Citi cards, they all pulled on the same day, but the new accounts did not all show up on my credit reports the same day. They began to show up one by one over a span of 1.5 wks I think.

I am trying to find any other cards that will only pull Equifax, but that data is hard to verify
Might try for another US Bank. Anyone know about USAA? (independent of the rest?)

I applied for a USAA AM3X Card on Sunday. They pulled Equifax on Sunday, and my score went down 2 pts. I live in CT. Not sure why, but at the same time my Experian went up 7 pts, weird.

Good info, keep us informed!

How am I doing... ahhhh... this app-o-rama is eating my life

Yeah, trying to manage 30 or so applications while attending school isn't exactly trivial.


Aside from that, everything appears to be going well...but more time is really needed to see how many of the cards you'll actually get.

Awesome app-o-rama, babaamit.

Could only have been improved by a gratuitous JCB Card application.

Thanks for sharing your AOR, babaamit. If Fatwallet and AORs were around when I was 21 and in college, I can imagine I would have been totally excited and consumed by it to the point of it distracting me from my studies and affecting my academics. Hmm, maybe I was better off not having AORs back then

Anyways, I'm preparing for my mini AOR and am having a bit of difficulty finding a good personal 0% Chase card. In regards to the link for your Chase Freedom card, does your Chase Freedom app give you 0% for one full year? All the links I have found only give 0% for 6 months.

babaamit said: Thanks CoastieRobt... I think I might try for that.... Is there a certain reason I should try for the AMX vs the MC?


I only got the offer for my AM3X. I have had a MC for several years and the other day randomly got a AM3X offer with $0 BT fees, even for convenience checks. This offer actually sparked my entry into the BT game. I hope it all works out. I was apprvd instantly and given a CL of 10k. The CL on my MC is 20k. I should be getting the card early next week and and will shift my CL around, then BT up to 89%.

What is your % utilization plan? The standard nothing greater 89% on any one, and overall < 30-50%? Just curious.

babaamit said: Hey. Thanks.. I can't seem to apply for USAA (without having an actual military connection)

My utilization will probably be max 89% on BT cards and around 60% overall (unless I REALLY need to stay under 50)

You might want to be careful with the 60% overall. I've been reading this thread and it seems like the max util the BT guru's suggest is 50%.

I have a question for anyone that might have an idea...

So it is now saturday. I did my app-o-rama on tuesday. Things have been going pretty well so far, but I am pretty worried by the fact that there is not a single Citi inquiry on any of my reports. I applied for 7 cards from citi, and they are a core to my app-o-rama so I am not sure what to think/how to proceed? Now my reports are loaded with inquiries and new accounts are starting to show-- hope citi will still give me some!

I would call, but I don't want to confront why I have 7 pending apps ....

babaamit said: Alright, well I called-- Turns out I have a freeze on Equifax, thus anyone who has tried to pull it has failed (all of my citi apps...) So I am going to try to do some damage control and hopefully still get some citi cards later this week when the freeze is lifted (But new accounts are already reporting!)

Otherwise things seem to be doing well

Who put the freeze on your account? Did you find out more info about this? How can we find about these "freezes" before the AOR, call the CAs?

this AOR is getting me excited as well. I'm also 21, sr undergrad, but with much lower HHI and a smaller credit history. I'd most likely have to do a mini-AOR to get the juices running, but this looks promising.

Crovax

does no body read anything before posting.

anyway, your AOR turned out great, im 20 and will be doing mine in a month or so and yours is helping me with planning mine, thanks and congrats!