lhendricks92's AOR v2.0 and subsequent rolling thunder...

After bumping the inquiries from my Jan app spree, I couldn't resist applying for a few more cards last week:

Biz

Chase Biz Cash Rebate card. approved $500, pending CLI to $50K. 0% for 12 months, $99 fee. Pre-approved offer. Nothing special about the deal, but I figured the pre-approval might help with the CL. No dice. Faxed Chase personal asset statement to increase the CL. My original biz card with a 50K CL is at ~95% util at the moment. Hopefully docs will prevent Chase from freaking about my request for more credit.

Elan Woodforest. approved $31K. 0% for 6 months, no BT fee. See here for info about my reallocation attempts.

BofA Biz. pending CLI from $25K to $50K. They sent me BT checks for 9 more months at 0% with $99 fee. I asked for a CLI 2 weeks ago, and I'm still waiting for a response. I see they finally pulled TU on Friday, so hopefully I'll know something soon. I also have a pre-approved offer for a second card. Might hold onto this and have my wife apply as she is a co-owner of our business.

Personal

Citi Associated Bank, approved $25K. 0% for 12 months no BT fee. Probably do rolling maximization with this card to hide the debt.

To-Remain-Unnamed card #1, approved $25K. BTs have a grace period, like purchases. Great to way to get free, unreported float - like MBNA billpay.

To-Remain-Unnamed card #2, approved $30K. BTs earn rewards. I don't see any reason why I can't transfer balances every month.

US Bank Baylor, approved $25K. 0% for 12 months, no bt fee.

Notes:

I've passed $500K in personal CL and should pass $300K in biz CL, pending my CLIs with BofA and Chase. It's getting easier to get higher initial CLs now that I have several 50K+ cards on my personal report. EQ Fico is at 787. Let's see how the 4 new accounts, new CL, and slightly more debt affect my scores. I suspect they won't change dramatically.

jevon90 said: What was your personal Utilization like when you applied for these cards(full details are fine or just rough util% of each/total lines would be interesting to me.

Low. 1 card at 69% (51K of 74K) and 1 card at 29% (4.4K of 15K). Overall personal util about 15%. Much higher biz util, of course.

Was your Experian frozen at the time of apps?

No, my request to freeze is still processing. I was lucky to get 6 inquiries equally spread among all 3 CRAs.

Lastly, I've heard this process mentioned in other threads but I'm not certain I fully understand it. Do you do a BT and pay it back each month for this one card?

Yep, I'm assuming this offer works like other Citi cards where you can ask for an unlimited number of no fee BTs during the promo period.

Nice job Ihendricks92 so I see you found the BT card that offers rewards.
Just a few people know about it.
I have used that card for about 5 bt's, gained alot of rewards points.
Nice to see the CL on the woodforest card.
I have that card on list to apply for in April.
That Baylor card is really tempting but I am going to wait my 6 months and then go for it.

Had you faxed Chase docs before? Unless that's new, I honestly don't think they'd give you a large CLI.

But the decent credit limit on the Associated Bank card is interesting. What's your personal/biz credit story with citibank right now?

I need some advice. BofA biz denied my CLI. The letter with reasons is in the mail. Normally, I would ask to speak to a credit analyst and offer to show docs, but the clowns at Bofa biz will not let you speak to an analyst. The phone CSRs have very little power and only relay messages to the analysts. To complicate matters, I also have a pre-approved offer for another card with a CL "up to $35,000."

What should I do? My options:

1) Accept my current CL and take my new BT offer for 6 months.
2) Attempt reconsideration and somehow get docs to the analysts. I'd prefer to do this, but how?
3) Use the pre-approval offer. There seems to be some evidence that BofA treats each line independently, even for the same business and owner.
4) A combination of 1) or 2) and 3).

great info and advice, thanks.

tolamapS said: I am wondering if Citi will allow reallocation from a card w/ an expiring 12mo-12mo offer to one that has a not-yet-started such offer.

I also have a about $25K of personal limits on various cards, and I am wondering if I should leave that intact, or shift to the business side.

I haven't had any issues reallocating between citi biz cards or from personal to biz. Biz to personal is not possible, I believe.

tolamapS said: BTW, citi gave me $8K soft-pull CLI on the CitiBiz w/TY, while I had a $27K debt at 90% utilization a week ago. This was the 6-mo, soft-pull CLI offer. I was surprized at the amount. All my cards (BizPremPass, AT&T, Proff, and the CitiBiz) had the button showing, and on average I got about a 20% increase on each card, but the $8K took the crown.

Interesting. Every time I've checked the site for CLIs on my biz cards, I'm presented with a form asking for my business and personal income. I'm assuming it would be hard pull if I continued.

it was a targeted offer on my 6 month old card.

Here is a link to check for preapproved BOA business card offers. It will also give you your approved CL. Be careful; mine stated 0%, 6mo and NBTF. When I received the card it was 0%, 9mo with a 3% BTF. Don’t know if I am going to call and argue with them or just move the CL to NEA card.
BOA Business

Rorer714 said: Don’t know if I am going to call and argue with them or just move the CL to NEA card.

I haven't heard of any successful BofA biz to personal reallocations.

lhendricks92 said: Interesting. Every time I've checked the site for CLIs on my biz cards, I'm presented with a form asking for my business and personal income. I'm assuming it would be hard pull if I continued.

Yes, the regular form asks for a bunch of info, and according to many FWF members, will result in a hard pull. The soft-pull CLI form appears in liue of the regular form, periodically. When it appears, it gives you an option to accept a pre-approved CLI amount. You can only answer Yes / No. If you say No, the regular form is presented instead (I think you can navigate "Back" and still say Yes in the previous page, but don't take my word as the only piece of evidence. Someone might have had a different experience).

lhendricks92 said: US Bank Baylor, approved $25K. 0% for 12 months, no bt fee.

I looked at this link for the 3 US Bank Baylor cards and all of them state "No Balance Transfer Fees for balances transferred with this application" and show a 3% BT fee / $5 min. for the BT fee. Are you using a different link/application or do they really not charge a BT fee in the intro. period?

ahself said: lhendricks92 said: US Bank Baylor, approved $25K. 0% for 12 months, no bt fee.

I looked at this link for the 3 US Bank Baylor cards and all of them state "No Balance Transfer Fees for balances transferred with this application" and show a 3% BT fee / $5 min. for the BT fee. Are you using a different link/application or do they really not charge a BT fee in the intro. period?

IIRC, you don't even need to request the BT with the application to have the fee waived.

Managed to consolidate Asssociated Bank with my CashReturns card, resulting in a $47.5K limit. I originally wanted to move that AB line to a biz card, but this will work as an intermediate step.

I mailed a request to freeze Experian a week or so ago, and it looks like the freeze is in effect. NatCity Identity protect and Chase ID protection haven't been able to pull Experian the last couple of days, but CreditSecure (an Experian product) pulls Experian just fine. I was waiting for the freeze to pull CapOne Biz. Instantly approved, unknown CL.

OK, I'm done for awhile. After my flurry of activity in Jan and Feb, I have 3 new inqs on TU and EQ, and 2 on EX. I'll be showing 4 new personal accounts, but only 1 - US Bank Baylor - will be showing a significant balance. I'll have 5 new biz accounts with juicy CLs and BT opportunities.

lhendricks92 said: markkundinger said: Had you faxed Chase docs before? Unless that's new, I honestly don't think they'd give you a large CLI.
Nope, Chase has never seen my docs. The analyst who originally approved me for only $500 said my asset statements should definitely make a difference in determining the CL. And...this is interesting...she said to aim HIGH. She said they can counter with something lower than the requested CL, but not something higher.

Chase upped my $500 limit to $30K. I had requested $50K, but I'm more than pleased. The CLI was granted with another $50k Chase biz line at 92% util. I suppose I'll payoff the old card, reallocate to the new, and take a $79K BT. I've only got the one blank check - better make it count.

What documents did you send them, anyway?

And how did you browbeat them into even accepting documents? Any insight into their decision making process?

A couple of updates:

I forgot I had applied for CapOne biz no hassle cash and NatCity LifeSpring. Approved for $20K on CapOne, denied by NatCity. Reasons: 1) You already have a card, and 2) "Excessive number of new trade lines in last 12 months." I suspect #2 is the real reason as some have reported having more than one NatCity card. I also speculate a BT on the app may have helped, which I didn't do. Probably for the best - I didn't really need another personal card with a balance reporting.

Some stats now that the dust has settled:

Total personal CL: $505K, 15% util (reporting)
Total business CL: $370K, 69% util

Current amount of OPM in my clutches: $330K (+$55K when I get my CapOne biz and second BofA biz.)

It's always dangerous to draw conclusions from a single data point, but I haven't see any evidence of a credit crunch. Just the opposite, in fact. (Frantically finds wood to knock.)

More love from Elan.

I got the same BofA offer - already have 2 cards, offered up a 3rd at logout, but I botched the app by having my CR locked (they tried to pull EQ, which surprised me). Will be watching your thread in case you decide to "take the plunge."

lhendricks92 said: swishyx said: I got the same BofA offer - already have 2 cards, offered up a 3rd at logout, but I botched the app by having my CR locked (they tried to pull EQ, which surprised me). Will be watching your thread in case you decide to "take the plunge."

For my second card, I used this this link to find my pre-approved offer and apply. The big advantage of going through that link was a soft pull, but that link has been down for several days and may be dead.

If I knew taking the logout offer would be a soft pull, I would definitely go for it.
My 1st card was at the link you mentioned. I took a soft and 2 hards for that one (TU, EX) in '07, but it was one of my first business cards. My 2nd card was from a logout offer in December and it looks like there was either a soft or no pull (I'm going to assume a soft). The logout offer this time went after my EQ and died due to the freeze I have on it - but I wonder if that was all the result of the freeze I have on EX. I was surprised to see EQ referenced when the app blew up (cited insufficient credit history, which is what I guess "I can't get your report" translates as).