DjPiLL said:I wasn't able to get a CLI with Chase without doing a credit report. That sucks because I think Chase would have given me the biggest bump. ... I may miss the cutoff for reporting the first one though (supposed to report around the 6th). We'll see what happens.
A large increase might be worth a "hard pull". A few inquiries at the start of an AOR are no big deal (e.g. see some examples in the AOR statistics thread).

Note that you can file a dispute with the credit agencies to try to get the new CL to show up, though I don't think it's one of the standard checkboxes so it may not work. (Sometimes it doesn't even work to get rid of old balances! Very frustrating.)

I got a targeted offer in the mail yesterday for an AMEX Blue that had a 0% BT for 12mo... $99 cap.

Is this better than the 0% APR on purchases for 15 months that I think the original offer had? I was probably going to just use the AMEX to keep overall utilization down (along with the Penfed card).

Not sure what to do.

Ok in the quick summary I made an order on which cards I am going to apply for first. I also removed a bunch of cards.

I may be at my max limit with Citi so I only included the PremierPass card there. I was even thinking of dropping that one and sticking to Citi business but I figured one personal Citi card won't hurt.

How many AMEX cards is considered too many? There is no "fudgeing" in my HHI numbers so if I get hit with the FR I can give them any documentation I need. I just don't want to overdo it. Right now I have one personal AMEX and two business. Should I drop to one business?

US Bank Baylor now has a 3% cap on their BTs. Should I apply for this anyways and use it for overall utilization? Do they typically give big limits?

Penfed is going to be my new daily spender which I will also use for overall utilization (which is why its at the top of my list). I want to try to get a nice fat limit with them. Is this too high?

I have two Chase business cards and one personal... is that too many? I will most likely look to move that 15k limit I have with Chase currently to a new 0% card. Can you reallocate business and personal limits with Chase?

BoA two personal and one business. Looking for comments here as well.

I heard people saying the M&T business card requires a business license. Is this true? Is it even worth applying for?

Any other comments welcomed about the order and such. Total of 28 apps between business and personal.

markkundinger said:If I read the USBank Baylor terms correctly, the BT is only for 6 months, and the fee is 3% with no maximum. This means that you would lose money if you did the BT and put it in the bank. I would probably jettison the card.

edit: wait, lhendricks spotted a good replacement over here

You don't seem to be over-dipping into any one leder too much.

Thanks for this! I added it to my list.

Should I add a capitol one card to my list for overall utilization?

DjPiLL said:Here is one other question I forgot to mention... I will need a place to park all this money at. Right now I have my Citi money parked in Pres. Savings. But I will need something different as that only runs up to 35k.

I see FNBO offers 6% but it looks like that is ending soon. Is it worth it to open an account there and hope the rate stays good? Or should I maybe try Countrywide or one of the other 5.5% banks?

Did you ever figure out where you are going to put the money?

several comments, and some have (or may have) been mentioned...

Did you call any of the current issuers to try and increase (without hard pull) the current CL's you have? If you do that in advance of an AOR, it helps ALOT... and even if you do it the day before, it is good, because AFTER an AOR will be difficult!

the high utilization on the one citi card can hurt you.... even though your util vs total CL is low. BUT, 0% for life is a hard trade off to make...

Scores are good.... mine were worse the first AOR I did and I chickened out after getting 70K or so in new CL.

Think about a citi savings or checking account.... one more hit AFTER applying for all the cards won't hurt... and you can fund the account with a citi card, thus earnign Thank you POINTS... then move it to a HYS.

Wamu has a deal going now.... 8 or 9 or 10 month savings.... like a CD (you can't touch money for the term)... paying 5.5 or something... do a search!
THis could be a good place to park the money for 10 months, IF you can make payments to BT cards without touching THIS.

Read Mike??? (forgot the whole name) thread on BUSINESS aps for an AOR... I see you are applying for some (quite a few)... but in MOST cases, you can take util to 90% or more, because they don't report on PERSONAL credit file....

Good luck, and I'll be watching for RESULTS!

EDIT: I think the WAMU I was talking about is the 7.1%, which is 500 MAX, then 500 additioanl add per month.... SORRY (about the same as a 5.5% on 6000 elsewhere)!

Technologist said:several comments, and some have (or may have) been mentioned...

Did you call any of the current issuers to try and increase (without hard pull) the current CL's you have? If you do that in advance of an AOR, it helps ALOT... and even if you do it the day before, it is good, because AFTER an AOR will be difficult!

the high utilization on the one citi card can hurt you.... even though your util vs total CL is low. BUT, 0% for life is a hard trade off to make...

I don't really have a lot of credit cards to ask for soft CLIs on. Chase wouldn't do it without a hard inquiry. I was able to get $800 increase on each of my small limit Citi cards. Not much.

While I have a high limit on the Citi card... I am hoping my high scores... decent HHI... and decent liquid assets (in case they ask for savings accounts) will produce some good results.

Plus after all this is done... I will probably be doing a wife-o-rama two months later. She doesnt have a lot of credit cards... but she has close to 800 scores across the board. My scores used to sit around 800 before the Citi card balance. So I think my scores are at their lowest right now which is a good thing because if they are "low" at 750s... then my credit must be pretty damm good.

I will probably put the WAMU aroudn 4 or 5 in position.

The note on the Chase Sony card notes that you must open a account by 8/31/07 for the $100 bonus. I applied for it last week and just noticed the fine print on the sign-up page today (under the "1<|" on the flash ad).

Maybe it will still work but I wanted to let you know before you apply.

I also noticed that the USBank Phone App offer that was posted above doesn't seem to mention any cap to their BT fee either now. 3% BT fee with no cap. Is there a better offer out there?

http://www.valpak.com/img/infopdf/3061755413info.pdf

Here is another one... the Kroger 1-2-3 card doesn't shows a 3% fee on their BTs. Does the welcome check that comes with the card have a special no fee 0% offer?

(sorry for all the posts... going through the offers now)