DJSpray's AOR 2.0 - No More Mr. Nice Guy (18 TU Inq's Showing - Eek!)

DJSpray's First AOR - Nov. 2006, Bonus-oriented.

Goal: Totally different, hence no more Mr. Nice Guy. BT offers (>6 month) with new issuers. One app business, one personal, for each major Issuer - each with BT offer(if available). Bonuses if possible.

First AOR established lines of credit (business and personal) with major credit issuers, and made me some low-hanging fruit. This one should be interesting due to short credit history, but high CL's built up with only moderate HHI. I still have $13k on Citi 0%-for life borrowed, and I don't inted to pay back before beginning. I have been bumping with PM123 trial and Key Bank trial (keeping) for a couple weeks, and just started bumping TU inquiries yesterday. Plan to commence attack next week.

Situation
Age/Profession: 25, graduate student/research assistant
Income: 21k personal, 65k HHI(housemates)
Oldest Credit History: Chase - 2yrs+, Citi - 1.5yrs, Rest - 1yr
Available credit: 88k (personal), 50k (business) - CLI buttons are my friend (60k total after AOR 1.0)
Balances: None except 13k(of 15.8k) on Citi 0%-for-Life.

Current Lines
Personal
Chase Rewards Plus Visa - 10k
Chase Freedom - 11.5k
Citi Diamond Preferred Mastercard - 15.8k (13.7k @ 0%-for-life)
Citi Diamond Preferred - 5.8k (%5 TY all purchases till mid-Jan)
Citi MtvU Visa - 1.8k
Discover Student Card 2.5k
AMEX Blue Cash - 15k
BofA Iowa - 13.3k
Fidelity 529 Rewards Card - 6k
HSBC Direct Rewards Mastercard - 1.1k
Meijer Platinum Mastercard - 5.2k

Business
Advanta Platinum Business Mastercard - 5k - Cancelled (11/4)
AMEX Blue Cash Business - 24.9k
CitiBusiness with TY Network - 10.2k
Chase United Mileage Plus Business Card - 10k

Preparation: Cancelled Citi PP(avoid annual fee), Citi Prof(after converting, reallocating), Chase Sony, Chase United, AMEX Gold Rewards(avoid annual fee), BofA Worldpoints (consolidated to Iowa). Awaiting CLI request of 13k -> 20k on BofA Iowa. Plan to cancel Advanta to get new BT offer, attempt conversion of Chase United Business to avoid fee. Maybe reallocate Chase Rewards(HSBC better for G/G/DS) to get 20k line on Freedom. Launching after most inq's removed from TU and EX(first from TU left yesterday, bumping 2x daily). Still need to open CountryWide Savings for 5.5% on $10k+.

List in Order
1) LifeSpring Visa (National City) - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee - Declined - Reason mailed, what a waste of the #1 app.
2) GE Money - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee - Approved - $4,500 (from CR) - EQ
3) Advanta Business - 0% 15m BT, $90 fee (changed), $25 Cardselection - Approved, $10,000 - TU
4) Bank Atlantic(Barclay's)- 0% 15m BT, $75 fee - Approved - $7,000 - TU (one inq for both)
5) Fifth Third Business - 0% 12m BT, no fee - Declined - excessive inquiries, new lines, short relationship with bank, etc. Pulled EQ on 11/13(late)
6) US Bank - 0% 12m BT, no fee (via Glitch99's suggestion) - Approved - No CL yet. After talking of the Valpak offer, CSR confirmed twice that I will have no BT fee, even though pdf says expired 9/30 - TU
7) National Parks Visa(Barclay's) - 0% 12m BT, $50 fee - Approved - $3,500 - TU (one inq for both)
8) BofA NEA WorldPoints - 0% 12m BT, $30 fee - Approved - $3,300 , 2nd to last after skipping exp. offer - EX
9) Key Bank Visa - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee - Approved - $2,000 - EQ
10) Discover Miles Business - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee, $40 Cardselection - Approved - $3,000 - TU (one inq for both)
11) Discover Miles - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee, $40 Cardselection - Approved - $6,000 - TU (one inq for both)
12) Chase Sony - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee, $100 after purchase, $25 Cardselection - Approved - $5,000 - TU (one inq for both)
13) Chase Business Rebate - 0% BT $75 fee, $30 Cardselection - Approved - $8,500 - TU (one inq for both)
14) Citi Platinum Amex - 15k TY pts, 5/3% TY back 24m, Airline VIP lounges, Free Identity Monitor, $99 fee - Approved- $2,000 - EQ
15) CitiBus PremierPass - 0% BT(no fee), 15k TY pts after purchase - Approved - $1,000 - EQ
16) Amex IN:Chicago - 0% 6m BT, no fee, $30 Cardselection - Approved - $5,000 - EX
17) Amex Business Gold Rewards - 25k points and $100 TigerDirect GC - Approved - No PSL - EX
18) Principal Bank Low Rate - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee - Declined (called 11/10)
19) RBS Platinum Visa - 0% 10m BT, $75 fee - Approved - $4,000 - EQ
20) Wamu ESPN Visa - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee - Approved - $3,000 - EX
21) HSBC Mastercard - 0% 12m BT, $75 fee - New Link - "Pre-qualified" for only secured version, lol. Applied last after skipping exp. offer. - TU
22) Penfed Platinum Visa - High CL for lowering Personal util. - Declined - Not enough HHI for requested $24k, won't consider roommates - EQ
23) Hooters Card - Aggravate gf, and above. - Approved - $500 (yeesh) - TU
24) Kohl's Card - For Kohl's deals. I know, boooring. - Applied 11/11, Approved - $1,500
25) Macy's Card - Same as above. - Approved - $500, CLI'd to $1,000 (thanks, lol) - EX
26) Best Buy Reward Zone Mastercard - Applied 11/11 instore, declined. (Man, these store cards are hard to get, lol)

Advice?
1)Always up for other banks with BT offers, but trying to stay to 1 app (2 with B & P lines) per given issuer(bad idea?)
2)Move Chase, Citi, Discover further up? I know they usually pull instant, so I put further down.
3) I'm not sold yet on this Credit Freeze idea for Experian. Convince me?

Inquiries: TU - 6 EX - 7 EQ - 10 (10/31)
TU - 2 EX - 7 EQ - 10 (11/5)
TU - 2 EX - 7 EQ - 10 (11/8)
TU - 9 EX - 11 EQ - 13 (post AOR)
TU - 10 EX - 11 EQ - 13 (11/10)
TU - 8 EX - 11 EQ - 13 (11/11) - Bumped last 2 inq's on TU
TU - 9 EX - 12 EQ - 13 (11/12) - Kohl's pulled twice when machine stalled TU - 9 EX - 12 EQ - 14 (11/13) - Best Buy pull showing
TU -10 EX - 12 EQ - 12 (11/14) - EQ continues to bump
TU - 9 EX - 12 EQ - 11 (11/15)
TU - 9 EX - 12 EQ - 11 (11/18)
TU - 10 EX - 12 EQ - 11 (11/19) - Asked Bank Atlantic for CLI, didn't realized they would pull TU.
TU - 10 EX - 12 EQ - 11 (11/27)
TU - 10 EX - 12 EQ - 10 (12/3)
TU - 10 EX - 12 EQ - 9 (12/6)
TU - 5 EX - 12 EQ - 8 (12/11)
TU - 4 EX - 11 EQ - 9 (12/12)
TU - 0 EX - 11 EQ - 9 (12/19)
TU - 0 EX - 11 EQ - 3 (1/07)
TU - 0 EX - 11 EQ - 2 (1/09)
TU - 0 EX - 11 EQ - 1 (1/17)
TU - 0 EX - 11 EQ - 1 (2/01)
TU - 0 EX - 11 EQ - 1 (3/14)
TU - 0 EX - 10 EQ - 1 (4/15)
TU - 0 EX - 10 EQ - 1 (5/07)
TU - 0 EX - 10 EQ - 1 (6/24)
TU - 18 EX - 10 EQ - 1 (7/07)

FAKOs: TU - 743 EX - 712 EQ - 690
759 737 702
774 739 712
759 717 705(post AOR)
773 701 705
754 700 705
752 698 705(11/13)
750 697 689
752 697 691
735 687 691(11/18) - BofA BT reporting on EX
732 687 691
721 684 691
721 684 691(12/3)
688 669 675
686 669 672
697 667 658(12/12)
700 668 687
706 662 667
706 668 676(1/09)
699 668 680
699 662 680
699 668 674(3/14)
706 688 699
706 688 699
715 702 715(6/24)
678 702 715

Post AOR Hijinx

11-12 - Reallocated BofA to $15.1k on NEA, $500 on Iowa, took $13k BT deposit to checking (86% util. - pers)

11-15 - Reallocated AMX's, now have $43,400 available on IN:Chicago.

11-19 - Reallocated 3k from National Parks to Bank Atlantic, now $10k.
- Reallocated $8.9k from CitiBus TYN to CitiBus PP, now $9.9k. Will attempt reallocation of some personal CL to business soon.
- Reallocated 1.5k from Discover and 5k from Discover Miles to Discover Miles Biz, now $9.5k. Awaiting BT checks...

11-20 - BT'd $9,000 from Advanta to checking, will transfer to FNBO.

11-21 - BT'd $6,300 from USBank to BofA Iowa, will request ACH to FNBO.

11-27 - Requested $9,000 BT check from CitiBiz PP after making small purchase.

11-29 - Requested another $3,000 BT check from CitiBiz PP after reallocation showed up.

12-10 - Sent $42,500 and $12,000 checks from Chase Biz Rebate and Citi PP to SBoT.

12-12 - BT'd $9,500 from Discover Biz Miles to Chase Check Card and $14,500 from Bank Atlantic to Citi Diamond Preferred.

12-17 - $12k and $42.5k were deposited into SBoT.
- $9.5k from Discover Biz posted in Chase Checking.

12-19 - Requested refund of $6,300 negative balance on Iowa in form of mailed check.

1-3 - Recieved BofA refund check, deposited into Chase Checking, transferred to FNBO.

1-10 - Recieved Citi refund check, mailed to FNBO.

1-16 - Watching money make me more money.

1-30 - Moved all funds from FNBO to Fidelity MMA (FSLXX). Opened OneUnited HYS (5.3% APY)

2-14 - Moved all funds from Fidelity MMA to OneUnited(4.6% APY).

3-7 - OneUnited at 4.0% APY now.

Thanks to all who have been an inspiration in the forums, especially jairocon and thisguy for well documented AOR's with strategy and links.

Seems like a solid plan.

If BofA increases your credit limit, you might want to wait until it hits your credit reports until you apply.

- thisguy reported that he might have gotten a bigger Nat City limit if he applied to them early before many inquiries showed up. worth considering.

- If chase will let you close/consolidate your UA business card with a personal card, I'd try that. They probably won't allow it though.

- FNBO (Principal) and WAMU may lead to tears. FNBO with a denial for too many inquiries, WAMU with a 75% chance of a $3k CL on an unsolicited app.

- The credit freeze idea is for Experian, not Equifax. And if you're unsure, don't do it.

- Isn't there still a $100 bonus on the Chase Sony card out there?

- You can't avoid the fee on the Citibank Platinum AMEX card, it's charged up front.

Thank you for the well-reasoned and detailed A-O-R post. I apologize for raining on your parade, but I suspect your situation is precisely the one creditors will squeeze in the coming months. Short history, high CLs already, and low salary with moderate-to-low HHI. I hope your A-O-R is a blockbuster, though my intuition tells me that you're going to start bumping up against underwriting policy limits with various issuers. Please make me eat my words!

Removed a WAMU card, kept ESPN as I have seen some just ok CL's on that card in the past, and they upped their BT offer to 12 month (was 6). I'm not looking for large, new lines with my existing banks (Citi, Chase, BOA in particular) but just acceptance. That's why I tried to get down to just a couple cards with each. Heck, I prolly won't even take a BT on the personal side of Citi. I will probably start attempting to transfer CL from per to bus on Chase immediately and take the BT on the new card (fingers crossed).

Edit: TU inq's down to 2, but haven't started bumping EQ yet.

maddybeagle said: 5) Fifth Third Business - 0% 12m BT, no fee

I would be curious on the details of your experience with them....
None right now, but there are 3 branches in my town. I have to be in their "target area."

Consider Chevy Chase Bank (MD regional). I got the business credit card with 0% for 12 months and capped $75 fee. My CL was $10K and I think (can't recall) I consolidated it with a Chase Business card that had no BT fee. Chevy Chase Biz Card Link

Venturion said: Consider Chevy Chase Bank (MD regional). I got the business credit card with 0% for 12 months and capped $75 fee. My CL was $10K and I think (can't recall) I consolidated it with a Chase Business card that had no BT fee. Chevy Chase Biz Card Link
If I remember right, Chase = Chevy Chase. I'm trying to tread ever so lightly with Chase after others' recent stories. If I don't hit the ceiling with 1 bus. and 1 per. approval, I'll have to be pretty close.

Whatever happens with Chase, get your BT money into your bank account fast and hold on for a wild ride. Expect that in a few months your Chase personal lines will be cut, if not closed. Don't count your Chase credit lines into your calculations of overall utilization because they may not be there.

I'm not saying don't apply for Chase...you'll likely get a good sized BT out of them. It's just that lately they've been very conservative, espeically in regards to CC debt to income ratio.

Update: OP, I just saw your recent post about treading lightly with Chase. You might consider going all out with them to get as much BT money as you can. In my case, I didn't do any BTs with them after my last AOR, for the same reason you cite. But still, several of my lines were closed and others cut - with $0 balance with Chase.

i wonder if the existing 13k balance with citi will affect you. i have a similar situation with a 20k balance and am unsure if i should bite the bullet and pay it off early, or just leave it and hope it won't affect new apps. are you confident it's not going to hurt you?

clyde_frog said: i wonder if the existing 13k balance with citi will affect you. i have a similar situation with a 20k balance and am unsure if i should bite the bullet and pay it off early, or just leave it and hope it won't affect new apps. are you confident it's not going to hurt you?

as long as an existing balance is not killing your FICO, i say leave it. we're starting to gather some evidence that having a significant balance or 2 during an A0R might be a good thing.

speculation as to why this might be:

1) it shows you actually might have a balance to transfer when requesting BTs on apps.
2) your increase in post-A0R debt isn't as huge, on a relative basis. for example, going from $0 to $100K of debt is more likely to spook your creditors than going from $50K to $100K.

-Chase is a fair reason for concern for me, but only because they have given me big lines thus far, and they have decent BT offers. The only card I use from them is my Freedom, and that's only for their 15 categories. I'll burrow the money as quick as I can and hold on.
-I have seen the discussions on keeping a sizeable BT open during the process, and I figured what better one than my 0%-for-life. I don't plan to take another personal BT with them anyway.
-Forgot that the AMEX Business Gold removed the 25k points from the TigerDirect deal. Replaced with AMEX Bus Starwood

53 business is garbage $1500 CL when others are giving 10K see Link After 2 AOR's I would not bother with 53, WAMU, or HSBC.

Also, the life springs card you have listed is a 0 BT fee card.

djspray said:
-Forgot that the AMEX Business Gold removed the 25k points from the TigerDirect deal. Replaced with AMEX Bus Starwood

It seems they still offer 25k pts if I read the fineprint correctly.

Bumpage usually takes a while. If those 7 inquiries are over 6mo old, I'd forget about it and go for it. If younger... well, it's your call.

OP said: 6) US Bank - 0% 12m BT, no feeoffer expired 09/30/07

I called, there is no ext. 8119, and the rep I talked to could not find such offer.

djspray said: Following Glitch99's suggestion here, I requested an offer from US Bank via their website to get the BT fee waived. He was then able to apply, mention the code, and get the above offer on for the Baylor card. I plan to do the same by calling for the above offer.You misunderstood. I already opened my account with a $15k limit. But the terms have a 3% uncapped BT fee.

Only THEN did I email asking if I could get a no-fee promo, since "that had been what attracted me to the card and I hadnt noticed the terms had changed until after I had applied".

I doubt asking before you apply will get you anywhere, since they sent me a promo code to enter while requesting the BT, not when applying for the card.

Checked soft pulls through TU, and it was going to take ~week or so to bump last 2. Who knows how long on EQ. I pulled the trigger. Constantly updating today.

I went ahead and listed the CRA that each app pulled. For some reason, my TU inq's are not showing up right now. I assume the ones not listed will be TU. I'm glad that many pulled TU, as it was my highest/most bumped before beginning. Waiting until Monday to hear about the Citi, Chase and Discover apps is killing me, but I'll manage. I'll call Monday to check status and see about CLI's if possible. BofA NEA and one of the Juniper cards is reporting on EQ already.

Got a call from a nice lady at Chase today. She was reviewing my Sony app and had a few questions. "You have quite a few recent inquiries..." I just told her I like to shop for new offers annually. She said she could do another $5k without have to decrease any of my other lines. I said great. Well Chase doesn't hate me....yet.

Reallocated and BT'd 13k from BofA NEA last night to checking account while discussing with CSR the Colts totally blowing the first half against the Chargers.

Advanta said they could do a mailed check to bank of choice before card immediately, but required card in hand to do it electronically. I chose to wait a couple days.

Applied for SBoT and Lasalle bank promotions today. Hopefully it doesn't take 3-4 weeks for SBoT, as I will be parking it in FNBO(5.05%) until then.

Got a few cards today. Advanta, ESPN, and both AMEX's are in. BT'd $9,000 from Advanta to checking ($90 fee). $13,000 from BofA is showing in FNBO today, that makes me happy. Received Penfed materials today, sending back in tomorrow, but still no notification about online notes about "Financial Verification". I reallocated my AMEX's to give me $43,400 available for 6 mo. BT on IN:Chicago. If I remember right, they recently changed the rules regarding their BT checks, and they are all (no matter who's name it's in) counted as Cash Advances, or atleast that's the CSR convinced me of. I'm trying to devise a way to BT to one of my cards to utilize it. Suggestions? I'll let you know what I come up with.

I'll try it when I get home tonight. I probably won't put too much of a fight for a paltry $4k anyway.