Brushwood's second App-o-rama -- Adverse Action from Citi Business

I am trying to get as much 0% money as possible with the secondary goal of sign up bonuses. I'd also like a general use Cash Back card while I'm at it. I still have some 0% money out at the moment so this is a work in progress while I wait for the payments to clear and my credit file to get updated.

CRA Information

INQUIRIES(2 years):
TransUnion - 0
Experian - 11 (over 1 year old)
Equifax - 2 (over 6 months old)

"credit score" from National City is 780

HHI: $125,000

Existing Cards

$10500.00.....$0.00....0.00%....Advanta Business Card
$800.00.......$0.00....0.00%....Bank of America
$11400.00.....$0.00....0.00%....Bank of America
$500.00.......$0.00....0.00%....BOA New York Jets
$500.00.......$0.00....0.00%....Chase Credit Cards - British Petroleum
$33400.00.....$0.00....0.00%....Chase Credit Cards - Home Rewards
$300.00.......$0.00....0.00%....Chase Credit Cards - Perfect Card
$800.00.......$0.00....0.00%....Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards AMEX
$17500.00.....$0.00....0.00%....Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card
$2000.00......$0.00....0.00%....Citi ProfessionalSM Card
$4000.00......$0.00....0.00%....Discover Card - Discover
$3000.00......$0.00 ...0.00%....Discover Business Card
$50000.00.....$0.00....0.00%....FIA Charles Schwab Bank Platinum Plus
$11000.00.....$0.00....0.00%....GE Money Platinum Mastercard
$3000.00......$0.00....0.00%....HSBC GM Flexcard
$6500.00......$0.00....0.00%....Providian Visa
$155200.00...$ 0

Cards I will be applying for in order of app:

Tier 1 (Cards I can reallocate to and have decent sized limits on other cards)
Citibank - Citi Business Premier Pass - (15,000 TY points -- ann. fee waived first year 12 month 0% no fee BT)
DEFERRED -- APPROVED -- $10,000
Chase - Platinum Business Visa - (0% BT for 12 months, $75 fee)
DEFERRED -- APPROVED - $15,000
Bank of America/FIA - National Education Association WorldPoints® Platinum Plus® Visa® Credit ard - (0% 12 months -- $30 max fee)
APPROVED - $5,000 CL

Tier 2 (Issuers I have no cards with but have a 0% BT offer)
Juniper/Barclays Bank - BankAtlantic Rewards BusinessCard - (0% 15 months -- $75 max fee)
APPROVED - $20,000 balance - requested 20K BT to BOA Money Market account
Advanta - Advanta Businesscard - (0% for 16 months - $90 fee)
APPROVED -- requested 25K BT to BOA HELOC -- $2,500 CL, going to cancel BT
National City - Lifespring Visa - (0% 12 months -- no fee)
DEFERRED -- APPROVED -- $15,000 - $13,350 BT'ed to BOA HELOC
Fifth Third Bank - Business Mastercard- (0% for 12 months --- no fee)
DEFERRED -- "DENIED" -- They have no record of the application but they pulled my transunion report on 2-26. I guess I am going to dispute the inquiry with TU

Tier 3 (Issuers I have existing cards with but might give low CL's)
Discover - Discover Business Card - (0% 12 months $75 fee)
BT offer changed to 1.99% -- skipped
HSBC - HSBC Mastercard - (0% 12 months -- $75 max)
BT terms changed to no cap BT fee -- skipped

Tier 4 (Issuers I have no cards from and am unsure of getting a decent CL from)
Infinibank - Priniciapl Bank - (0% 12 months -- $75 max fee)
DEFERRED - requested 25K BT to BOA HELOC
RBS - Platinum Mastercard - (0% 10 months -- $60 max fee)
DEFERRED - APPROVED- requested 25K BT to BOA HELOC -- $16,000 CL -- $14,800 BT to BOA HELOC processed
Wells Fargo - Wells Fargo Cash Back Platinum Card - (0% for 6 months --- no fee)
No existing relationship could not apply

Tier 5 (Cards with signup bonuses I want)
Bank of America - Bank of America Rewards™ American Express® Card -- ($100 bonus after $25 purchase)
DEFERRED - DENIED
Citibank - Citi Business with ThankYou Network - (0% BT 12 months -- $50 fee -- 10,000 TY points)
DEFERRED -- APPROVED $10,000
Citibank - Citi Premier Pass - (10,000 TY points -- no ann. fee)
DEFERRED - APPROVED 2K CL moved over from Diamond Rewards Mastercard
Citibank - Citi Platinum American Express Card - (15,000 TY points after $300 purchase and 3 pts. per dollar spent 5 pts every day spending)
DEFERRED - APPROVED 8K CL moved from Diamond Rewards Mastercard
Chase - United Miles Plus Platinum Business Card - (25,000 United Miles after $250 purchase)
DEFERRED -- APPROVED -- $8,000

Tier 6 (Daily Spending cards and cards for utilization)
Bank of America/FIA - Platinum Visa Business - (0% 12 months -- uncapped fee)
DEFERRED -- APPROVED Had to reallocate 20K from Charles Schwab card to open
Bank of America/FIA - Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa - (1.5% Cash Back 0% 12 month BT uncapped fee - preapproved)
DEFERRED - APPROVED - 5K CL moved over from Charles Schhwab Visa
Penfed - Visa Platinum Rewards - (5% Cash Back on gas 1.25% cash bank on all other spending)
Forgot about the $20 to become a Penfed member - skipped - then later changed my mind and applied anyway
DEFERRED - APPROVED - $20,000 CL
GE Money Bank - Cash Rewards Card - (no BT offer, use for utilization)
DEFERRED - DENIED
Elan - - PNC Bank Select Rewards Visa - (uncapped BT offer, use for util.)
DEFERRED -- DENIED (Outside of service area)
American Express - AMEX Clear - (0% for 12 months on purchases -- use for util.)
DEFERRED -- DENIED
American Express - Amex Business Simplycash (0% on purchases for 12 months - 5% gas, phone, groceries)
DEFERRED -- DENIED

added 2-17-2008
applied for Discover More card
APPROVED - requested 25K BT to BOA HELOC -- CL is $8,000 -- requested $7,800 BT to BOA HELOC
Discover called and my CL is 8K - requested $7,800 BT
applied for HSBC mastercard
APPROVED 1K limit yay!
US Bank Baylor Alumni
APPROVED 15K - Requested 13,350 BT to BOA HELOC

Here are the inquiries:
Equifax
ADVANTA
CBUSA/CBSD
RBS CC
CITI
CITI
FIA CSNA
GEMB/GEMON
DISCOVER
HSBC BANK
USBK

Experian
BANK OF AMERICA
DISCOVER FINANCIAL SER
AMEX
FIRST USA,NA
FIA CSNA

TransUnion
BRCLYSBANKDE

NEW 0% BT Money:

Months......fee.....Amount......Card

10............$60.....$15,200.......RBS Platinum Mastercard
12............$75.....$7,500........Discover More Card
12............$30....$51,353........BOA NEA Visa
15............$75....$19,500........BankAtlantic Business Card
12............$75....$57,000........Chase AMA Business Rewards Visa
12............$50....$25,500........Citibank Business
12............$0.....$13,350........US Bank
12............$0.....$13,350........National City

total:
..............$365....$202,753

brushwood said: Existing Cards

Advanta Business Card ------------------------ $ 10,500.00__$ 5,276.00__50.25%
Credit Card - Bank of America ---------------- $ 800.00____$ 0.00______0.00%
Credit Card - Bank of America ---------------- $ 11,400.00__$ 0.00______0.00%
Credit Card - New York Jets ------------------- $ 500.00____$ 0.00______0.00%
Chase Credit Cards - British Petroleum ---- $ 500.00____$ 0.00 _____ 0.00%
Chase Credit Cards - Home Rewards ------ $ 33,400.00__$ 26.18 ____ 0.08%
Chase Credit Cards - Perfect Card ---------- $ 300.00____-$ 0.05 ____ -0.02%
Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards AMEX ---- $ 800.00 $___0.00 ______ 0.00%
Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card ----- $ 17,500.00__$ 0.00 _____ 0.00%
Citi ProfessionalSM Card ---------------------- $ 2,000.00___$ 133.61 ____ 6.68%
Discover Card - Discover ---------------------- $ 4,000.00___$ 0.00 ______ 0.00%
Discover Business Card ----------------------- $ 3,000.00___$ 0.00 ______ 0.00%
FIA Charles Schwab Bank Platinum Plus -- $ 50,000.00__ $ 37,801.61 _ 75.60%
GE Money Platinum Mastercard -------------- $ 11,000.00__ $ 143.50 ___ 1.30%
HSBC GM Flexcard ----------------------------- $ 3,000.00___ $ 1,411.83 __ 47.06%
Providian Visa ------------------------------------ $ 6,500.00___ $ 0.00 ______ 0.00%
--------------------------------------------- Total $ 155,200.00___ $ 44,792.68If possible, I'd get those utilization %s down on your personal cards. It is painful but it will increase your credit score significantly. I'm paying all of my balances down to below 10% for my AOR. I'd suggest at least paying yours down to below 50% each. You can dispute the balances with the CRA after your payment posts to get your report updated.
I just did that with my Schwab card after posting a $30K payment.

(most of the links to secure websites are broken, use 'https' or [S] instead of 'http' or [L])

Do you know your FICOs?

You might consider applying for a personal Juniper/Barclays card, and reallocating to the BankAtlantic before doing an advance.

Only one citibank card? If you're bonus-farming, you couple probably pick a few good additional ones.[/L]

brushwood said: I fixed the links. I plan to add considerably more apps. I am just in the beginning of the planning phase now.Cool. I'm just about to launch my AOR too. I'll either just suggest additional cards here or start my own thread.

062703 said: I think BofA has a no fee/12 month BT now.

Eh maybe not.Financial rewards platnium plus looks interesting. It is only 6 months but has not BT fee and earns some rewards for BTs... link

edit: if you are going for the Fidelity card, you should sign up for the mycash checking account. you can get $100-200 in cash rewards and 25K united miles pretty easily. link. Plus it is a great checking account. oh, and there is no hard pull for signing up as long as the brokerage account you open does not have margin.

brushwood said:
Does anyone know if you can reallocate from FIA to regular BOA cards. I think I remember reading that it could be done but now I am not so sure. I was planning on reallocating some of the 50K FIA line to the NEA BOA card. If that's not possible, it will put a real damper on my plan.

Yes, you can. I just reallocated from the Fidelity card to the BofA NEA card.

74ak said: brushwood said:
Wachovia Signature Visa
(0% until jan. 2009 -- $75 max fee)


Is it in-branch application? The link shows 6 months, not 12.Thx

Look at the graphic on the top of the page when you follow that link. It links to this. I am guessing it is some limited time promotion.

r0man said:
The Wachovia Business Credit Card piqued my interest, so I called the 866-403-3191 number on the promo page and was told to call 800-566-3862 and ask for 'New Accounts'.

The Business T&C (6 months 0%, no fee if BT check is used within 6 months of account opening) link on the promo are the same terms that the CSR repeated to me. The CSR said credit lines over $50K require 2 years of tax returns and they pull from any of the 3 CRAs on a rotating basis.

Good news: these 6 month terms exactly match the personal T&C from my Wachovia personal card that I got in June. I was able to pay off the initial balance within 6 months, got a CLI from $20K to $30K and then deposited my last BT check for another 6 months.

Bad news: in order to apply for the Wachovia Business Card, you need to have a business checking account with them. First year $100 minimum and no fees. On a personal note, I don't know how Wachovia will feel about extending me business credit when I already have $26K outstanding personal debt with them.

I requested an e-mail app and will consider going through the hassle if I think they will give me a decent credit line. I'm performed a substantial APR last June and have $80K CC debt (plus auto and mortgage) showing on my personal credit report. My credit scores are back to low-mid 700's because all the hard pulls have aged or been b*mped and most of the accounts have aged more than 6 months. I'm curious if anyone else has had experience with a Wachovia Business Card.

Brushwood, I don't mean to hikack your thread. I'm hoping this info is useful to you and/or someone else.

I didn't even think of piggybacking the 6 month BT's together. That's a great idea. So they send out 0% BT checks with your card? I'll have to look into the fees for the business checking account after the first year. I could use a business checking account anyway, so this could work out well for me.

when you doing the apps

brushwood said: althes said: when you doing the apps

I'm waiting for the zero balances to show up on my credit reports. I've tried disputing them, but ran into some problems doing it online.

Not wise to dispute reported balances on good standing accounts. Especially online.

So it looks like I have most of the apps selected. I'm going to need to pick out the order I do them in. I definitely want to be able to make use of the credit line from BOA/FIA, Chase and Citibank so those are the most important to me. The rest I'll need to order in importance by the ones that are most likely to give me good limits.

One more wrinkle in the plan is what to do about my Advanta card. I have an outstanding balance at 0% that is going to expire on 3-1-2008. From what I understand they will not give a second card, so I would need to pay off that balance and cancel the card and then reapply. At this point I'd only be missing out on about a month's worth of interest from $5,000, so no big loss and I think I have a much better chance of getting a higher limit this time around since my HHI is quite a bit higher. Does anyone know how long you can take between canceling your Advanta card and then applying for a new one?

brushwood said: So it looks like I have most of the apps selected. I'm going to need to pick out the order I do them in. I definitely want to be able to make use of the credit line from BOA/FIA, Chase and Citibank so those are the most important to me. The rest I'll need to order in importance by the ones that are most likely to give me good limits.

Based on my own experience: Bank Atlantic Business may give you juicy CL if it is on the top of the list; It was 2nd on my list, and I got 20k,which is well above Business Chase, Citi, Discover or Advanta;someone else reported nice 20k from Bank Atlantic. Note that I did not apply for any Juniper personal cards; may be that was another reason.

74ak said: Juniper/Barclays Bank - BankAtlantic Rewards BusinessCard - (0% 12 months -- $75 max fee)
-------------------
and it is 15 months of free money, not 12

I corrected my original post. I'll have to put it near the top of the list for sure, especially with the 15 months.

VanceWade said: Yep. I applied to BaBiz after taking out BTs on Chase biz and Citi biz and still got a higher CL than on either of the other cards: 18K. I have an actual business doing high five-figures a year in revenue, so that may help.

I have a start-up, still CL is more than generous

74ak said: r0man said: 74ak said: brushwood said:
Wachovia Signature Visa
(0% until jan. 2009 -- $75 max fee)


Bad news: in order to apply for the Wachovia Business Card, you need to have a business checking account with them. First year $100 minimum and no fees. On a personal note, I don't know how Wachovia will feel about extending me business credit when I already have $26K outstanding personal debt with them.



may not bad at all, lhendricks reported that personal account may satisfy that requirement, though wachovia may have min lenght requirement instead ?
here

I have a Wachovia personal checking account that is about three or four years old. If that qualifies me, I'll definitely go for the business card. I am trying to keep as much utilization off of my personal credit file as possible.

brushwood said:
I have a Wachovia personal checking account that is about three or four years old. If that qualifies me, I'll definitely go for the business card. I am trying to keep as much utilization off of my personal credit file as possible.
Please let us know when you find out if a personal checking account qualifies you for the business credit card. I would much rather open up a personal checking than having to go through the hassle of opening a business account. The csr I spoke to made it seem like one needed a business account and I didn't think of asking her if a personal account would suffice (but she also didn't think one could deposit a check within 6 months for an additional 6 months 0%).

Advanta is now 15 months BT, and 90 max fee. Inflation is eating into our AOR profits.

Also, for the Citibank apps I would suggest getting two business cards and two personal cards. One business card should have 0% BT offer and TY points. All others should be TY point cards. From what I have calculated You can rack up around 70k TY points with 4 Citi apps. After getting all cards, make necessary purchases and harvest TY points. After that call business side and CLR to business card with 0% BT. Then BT.

After you are done using your card with 5X TY points, you can CLR to help with utilization. Just leave enough CL to make everyday purchases, and pay off early if necessary.

Everytime I click on someone's link for the Discover Business card that claims 0% for 18 months, the opening screen always show 12 months 0%. Am I missing something here?

I am waiting for HSBC to report to Transunion and Equifax. They just reported my zero balance to Experian today. I'm guessing that should happen soon so I am going to start prioritizing the applications.

Weekends aren't so bad. And it's better to apply over a weekend if the alternative is stretching out over 3/4 days.

However, if anything does require human followup, it's going to dribble out over multiple days.

Applying on, say, tuesday morning, does give the best chance of having things resolved in the shortest number of hours after application.

brushwood said: I just got my business accounts with citibank closed. I called and asked about the BT check that I just deposited and they stated that they placed a stop payment on it and that my account was closed due to excessive inquiries on Equifax. The lady I spoke with said I could dispute any inquiries that were not legit and they would do another soft pull and consider reopening the accounts. I am pulling my report every day to try to bump the inquiries off but I don't know how fast I can get that done. I also have some inquiries that are not legit that I wasn't going to bother disputing but now I think I will. I am trying to think of any other speedy way to get those inquiries off because this is costing me a $25,000 BT.

I have 13 inquiries on EQ, all in the last 2 months and looking at them they are all legit. I guess I need some power b* or something.

Hmmm, a similar action has been taken against me(though I'm not certain if it's Inquiries that were specifically the cause for me yet as I haven't received the letter) though mine involved a large negative credit balance with my BT as well. Here's my post in my AOR thread on what has happened to me so far.
Seems like Citi's tightening their screws a bit.