This will be my 2nd AOR after a mini-AOR back in October.
Background:
Age: 37
HHI: 110K (but net worth $1 mil+)
Mortgage: 4th year of a 15 year note. Balance: $225K, $2500/month
No other debt except credit cards.
Existing Lines:
Personal
Card Name / Age (Years) / Balance / Credit Limit / Utilization
AMEX Blue Cash (AU - wife's card) / 8.2 / $5,000 / $80,000 / 6%
USAA AMEX / 0.7 / $38,000 / $50,000 / 76%
FIA Fidelity Visa (AU) / 0.7 / $0 / $39,900 / 0%
USAA MC #1 / 14.8 / $0 / $30,000 / 0%
Barclays SeaMiles / 0.6 / $0 / $24,000 / 0%
Citi Diamond AMEX / 0.7 / $0 / $20,000 / 0%
BofA WorldPoints MC / 0.6 / $0 / $24,000 / 0%
USAA MC #2 / 9.8 / $0 / $17,000 / 0%
Citi Professional / 0.7 / $0 / $14,000 / 0%
Discover More / 0.7 / $0 / $9,500 / 0%
WFNNB Store Card / 14.0 / $0 / $500 / 0%
summary / 4.7 / $43,000 / $308,400 / 14%
Business
AMEX FreedomPass Biz / 0.6 / $0 / $25,000 / 0%
Notes:
- Our family's everyday spender is the AMEX Blue Cash. It was actually opened in April 2006, but AMEX is reporting April 1999. Bank error in your favor! I'll take it.
FIA Fidelity has MBNA billpay. I've been using it to pay other cards and my mortgage. I pay it off before every statement close.
- The $0 balances on the two Citi cards are only temporary. I still have 6 months left on no fee, 0% BTs on both cards. I'll crank them back up to 49% after submitting this AOR.
- As recently as March 2006, I had only 2 USAA credit cards with a combined CL of around $30K. Thanks FWF!
Goals:
- Primary goal: BT arbitrage.
- Bonuses are secondary but always welcome.
- Concentrate on business apps as much as possible.
Proposed Applications:
Business
Name / Notes
Advanta Business / 0%, 15 months, $50 bt fee
AMEX Starwood Business / 10K starpoints after first purchase, $60 cardselection.com
Amex Simply Cash / 0%, 12 months on purchases, $60 cardselection.com
BofA Business Power Rewards / 0%, 9 months, "No fees for BTs" on promo page (not T&C)!
BofA Business QuickBooks / to increase BofA business CL
Chase Business Mariott / 15K Mariott Points, free night, first year free
Chase Business Rebate Visa / 0%, 12 months, $75 fee (might fund citi savings)
Citi Business MC / 0%, 12 months, no bt fee, $150 gift card after first purchase (use "before you go" trick)
Citi Business Premier Pass / 0%, 12 months, no bt fee, $150 gift card, first year free
M&T Bank - Business Card / 0%, 6 months, no bt fee
National City Visa Business / 0%, 6 months, no bt fee
Personal
Amex in:nyc / 0%, 6 months, no bt fee, $30 cardselection.com
Barclays National Parks / 0%, 12 months, $50 fee
BofA (FIA) Schwab / to increase BofA personal CL; $50 statement credit
BofA Platinum Plus MC - no longer valid!! / 0%, 12 months, no bt fee
BofA NFL Extra Points / 0%, 12 months, $75 fee; replaces expired deal above
Chase Sony Visa / 0%, 12 months, $75 fee, $100 credit after first purchase
Chase Marriott / 20K Mariott Points; free night; first year free
Chase Priority Club / to increase Chase CL (Visa Signature), $20 credit, first year free
Citi Driver's Edge / 0%, 12 months, no bt fee (use in 6 months), $25 cardselection.com
GE Money MC / 0%, 12 months, $75 fee
HSBC Platinum MC / 0%, 12 months, $99 fee
HSBC Orchard 2% / received invitation for 2% Cash Back card
Infibank Principal Visa / 0%, 12 months, $75 fee, don't like a lot of inquiries, like bank/brokerage statements for CLIs
National City Visa / 0%, 6 months, no bt fee
PenFed Rewards Visa / 1.25% Cash Back, generous CLIs
RBS CustomCash / 0% 10 months, $60 fee (most likely Platinum, not CustomCash)
WAMU ESPN Visa / 0%, 6 months, no bt fee, FICO, Big CLs?
The Plan:
- Wait for $0 balances to report on Citi, Barclays, and Discover cards. Should happen this week. Check FICO.
- Prior to AOR, request soft pull CLIs on existing lines.
- Exploit all business BTs to 89% utilization as these do not report on personal credit reports.
- Reallocate as necessary and exploit personal BTs at 49%. If I get a particularly juicy CL, maybe go to 89% on one card. Overall utilization will definitely stay below 50%.
- Might create a giant AMEX CL and use it simply for utilization. Don't want the dreaded FR.
- All BT funds will reside in my USAA Performance First account, current APY 5.18%. Yes, I know I could do better, but I've decided to draw the line at rate chasing and opening a bazillion savings accounts. All of the 1099s and the extra few dollars aren't worth the hassle to me. (Frankly, I have to fight my natural desire for simplification to play the AOR game.)
AOR Launched morning of Tuesday, June 5th.
Results (roughly in order applied for)
Name / Status / CL / Notes
Advanta Business / instantly approved / $12,500 /
BofA Business Power Rewards / approved / $25,000
BofA FIA NFL / instantly approved / $5,000 /
Chase Business Rebate Visa / approved / $10,000 / now $50K after CLI request and realloc from Sony and Biz Marriott
Citi Business PP / approved / $7,500 / now $44K after realloc from Professional, new CitiBusiness MC, and Dividend MC (after conversion from Diamond AMEX). statement of assets to increase CL unsuccessful.
National City Visa Business / approved / $15,000 / initially 9k; had to fax signature (added a statement of assets)
WAMU ESPN Visa / instantly approved / $7,000 / no dice on CLI
Chase Sony Visa / instantly approved / $14,000 / (temp CL was $5k) now at $1K - reallocated to Biz Rebate Visa
Infibank Principal Visa / approved / $15,0000 / CLI rejected. didn't want to see docs
PenFed Rewards Visa / approved / $20,000 / initially 12k; sent bank and brokerage statements
AMEX Simply Cash / approved / $25,000 (but existing FreedomPass card lowered from $25k to $500)
Chase Business Mariott / approved / $15,000 / now at 1k - reallocated to Biz Rebate Visa
M&T Bank - Business Card / approved / $25,000 / YES! and they can ACH to a checking account (now they're saying no)
AMEX in:nyc / instantly approved / $24,000 / initially 3k, hit the online AMEX crack pipe ![]()
RBS Platinum / denied / too many new accounts & inqs
AMEX Starwood Business / approved / $3,000
Citi Business MC / approved / $7,500 /
Barclays National Parks / approved / $23,500 / initially declined. spoke to credit dept and reallocated from SeaMiles
Chase Personal Marriott / denied / too many new accounts in last 12 months
Citi Driver's Edge / approved / $500 / rep said i've reached my max exposure with citi. fair enough.
FIA Schwab / approved / $6,000
GE Money MC / denied / too many inqs in last 6 months
National City Visa / approved / $10,000 /
Merrick Hooters / approved / $18,750 / applied June 6th - i was pretty sure they would pull TU - just trying to improve utilization, plus, hey, it's a HOOTERS card!!!
Bank Atlantic Business Card / approved / $20,000 / applied June 29th! pulled TU, which was ideal. 15 months at 0% a on biz card! yes!!!
Number of personal apps: 14
Number of business apps: 11
Number accepted: 22 (11 personal, 11 business)
Number rejected: 3 (all personal)
Scores
Date - EQ FICO, Credit Secure EX, CS EQ, CS TU, notes
6/4/07 - 795, 796, 784, 808, day before launch
8/24/07 - 770 (balances of 77k and all new cards reporting)
New Inquiries
Equifax took a beating, but I expected that. I'll use True Credit and Credit Secure for bumpage.
grouped by date, CRA, and order of pull
6/5/07
AMEX EX --- only one pull from AMEX
BANK OF AMERICA EX
FIA CSNA EX
ADVANTA EQ
FIA CSNA EQ
CBUSA/CBSD EQ --- citibusiness, i believe
CHASE EQ --- looks like 1 pull for chase for 2 biz and 1 personal
FIRST USA EQ ---- Sony Visa
INFIBANK EQ
PENTAGON EQ
RBS EQ --- These guys pulled later in the day; hence the rejection
GEMB/GEMON EQ
CITI EQ
CITI EQ
ELANFINSVC EQ --- M&T Bank (notice these guys weren't too worried about inqs)
BRCLYSBANKDE TU
WASHMTL/PROV TU
Nat City TU
6/6/07
NCBCARDSER EQ --- I bet this is Nat City Business
NCBK-NCCS TU --- Nat City, why a second hit?
Hooters TU --- hOOters! my wife will be so proud! ![]()
6/29/07
BRCLYSBANKDE TU --- Bank Atlantic Biz card
Total: 23 (EX - 4, EQ - 13, TU - 6)
BT Plans
Advanta - $11,500 check mailed to USAA savings
Barclays Bank Atlantic Business MC - $19,000 to where? CSR seemed to think I will get blank BT checks with the card.
Barclays National Parks - $21,000, Used blank BT check that came with the card.
BofA NFL - $30,000 ACH'd to USAA checking and transferred to savings
BofA Biz - $22,500 to unused USAA MC. Credit balance transferred to savings after 7 day hold.
Citi Biz PP - $29,500 check received and deposited. After converting Diamond AMEX to a Dividend MC, reallocated another 12k to this card, and requested a second BT check for 14k. CL on Biz PP now $44K.
Chase Biz - $33,300 check deposited. Used BT check that came with the card.
Infibank Principal Visa - $7,500 to wife's Citi card with no fee 0% offers. will ask for another BT from citi when Pricipal's check clears. technique commonly referred to as "BT laundering."
M&T Bank Biz - $23,000, successfully requested BT on M&T's website using USAA savings account #!
National City Visa - $5,000 to Fidelity Gold AMEX. Swept to my Fidelity cash account when the card's statement closed.
National City Business Visa - $14,000 to Fidelity Visa. this is my billpay card, so it happens to have a substantial balance at the moment. saves me having from having to make a cash payment this month.
Updates
6/6/07 - I'll start using new posts for updates and use the OP for summaries.
6/5/07 - launched on Tuesday morning about 8 AM Eastern. only a few instant approvals, but i suspected that would happen. i was able to talk to a BofA credit specialist about my personal apps, and i've already reallocated and ACH'd a $30K BT check to USAA checking. New CLs: Old BofA WorldPoints MC: $500; Schwab, $1000; NFL Jets: $33,500. saweet!
spoke to BofA business credit specialist - approved for $25K - BT of $22,500 on its way to a $0 balance USAA MasterCard. confirmed there are no balance transfer fees with this card.