Q=TheThinker]djspray said: ...and all the mail makes you seem important.

Good point. Getting 50 account statements each month? That's a bit crazy.
Are a few thousand bucks interest worth a credit report filled to brink
and a mailbox stuffed like crazy? Even if you opt for e-Statements, that's a lot
of email!
Just enroll in online statements if you don't want the mail. Then use Yodlee to manage everything. Yodlee really is a godsend for an AoR'er. I'm currently managing 40 credit cards via Yodlee right now and this number will increase to around 70 cards (not all my cards, 2/3 are parents) in another month. Here is my first AoR post and some cards for you: My first post. Here is a quick summary of how to get the $: How to get the $

Also, look for lhendricks92 and thisguy's AoR posts. They are very well laid out and will give you lots of ideas on cards. Good luck.

Incarnate said:collegecash said:One of the main reasons I want to do an AOR is to build credit history.
Dude, an AOR does not help you build credit history. Time helps you build a credit history. You're playing with fire at such an early age.
I'm thinking you might need to go read some more posts if this is what you believe. An AoR helps you build credit history very, very well.

TheThinker said:kittenmittens said: Doing some back of the envelope math it looks like 5% of 65k is only $3250 - you're completely right, Thinker, it's best to leave that alone and wait around a couple of years.

Alright, maybe I should start playing the AOR game. One reasonable concern tho,
won't the extra income lower my financial aid? I still have 2 years of college left,
and will most likely go to grad school as well.
If you make a lot of income, possibly, but I wouldn't worry too much unless you make more than 5k. Also, do the math, if you lose your subsidized stafford loan, how much is is costing you vs how much are you earning after taxes for your AoR. It is a little risk, but I think you should be fine making under 3k more.

I agree that it is harder to get higher limits when starting out fresh and not a very long credit history (although not impossible). IMO, since having old accounts is good for your score work on getting several cards first so you can start out a little ahead on that side. After that work on getting CLIs on those existing cards. Then, once you have decent lines do a AOR for purposes of the 0% game.

Think long term, don't look to get into BT game right away. Learn what you can here and set yourself up so that in several years you can get in and have a better shot at getting those higher CLs.

I'm just out of college and I did a mini AOR last October so that I could get several lines to age. Now, I'm focusing on building the CL on those accounts. Eventually I will do another AOR to take advantage of the BT game, but not anytime soon.

Incarnate said:collegecash said:One of the main reasons I want to do an AOR is to build credit history.
Dude, an AOR does not help you build credit history. Time helps you build a credit history. You're playing with fire at such an early age.

I'm building relationships with banks and as long as I don't default on any of these cards it should help my score. The longer I keep them open, the better. I know when I apply for them I will take a hit because all the banks will be pulling my credit, but after about 6-8 months it should be back to normal.

I'm also in a VERY similar situation (19-soon to be 20, junior in college). I have 4 cards, one AMEX Blue Cash with a limit of $20k+ and the rest ~$5k (c1, chase, bofa).

Although MY credit history is only a little more than a year old, I've been an AU on my parent's primary card since 1999. So my credit history is a bit more "aged" compared to most college students.

I'm thinking about doing an AOR so that by the time all the BTs are paid off, I'll have recouped most, if not all, living expenses for the upcoming school year. That's the intent anyway. I'll be following this thread. If anyone has specific questions/comments for me, I can address those as well.

If I don't go all out and do an AOR, would it be smart to just do a BT on two of my newer cards that I have yet to receive and just collect a few hundred (maybe a bit more) by year's end?

Also, has anyone ran into any sort of trouble by including parent's income in HHI? I've read that generally speaking it should be okay - but if someone could confirm that, it would be great.

If you could post the cards your looking at i would be curious as i am considering doing it too as a 20 yr old college student...

I won't BT more than 89%. After reading many posts on this forum as well as information from other sites, it seems like 89% is the widely respected maximum.

For the other poster, here are the cards I'm planning on applying for:

1. Citi mtvU
2. Bank of America Visa Platinum Plus
3. Citi AT&T
4. American Express IN:LA

These 4 so far. All of these have no BT fees involved, which maximizes profit. Citibank offers a lot of cards with no fees. I'm still looking for a couple more to apply for before I make the dip.

I just read about the AOR today! Sparked my interest! Tell me how it goes collegecash!

I'm 19 going on 20. Have had a joint bank account since freshman year of high school. Now got accounts with Wachovia, ING Direct, and E*Trade. Actually just applied for my mtvU card, got a 3000 credit. 2000 on my university card. Might try a very very super small AOR with that one account and see how it goes seeing its interest free for 6 months.

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