After my successful AOR ->Link, I decided it was time for my wife to jump into the AOR game

I wanted to expand on everything I had learned from the previous AOR and make the results even better. My main changes were:
1. More business cards
2. Use CardSelection.com for all of the offers that are the same to get the cash!
3. Make sure to apply for cards with bonus gift cards (we will be remodeling our bathrooms and I would like to pay for the materials of one bathroom with the proceeds of the combined AOR gift cards)

HHI: $210K
AGE: 30
Pre AOR Credit Scores (TU(inquiries) / EXP(inquiries) / EQ(inquiries)) :
I was too lazy to sign up for credit monitoring so I used the free annual report to pull the inquiries. Her score should be very similar to mine pre-AOR (770-790) Maybe a bit better without the inquiories
(1) /(2) /(0) (10/19/07)

Current Cards Opened CL Balance Utilization (all are authorized user only)
AMEX Blue 2003 $31K $0 0%
BoA (Rewards) 2006 $3K $0 0%
*HSBC (DirectRewards) 2006 $25K $1071 4.2%
Citi Diamond Preferred Card 2003 $15K $0 0%
*Citi Professional TY 2006 $10K $541 5.41%
*BOA FIA CSNA (Fidelity Rewards) 2005 $16K $1498 9.4%
Discover 2000 $7.5K $0 0%
WAMU 2007 $5K $0 0%
Total $112,500 $3.1K 2.75%
* are everyday cards that are paid off every month

Other Debts
Mortgage 1 House $~146K of $189K original balance opened in 2003
** Mortgage was sold to Citi and is currently not showing up on Equifax because it is in transition
Mortgage 2 HELOC 30K limit 0 balance opened in 2006

Personal Cards
Card/Cardselection bonus/Requirement for bonus/ Card Bonus/ 0% length/ BT Fee/yearly fee/avoidance of yearly fee
citi drivers edge/$25/none/none/12/$0/none/none
citi att platinum/none/1 purchase/6K TYP/12/$0/none/none
Citi Professional TY Card - Targeted by me for me /none/1 purchase/10K TYP + 10k TYP/12/$0/none/none
BOA Platinum/none/none/none/12/$0/none/none
BOA NEA/none/none/none/12/$30/none/none
chase Sony/none/1 purchase/$100/12/$75/none/none
chase priority club/none/1 purchase/ $20 + 30k points/??/$75/$29/none
Juniper National Park/none/BT or purchase/Free BackPack/12/$50/none/none
Discover Miles/$40/none/none/6/$75/none/none
US Bank/none/none/none/12/$0/$40/1 Purchase
American Express in Chicago/$30/none/none/6/$0/none/none
National City Life Spring/none/none/none/12/$0/none/none
HSBC Platinum/none/none/none/12/$99/none/none
** late pull just for the $150.00 gift card
BOA Royal Carribean/none/1 purchase/$150 GC/0/uncapped/none/none

Business Cards
Bank Atlantic Juniper/none/none/none/15/$75/none/none
Advanta Platinum Business w/ Rewards/$25/none/none/16/$50/none/none
American Express Business Gold Rewards/$60/1 purchase/25K Points/none/none/$125/none
CitiBusiness® Card with ThankYouSM Network/none/1 purchase/10K TYP/12/$0/none/none
CitiBusiness® PremierPassSM Card/none/1 purchase/15K TYP/12/$0/$75/none
National City Visa® Business/none/none/none/6/$0/none/none
53 Business/none/none/none/12/$0/none/none
chase GM Card/$30/none/none/12/$75/none/none
chase Business Rebate/$25/none/none/12/$75/none/none
Discover Miles Business/$40/none/none/12/$75/none/none
?? Chase Priority Club Business Rewards/none/none/none/12/$99/none/none ?? I did not sign up for this but will gladly take it.

RESULTS

Personal Cards
citi drivers edge - Instant Approval 4.2K CLI Denied [BT'D 4.1K]
citi att platinum - Deferred Approval 4.2K CLI -> Asked for 10K got 10K [BT'D 9.95K]
Citi Professional TY Card - Instant Approval 20K[BT'D 19.9K]
BOA Platinum - Deferred Approval 10KCLR -> 17K [BT'D 16.7K]
BOA NEA - Deferred Approval 2.5K -> Will CLR the line to Platinum and close card
chase Sony - Deferred Approval 9K CLR -> 29.5K [BT'D 29.4K]
chase priority club - Deferred Approval 21K 6 mo 0% BT CLR 20.5K to Sony
Juniper National Park - Deferred Approval 7.5K [BT'D 7.4K]
Discover Miles - Deferred Approval 25K - Foo I just looked and it is a 6 month BT ->CLR'd 20K (max) to the Discover Business Miles card
US Bank - Deferred Approval 10K[BT'D 9.9K]
American Express in Chicago - Instant Approval 16.5K [BT'D 16.4K]
National City Life Spring - Deferred Approval 10.5K [BT'D 10.4K]
BOA Royal Carribean - Deferred Approval 5K Will CLR 4.5K to platinum and make one purchase for the GC
HSBC Platinum - Instant Approval $600 (Yeah thats right!! $600 ! I am not even activating this)

Business Cards
Bank Atlantic Juniper - Deferred Denied - Reason "Adaquate Juniper credit already exists"
Advanta Platinum Business - Instant Approval 12.5K [BT'D 12.25K]
American Express Business Gold - Instant Approval no limit
CitiBusiness® Card with ThankYouSM Network - Deferred Approval 10K CLI Denied "Already at max" CLR'd to 20K from Primear pass
CitiBusiness® PremierPassSM Card - Deferred Approval 10K Got the 15K points then CLR to the Business card above
National City Visa® Business - Deferred Approval 5K [BT'D 4.95K]
53 Business - Deferred Approval 1.5K
chase GM Card - Deferred Approval 9K -> moved the line to the business rebate card to save the BT fee
chase Business Rebate - Deferred Approval 9K ->CLR to 18K [BT'D 17.9K]
Discover Miles Business - Deferred Approval 5K ->CLR to 25K [BT'D 24.9K]
Chase Priority Club Business Rewards Suprise Approval 15K!! I did not sign up for this

CSS = Credit Secure Score
IPS = Identity Protect Score

Credit Scores (TU(inquiries:BT Reported):IPS:CSS / EXP(inquiries:BT Reported):CSS / EQ(inquiries:BT Reported)):CSS
(4:000K):743 /(7:000K) /(13:000K) (11/05/07)
(4:017K):743 /(7:017K) /(13:017K) (11/27/07)
(4:044K):719 /(7:044K) /(13:044K) (12/04/07)
(4:066K):693 /(7:066K) /(13:066K) (12/16/07)
(4:087K):668 /(7:087K) /(13:087K) (12/22/07)
(4:124K):644 /(7:124K) /(13:124K) (12/22/07) All BT's have hit
(4:124K):644:729 /(7:124K):719 /(13:124K):714 (1/06/08)
(0:124K):638:741 /(7:124K):720 /(0:124K):727 (1/22/08) Bumpage is complete.

Total Business Cards: 10+1
Total Defered Business: 8
Total Instant Business Approvals: 2
Total Defered Business Approved: 7+1
Total Defered Business Denied: 1
** the +1 is a Chase card that I did not sign up for but got anyway **

Total Personal Cards: 13+1
Total Instant Personal Approvals: 4
Total Defered Personal: 9+1
Total Defered Personal Approved: 9+1
Total Defered Personal Denied: 0
** the plus one is a BOA card I signed up for after the AOR

After CLR's
Total new Personal CL for BT so far: 131.8K
Total new Business CL for BT so far: 97K

The fruits of my labor currently sitting at 5.4% at CountryWide:
6 Month 0% money: $21.3K (Available lines $23K)
12 month 0% money: $185.425K (Available lines $186.7K)
16 month 0% money: $12.25K (Available lines $12.5K)
BT Fees paid: -$499

Gift Cards and Cash expected (confirmed)
American Express points: 25+5K for $250 GC (25K) Had to call on 25K, gave up on 5K
Citi TYP: 51K ($500 GC) (51K) Had to call for the 6K ATT points
CardSelection.com $280.00 ($280)
Statement Credits: $100 Sony, $20.00 Chase ($120)
Priority Club Points: 30K+10K ~$400.00 (40K) (last 10K was a pain)
RCCL 15K points for $150 onboard credit ($150)
Backpack (had to call, finally got it)
Sony Point bonus 10K $100 - Waiting
Retention bonus's TBD

Total Value of AOR so far gifts and points $1800
Total Value of AOR estimated 12 months interest (figuring a high 2% payback per month) $10.7K pre tax
Total Value of AOR after 35% state and federal tax $7850 net

My Tips and Tricks I have learned through 2 AOR's (will update this later):

1. WAMU and HSBC give crappy limits so don't waste your time on an application from either!
2. cardselection.com is a great way to make a couple hundred extras on the applications you are already going to do!
3. The best way to compile a list of cards is to look through recent AOR's here and look through cardselections.com I compiled this list in about 1.5 hours.
4. Plan the number of applications for each issuer. Try to get as many issuers as possible.
5. Do not do daily pulls through a credit reporting service before the AOR if you do not have hard pulls that you would like to eliminate.
6. Citi is fickle on CLR's they will only do certain types of cards, you will probably have to recharacterize cards to the Diamond preferred to CLR. I tried with the drivers edge (because of the crappy CL) to the professional and I will have to recharacterize the card.
7. You can BT (via check or bank) online with Citi.
8. Chase, BOA, and discover are very easy to CLR.
9. I probably under sold BOA on number of apps after they approved my late app. I think I could have got more.
10. Likewise I probably could have got more chase cards. I am kind of kicking myself for not doing the miles cards then transferring the CL to a 0% I think I could have maximized the rewards a bit better. Figure 25K miles is worth about $450 and 35K is worth about 1K if you can get a Hawaii ticket.
11. Save the trees!! Once autopay is setup, convert to electronic statements and save a forest in Canada!
12. BT over and over on no fee, unlimited BT cards (like Citi and BOA). I have sucessfully deferred payment on 6 month cards by over 10K. Why payback money when you can just re-borrow it again from money already paid back? As a bonus it is a legitimate BT.
13. Don't count out retention bonuss. They can add up.
14. Being a deadbeat (err person with high utilization) has its privilage. The Citi payment partner program.

How I am getting the cash?

Juniper National Parks: Writing check that came with the card to myself
AMEX in Chicago: BT'd online to my BOA card from the previous AOR then I will call and have them DD the money
Advanta: BT'd online to my BOA card from the previous AOR then I will call and have them DD the money
Discover Miles Personal: Sending blank BT checks -> will not use after CLR to the Miles Business
Discover Miles Business: No BT checks BT'd online to my BOA card from the previous AOR then I will call and have them DD the money
Chase Cards: Reallocating to one business and one consumer card (Sony) then writing one check that came with the cards to myself(saves the $75.00 BT fee)
Life Springs: CSR is sending out a check made out to me
Citi's Drivers Edge: Used the checks they sent
Citi cards: Go online and use the BT offers to either have checks sent to me or deposited directly in the account.
USBank card - BT'd to my BOA card from the previous AOR then I will call and have them DD the money.
National City Business - BT'd to my BOA card from the previous AOR then I will call and have them DD the money.

Things I probably missed after 2 AOR's:

1. Reallocation - I think I could have reallocated further on Chase. Obviously the late unexpected arrival is a *must* fee card but I could have reallocated from personal to business to avoid one fee.
2. Figuring out exact payments and timeframe to maximize CD lengths (with interest rates falling I wish I would have locked in for longer)

Adverse action:

Chase is a bunch of clowns!! The timeline is as follows:
11-3-07 make small purchase of $2.11 on the Sony card for the $100.00 bonus.
11-5-07 Pay for the small purchase using their site through a fidelity account (deducted same day).
11-6-07 Reallocate 20.5K (leaving 500) from Priority Club to Sony
11-7-07 Online Sony shows a CL of 29.5K and Priority Club $500
11-8-07 Deposit the check that came with the Sony card for 29.4K to the same account listed above
11-9-07 I apply for a United Card (Chase) and they pull the CR (I figure no biggie) am denied (no balances show on the CR). I really don't care about the denied.
11-14-07 Log on to Chase.com and notice that the Sony card no longer shows up (I think it is just a systems glitch)
11-15-07 Check is returned to Fidelity and deducted from my account. I called and asked the fidelity rep the reason and he said that no reason had been given just that the check had been returned.
Next step is to call chase and see what's up. It's total BS that the account just DISAPPEARED without any notification. The Priority club card still shows a $500.00 limit.
Called CSR and spent an hour with 3 different people and they unfroze the account and are sending out a new check via UPS.
I guess it was not adverse action just their normal fraud prevention.

2-25-08 Advanta did a review from Equifax (sp on 2-8-08) and lowered the limit to 11550. The current balance is 11488. Not that I really care because I won't be taking another draw and you have to cancel Advanta to get a new one on the next AOR. I guess they didn't like the 51% over all utilzation or the 9 cards that are maxed out.

5-5-08 Chase using Experian lowered a business credit limit from 18K -> 16.5K (balance 16.25K) because of high utilization.

6-5-08 Discover lowered a business credit line from 25K -> 21.5K (balance 20.8K) because of high utilization.

6-16-08 Chase strikes again lowering the Sony card limit from 29K -> 26.8K with a balance of 26.4K because of high utilization.

It means not to do daily pulls on your credit reports through a service like TrueCredit or Privacy matters 123 before your AOR. All you are doing is adding soft pulls on the stack (see the last three posts here and wasting your time and money. After the AOR, you will need the same amount of pulls to bump off the inquiries (if you did 50 pulls before the AOR you will still need 60+ pulls for TU and 90+ for EQ after the AOR to get those Inquiries to fall off).

I'm not talking about a single report but more the daily pulls that you do after to eventually bump off the adverse hard pulls on TU and EQ.

On my first AOR I pulled every day for 2 months at the expense of my time and $11.21/mo

I changed the wording in my post. Thanks

Interesting how both Bank Atlantic and Juniper were deferrals. I had instants on both mine and my wife's AOR. I wonder if maybe they are starting to crack down on the big limits.

dmlavigne1 said:Pretty much it was card for card the same deferrals and instant approvals. The HSBC card was such a joke. How can you call it a platinum card then give a $600 limit to someone with excellent credit. With $600 I could buy 3/8 of an ounce of platinum. I hope those idiots didn't pull experian it would be a shame to waste an un bumpable hard pull on that trash.

DJ - do you actually have a business or are they fake business apps?

I was one of the rare ones that got a 10,500 instant limit for an HSBC card. My wife got the same 600 that you got. They pulled my Equifax and her Experian.

No real business here... other than the one I just started this month.

The only account we share is the Mortgage and HELOC that goes with it. Everything else is individual.

Looks like a good AOR. Two quick questions:

Were you able to get the US Bank offer that says it expires on 9/31? or did you just apply for a card under different terms?

On the citi professional targetted. I assume you are referring to having sent yourself an invitation (for 10K bonus)? Was it an invite in your same name or from your wife's card? Did you do anything special to get the e-mail invite, because I have tried to send one to all of my e-mail addresses and none have actually showed up.

Thanks in advance!
Thisguy

dmlavigne1 said:You are right on for the citi card 10K for her (her app) 10K for me. Beats the 15K deal.

I was finally able to get one to go through to my gmail account, but I'm wondering if I can refer myself. Yours was ideal because it was your wife referring you, but my wife doesn't have a Professional Card. I do and I understand you can have more than one but I am not sure that referring myself would fly. Has anyone tried this?

Thisguy

Does this BOA Platinum/none/none/none/12/$0/none/none card pull your credit report instantly and give you an answer when you apply?

Thanks!

I have a question: how do you guys differentiate between hard pulls and soft pulls on your credit report?