kruz said:Hey Mark...maybe I need to go back and read a bit but I have two questions...
the first is when you do a balance transfer can you make it payable to yourself?
And the 2nd is I have about 15,000.00 to "use" for about 4 months..not enough
time to invest in a CD but do you have other suggestions?
I love the idea of mabe earninng some money from CC...
This question needs to be in the flame free newbie zone Newbie Zone...However, I will answer it for you.

Yes, you can make a balance transfer check payable to yourslef in most cases (but always call the company to verify this each time). Try searching for AoR and read the million posts about it. Next, DO NOT BUY A CD. Open a FNBO Direct Savings account that pays 6% interest until October, and then likely 5+% after that (try finding a higher paying CD).

Mark, I don't know if you've seen this or not, but I've added specific ways I received the BT $ to the bottom of my first post in this thread: How I got the BT $ to checking for each individual card

It might help if you are deciding on waiting on a welcome package from Citi or calling and requesting a check already made out and mailed to you.

- Got email from Citibank that my CitiBusiness TYP app was accepted. No mention of the credit limit. But it's another 15k Thank You points in the bag.

- Those Juniper/Barclays guys are quick. A credit report pull today already showed the I Fly America card reporting!

However, the TrueCredit pulls I was getting were just part of the 1 week free trial offer from privacymatters123.com. I went ahead and canceled the trial, but I think PM123 fixed last year's loophole where you could keep using TrueCredit for a couple months after canceling. Bummer. I won't be able to track the app status in as laborious detail (although once I get rejections I can get free credit reports from them)

makitaws said:markkundinger said:- I won't be able to track the app status in as laborious detail (although once I get rejections I can get free credit reports from them)
Mark - Have you already used up your 1 month free trial to AMEX CreditSecure (need to logon using your AMEX card)? I believe it has the same features as TrueCredit, except the scores it reports seem to differ from the scores through TrueCredit.
https://www124.AmericanExpress.com/cards/loyalty.do?page=creditsecure

Or you could use the $11.21 a month link for TrueCredit thru WalMart
https://www.TrueCredit.com/orderOrigination?op=Welcome:Right&product=CreditMonitoring&cb=WalMart
Keep in mind that with AMEX Credit secure, you can't update your score daily until the end of your 30 day trial period. I would hit up WalMart TrueCredit link and start bumping your inquiries off now (and you can monitor your credit score status if you are interested)

celta001 said:I have a question for my soon to come AOR.

I know the first step is to do CLI's to get the Total Credit Limit high, and wait a month in order for it to reflect on your CR. my question is how do you know you have a high enough score \ good enough report to have a sucessful AOR?

Current score: TU756/EXP708/EQU745
Credit Life: 2.8 Years
Credit Limit: 22k
Credit Defaults:0
Number of AOR's:0
Credit Card Payments: Always in full every month
Credit Card: 5
Cards:
Name (Limit)[Years]
AMEX Gold (No Limit) [.3 years]
AMEX Blue (17.5k) [1.8 Years]
BOA World Points (2k) [1.3 Years]
BOA Visa Signiture (12k, No limit) [.3 Years]
HSBC Platinum (2.5k) [2.8 Years]

How long should i wait for an AOR?

Thanks in advance!

Celta001Celta001, please start your own original AoR thread so you can ask all your questions in there as well as provide us a seperate series of datapoints to follow. Your info looks great for an AoR, even without any CLI's! Unless you got many big CLI's, I wouldn't wait for them to report. However, you still need to do a lot more research to make sure you don't screw something up (like using a cash advance check by mistake). Make your own thread, I'll be happy to help you out in there.

- Yesterday, I got a voicemail from the "Chase Fraud Department". When I returned it this morning, the lady just wanted to confirm that I really did apply for the Chase Business United Plus card. When I said yes, she said "thank you", that they would continue processing the application, and that was the end of the call. Shortest fraud call ever (and I'm becoming quite an afficionado of them).

- I received a letter from AMEX informing me that I was approved for the IN:LA card. But I would like to quote three sentences from the letter:
Our records indicate that you have additional American Express credit card(s). We have taken your existing American Express lines of credit into consideration when assigning the line of credit on your new account. If at anytime you would like to reallocate your credit lines among your existing American Express cards, please call the number on the back of your card.

I am saving this letter and I am going to include it when I complain to AMEX's CEO after I get my inevitable financial review.

- Last night I received my Discover Miles card! (Those guys are still fast!) The credit limit was $6,000. About what I expected, but I was hoping for more, and wanted to reallocate. The CSR I called in the evening couldn't do anything, but I went ahead and requested some balance transfer checks (did't get any included in welcome packet) and he said I needed to call New Accounts (888 676 3695) in the morning. I did, and the new accounts person said I needed to talk to a CSR, so I balked, and she hung on the line to explain the situation.

- The CSR took the info on the phone to do a credit application (it took another hard credit inquiry)
- Told me that they "prefer" to completely close and consolidateold unused cards. Since that card was my oldest, I wanted to keep it open.
- I took $8,000 from my Discover Gas card, and $4,000 from my old Discover card, making the new credit limit on the Miles card $18,000.

There were only two things that were sub-optimal. I wasn't able to talk my way out of the hard inquiry (didn't try very hard), and I didn't wait to do the hard inquiry until I was sure all other apps had been processed. But I'm still glad I got the Miles card's CL bumped up, and I plan to hammer it pretty hard once I get the BT checks.

from OP snip ~ Cards applied for (in order) (7/12/07): ~ snip

I cant stress enough how important it is to document this order in your AOR. I KNOW it's difficult, but it's worth A LOT to future readers. As AOR's evolve additional strategies develop, things like 'M & T didnt care about 75 inquiries from lhendricks92's thread are vital, it was so hard digging through the AOR threads to determine the order to apply, but that is incredibly important to be successful.

Great job Mark. Glad you got the Bank Atlantic'r.....

Bank of Atlantic rewards card will not let me transfer money into my checking account. They said it has to be a business account unless i walk into a bank which I cant since i live in nj.
Did you manage to do a bt?
So how do business bank account work about taxes? will i have to file the business profits in my tax returns?

- Checked Chase online, and lo and behold, I saw the Sony Card with a $3500 limit, even though I haven't received the card yet.

- With little fanfare, I also received the (Chase) Lasalle Bank card. Also with a $3500 limit. It is very much a Chase card, all of the stuff in the mailer says "First USA" and the credit limit is reallocatable with other Chase cards. The only difference is that you need to use the cardmemberservices.com website instead of the chase.com website.

Note that that two approvals for an aggregate $7k are less personal credit from Chase than I had reduced when Chase took adverse action during my first AOR. But I will still do a lot of damage with balance transfers. I plan on waiting for the (hopeful) Business card, to see if I can reallocate my personal credit there before maxing it out.

- I also received my Capone card. Tried calling and baiting them with a BT if they would increase my credit limit past the $2000, but no dice, was told that they only do increases on an annual basis (which I don't particularly believe). However, they also included a purchase check, which I am depositing into my Fidelity account to enjoy a month of float, and to get my "high balance" reporting correctly with the card.

The most important thing about the Capone card is that I ordered with plastic with the cute photo of puppies and kittens. OMG SO CUTESIE!!

hahahahahhahaa