I wasn't planning on posting, as this one really pales in comparison to some of the other recent 'ramas, but the results (I thought) were rather interesting and I wanted to share.

My credit is somewhat in the tank (FAKOs in the low 700's) after a mini-AOR of my own about 6 months ago so I thought about doing one for the wife. Checked her scores via CreditSecure free trial and found that she's got an average of 763 so I figured it was worth a shot. I was hoping to launch this on 7/7/07 due to superstition, but figured the extra 10 days of studying and prep would more than make up for any potential "luck" that the 7th was supposed to bring (I'm only half-kidding, sadly).

Pre-AOR picture:

Age - 27 (both)
HHI - $155,000 (slightly higher due to commissions, etc., but 155 is the "base")
Own a home (3.5 years) - mortgage in my name only
Goals of AOR - get new 0% lines to BT mine as they expire (we used my AOR to finance a semi-large home improvement project last fall). Build wife's base of credit, as she has limited accounts and, mostly, small lines. Reallocate where possible following completion of 0% periods.

Current Credit Profile (as per CreditSecure)

PLUS Score - 763 (all three)
Open Accounts (EX / EQ / TU)
10 / 10 / 9
Inquiries
3/2/2

Account / Age / Limit / Balance
AMEX Blue (AU on mine) / 4.5 years / 22,000 / 3,234
BofA Visa Platinum / 1 year / 2,500 / 0
DSNB Macy's (joint account) / 4 years / 2,000 / 0
DSNB Macy's (personal) / 1 year / 2,500 / 68 (paid - balance only showing on TU)
WFNNB - Express / 2 years / 750 / 0
GEMB - Old Navy / 1 year / 600 / 0
Raymour & Flanigan / 1 year / 6,500 / 0
Target National Bank / 2 years / 9,000 / 0
Visa - DSNB / 1 year / 5,000 / 0 (not showing on TU)

Average age - slightly under 2 years (she's not a US citizen, and had some trouble getting started)
Total credit available - $50,850
Total Utilization - $3,302 (including the $68 that's only showing on TU) / ~6.5%

I wasn't nearly as ambitious as some others recently - only went with a dozen cards (7 personal, 5 business). Applied through cardselection.com for bonuses where available. Launched apps online yesterday afternoon between 1:00 and 2:00 ET (had to do something during lunch), and the results were semi-encouraging. Despite conventional AOR logic, I opted not to request BTs with the apps.

Card / terms / Bonus through cardselection / Result / line / other notes

Advanta Platinum Business / 0% 15 mos - $50 cap / $25 / deferred - rejected

BofA Power Rewards Business /9 months 0%, no fee/ 0 / deferred - Approved - $20k

BofA Platinum Visa (Personal) / 0 / Instant approval / 12 months 0%, no fee / $3,100 / Going to see about getting a CLI and moving some of the line from her existing card over, then BT to checking. - received

Chase Sony Card / 0% 12 mos, $75 cap, $100 bonus with first purchase / 0 / deferred - Approved - $6,500

Citi Professional Cash / 0% for 12 mos (from date of BT if within 12 mos of opening), $50 cap) / $25 / Instant approval / 9,000

Citi Home Rebate Platinum Select MC / 0% for 12 mos, no fee / $25 / Instant approval / 4,200

CitiBusiness / 0% for 12 mos, no fee, 15,000 TYP (close the app without applying and you'll get the pop-up offering the extra 5k - same as the CitiProfessional, but 12 mos 0% instead of 9) / $25 / Deferred [Update 7/20] Approved - $20,000

Discover Business / 0% for 12 mos, $75 cap / 40 / deferred - Approved - $8,000

DiscoverMore / 0% for 12 mos, $75 cap / 40 / Instant approval / CLI not given / When activating the card, may ask for CLI and depending on limit & size of BT, may try to get PLDA promo (0% for life with purchases) - received - $8,000

Juniper National Park Foundation Platinum Visa / 0% 12 mos, $50 cap, free backpack / 0 / deferred - Approved (only a $1k limit)

BankAtlantic (Juniper) Rewards BusinessAtlantic (Juniper) / 0% for 15 mos, $75 cap / 0 / deferred - Approved - Limit TBD

AMEX In-NYC / 0% for 6 mos, no fee / 30 / Instant Approval / 2,000 / plan to play the CLI on Crack and try to get the line up before doing the BT. If it doesn't work, we'll see about reallocating some of the 22,000 from our existing Blue card to this one. - received - instant CLI to 20k

Totals - 5 Instant Approvals
Total new credit - 18,100 (plus unknown Discover line)
7 Deferrals
1 non-instant approval
On day 1, only Barclay's has pulled (on TU).
Day 2, 5 additional pulls (all EX)

I'll update as additional data becomes available, and am thinking about throwing another couple of apps on the barbie, seeing as how well the initial round went. Lines are a little disappointing, but 5 instant approvals was way more than I expected.

Shouldn't that be "wifey: mini-aor"??? Otherwise, you have a small wife!

J/K, and watching with interest (my next AOR will be middling, somewhere between a "mini" and a full-blown AOR).

I think an AOR is also good because Mini doesn't have many large credit limits, so this will help establish a "bed" of credit with the majors lenders.

markkundinger - totally agree about increasing her "base," updated the goals in the OP to include that as well.

djspray - I'm not sure, but saw multiple Discover apps in a few of the AORs I "studied" in preparation. I think it's kind of interesting that ALL the business apps were deferred (she actually has a business, as she does some freelance graphic design, but revenue is VERY limited at this point). I'll update as soon as we hear from DSCO and the others.

Everybody's pulled except Citi. Based on how heavily it's weighted toward EX, I'm starting to think I need to subtitle this "how I ruined my wife's EX score"

Oh well, can't win them all...got a rejection from Advanta today. Excessive number of recent consumer inquiries, insufficient length of personal credit history, insufficient number of personal credit experiences and insufficient balance on open mortgage accounts. Gotta admit, I don't get that last one, since she doesn't have any open mortgage accounts (maybe that's what they're trying to say there).

On the bright side, got up to 20k on the AMEX (0% 6 mos, no fee), 8k on Discover (not too shabby considering that it's discover). Now, need to try and work some CLI or reallocation magic to get that BofA limit above 3100 and use the BT to checking that they're so generous with.

I love wife-o-ramas

Well, approved for the Juniper national parks card, but with only a $1,000 CL. Anybody know how "good" Juniper / Barclay's is in terms of CLIs?

Edit - just sent an email to CS via the account management website - let's see what they say.

lrothkcsa said:
As far as cardselection, you've got to sign up for an account and look at the offers when logged in. If you're just visiting, it won't show any bonuses.

I sign up an account. It let me log in and show member profile, but I dont see any offer.

Just got an email informing the wife that she's been approved for the BankAtlantic Business Card (no mention of CL, and we can't set up the online access without an account number)...hopefully it'll be a fat line, as the terms were pretty sweet (0% for 15 mos, $75 cap).

Just waiting on one more approval (Discover Business), info on 2 CLs (CitiBusiness and BankAtlantic) and a reply from Juniper about the CLI request on the national parks card.