Its been about 15 months since my last A0R.. With that one I got about $120K in new credit line, and ended up with 2 0% balance transfers - $79K with Chase, no fee, 12 months that runs until April, and another at $30K with Citi for life. Right now I'm at 42% overall credit utilization. Unless someone thinks otherwise I will be waiting until the 0% Chase offer expires to fire this one off, but I'm getting a bit of a head start, really for my own organization.

Also, as mentioned in my previous thread, I was thinking about buying some real estate, which I did in October 2007, with cash. In December I applied for a HELOC. Any further real estate purchases will be from an outside investor so I don't have to worry about keeping my credit score up for anything in the near future.

A0R #1 Adverse Reactions
1) Chase closed 4 of my accounts at $500 each, including my oldest account. After several calls to Chase got the oldest one reinstated.
2) Chase lowered my A0R card from $79K to $72.5K once I got to that point (same time as #1)
3) BoA lowered limit of one card to $2500 from $5000.

A0R #2 Goals
1) Business credit lines!
2) A0R Money - Hopefully Chase Personal, BoA Personal, Citi Business, Chase Business
3) Cash, hotel and airlines rewards. I won't be trying as hard for hotels as my (new!) fiancée is now working at a major upscale hotel chain with locations worldwide, which gives us great discounts and any hotel rewards almost useless.

Current Cards

Issuer......Card.......................Type....P/B.......Limit
Chase.......SonyCard...................VISA.....P.......$72,500*
AM-EX.......Starwood Preferred Guest...AM-EX....P.......$48,000
BoA.........Iowa Rewards...............MC.......P.......$39,000
CitiBank....Diamond Preferred..........MC.......P.......$30,500**
CitiBank....Premier Pass...............MC.......B.......$16,200
CitiBank....SearsCard..................MC.......P.......$14,050
Chase.......United Mileage Plus Bus....VISA.....B.......$10,000
Discover....Miles Card.................DISC.....P.......$8,000
CitiBank....CitiBusiness Plat. Select..MC.......B.......$5,000 <-Closing for new A0R to leave 1 P and 1 B Citi Card
AM-EX.......Freedom Pass Plat. Bus.....AM-EX....B.......$1,000
Discover....Cash-Back Bonus............DISC.....P.......$2,750
BoA.........WorldPoints Platinum Plus..MC.......P.......$2,500
De11........Preferred Account..........n/a......P.......$1,500
MBNA........Charles Schwab.............VISA.....P.......$1,000
BoA.........Gold Points Platinum Plus..VISA.....P.......$800
BoA.........WorldPoints Platinum Plus..VISA.....P.......$800
CitiBank....Diamond AM-EX..............AM-EX....P.......$500 <-Closing for new A0R
CitiBank....Platinum Select............MC.......P.......$500 <-Closing for new A0R
CitiBank....AT&T Universal Rewards.....MC.......P.......$500
Express.....Charge Card................n/a......P.......$500
Chase.......PerfectCard................MC.......P.......$500
AM-EX.......Gold Business..............AM-EX....B.......(no limit)

*Have 0%BT until April 2008
**Have 0%BT forever

........TU.....EX....EQ

18-Jan-2008    
FICO....??......??...120
FAKO....765....730...756
INQ.....1......18.....4
21-Jan-2008
FAKO....765....730...758
INQ.....1......18.....3
18-Apr-2008
FAKO....765....748....774
INQ....0.....9....1
15-May-2008
FAKO.....795......782.....773
INQ....1.....8.......1
DAY OF APPLICATIONS - BEFORE
FAKO......796.....782.....796
INQ........1.......8......1
DAY OF APPLICATIONS - AFTER
FAKO......791....779.......786
INQ........3.......10......8

A0R #2 Prep.
In the next month or two, I plan on doing the following:
1) Credit: My only negative on my CR is a 30 day late from March 2001, so it should go away soon. I'll follow through on that.
2) Keep bumping my score with TrueCredit.
3) After paying off the Chase BT, up my limits with soft inquiries as much as possible.

Cards I'm applying for
1) Chase GM Business 0% 12 months $75 BT Fee
1a) REMOVED Chase Business Cash Rewards 0% 12 months, $99 BT FEE - REMOVED
1b) REMOVED - Chase Business Rebate 0% 12 months $99 BT fee - REMOVED
2) BoA NEA 0% 12 months $30 BT Fee (thanks Hindustani!)
2a) BoA PetRewards Platinum 0% 6 months no BT Fee
3) Citi Professional Business 0% 12 months $50 BT fee
3a) REMOVED Citi Professional Cash 0% 12 months no fee REMOVED
4) Principal Bank 0% 12 months $75 BT Fee
X) REMOVED - SunTrust Visa 0% 6 months no BT fee (thanks Hindustani! - REMOVED)
5) Juniper Bank Atlantic 0% 15 months $75 BT Fee - Thanks Devildoc!
6) Citi Drivers Edge 0% 12 months no fee
7) Chase Platinum 0% 12 months, $75 BT fee
8) Chase United Mileage Plus 21,000 miles, $60/yr after 1st yr
9)Chase Continental Air Business 20,000 points $85 annually
10) Discover Business 0% 12 months $75 BT fee
11) National City Lifespring Visa 0% 12 months no BT fee (thanks Hindustani!)
12) Amex Platinum Bus. Freedompass $110 cash
13) Citi Business AAdvantage 20,000 points $75 annually after 1st yr
14) Citi Hilton HHonors Visa 15K points
15) Advanta Platinum Business 0% 15 months, $90 BT Fee
16) Juniper National Park Foundation Visa 0% 12 months $50 BT Fee
17) Associated Bank 0% 12 months no BT Fee - Thanks Elleve!
18) Amex Gold Business 25,000 points

Updates

19-Jan-2008: Edited for table clarity
19-Jan-2008: Began list of planned apps
21-Jan-2008: Removed Chase Bus Cash Rewards, Added Citi Professional Business, reordered as per markkundinger, kittenmittens, added Hilton per lhendricks92
21-Jan-2008: Removed Citi Professional Cash, leaving 3 personal and 3 business Citi cards after the A0R is complete; added BoA PetRewards for a backup to the NEA card, added Advanta and Juniper
01-May-2008: Updated credit scores, re-ordered list (a and b designations are alternatives/backups).
04-May-2008: Negatives on CR are gone, paid off balances and waiting CR update. Reordered list, updated links.
15-May-2008: Updates FAKO scores. Still waiting for new balance to post to Equifax, then I'm pulling the trigger. I'm hoping by Monday the 19th.

RESULTS

Personal Income: 75K
HHI: 200K

The day before the AOR, I received a Chase Business BT Offer at 0% until May 2009, max $50 fee. So I kept #1, but changed #7 in lieu of the Chase Personal Continental Card. I only got 4 instant approvals, but no rejections: similar to what I had last year, so I'm not too worried. AMEX gave me two of them, which was surprising considering my already high limits with them. I'm hoping I don't get an FR, but whatever.

1) Chase GM Business 0% 12 months $75 BT Fee - DEFERRED, WAITING as of 5/30, NO APP
2) BoA NEA 0% 12 months $30 BT Fee - DEFERRED, APPROVED, $5K
2a) BoA PetRewards Platinum 0% 6 months no BT Fee - DEFERRED, APPROVED, 15K (taken from current BoA CL)
3) Citi Professional Business 0% 12 months $50 BT fee - DEFERRED, DECLINED, then APPROVED, $18K (not technically biz)
4) Principal Bank 0% 12 months $75 BT Fee - DID NOT APPLY (WEBSITE DOWN)
5) Juniper Bank Atlantic 0% 15 months $75 BT Fee - DEFERRED, APPROVED, $25K, then lowered to $1K
6) Citi Drivers Edge 0% 12 months no fee - DEFERRED, VERIFYING INFO, APPROVED, $4.8K
7) Chase Platinum 0% 12 months, $75 BT fee - SKIPPED, APPLIED FOR CHASE PERSONAL CONTINENTAL - DEFERRED, DECLINED, BUT NOW APPROVED, $10K (taken from current CL)
8) Chase United Mileage Plus 21,000 miles, $60/yr after 1st yr - APPROVED, LIMIT = $13K
9)Chase Continental Air Business 20,000 points $85 annually - DID NOT APPLY (WEBSITE ERROR)
10) Discover Business 0% 12 months $75 BT fee - DEFERRED, APPROVED, $6500
11) National City Lifespring Visa 0% 12 months no BT fee - DEFERRED, APPROVED BUT VERIFYING INFO, $10K
12) AMEX Platinum Bus. Freedompass $110 cash - APPROVED, LIMIT = $3500
13) Citi Business AAdvantage 20,000 points $75 annually after 1st yr - DEFERRED, VERIFYING INFO, DECLINED
14) Citi Hilton HHonors Visa 15K points - SKIPPED, APPLIED FOR CITIBUSINESS (15K TY POINTS) - DEFERRED, DECLINED
15) Advanta Platinum Business 0% 15 months, $90 BT Fee - APPROVED, LIMIT = $2500
16) Juniper National Park Foundation Visa 0% 12 months $50 BT Fee - DEFERRED, DECLINED, THEN APPROVED, $10K
17) Associated Bank 0% 12 months no BT Fee - Thanks Elleve! - DEFERRED, DECLINED
18) AMEX Gold Business 25,000 points - APPROVED (NO LIMIT)
BONUS 19)CITI Professional Card (15K TY POINTS) - DEFERRED, DECLINED

BOTTOM LINE
AOR Money:
BoA (P): $49,500 [complete]
Chase (B):$72,000 [complete]
Discover (B): $16,000 [complete]
CitiBank (P): $22,500 + $24K lifetime from last year [complete]
CitiBank (B): $0 (nooo!)
Advanta (B): $0 (CL too low)
Nat City (P): $9500K [waiting on online access]
Juniper (B): $20K [complete]
TOTAL: $213.5K

New Credit Line: $98.3K

Airline tickets: 3

Still waiting for Nat City online access; United miles ($250 purchase); AMEX 25K points ($1000 purchase)

Thanks for the link. That will be helpful when I start compiling my applications list. Keep it updated and I'll keep checking it.

Chase lets you reallocate from personal to biz cards. I did this recently in my second AOR and took out $48k from my Chase Biz card. This will keep my utilization low on personal accounts and hopefully keep Chase from taking adverse action on my personal cards. I believe Citi also lets you allocate from personal to biz though I haven't tried it myself.

Hindustani said:Chase lets you reallocate from personal to biz cards. I did this recently in my second AOR and took out $48k from my Chase Biz card. This will keep my utilization low on personal accounts and hopefully keep Chase from taking adverse action on my personal cards. I believe Citi also lets you allocate from personal to biz though I haven't tried it myself.Yes, thank you for reminding me of that. Depending on the 0% offer I get, I hope to be able to put my Chase CL onto business, and if I am successful with doing that with Citi as well, I may hold off on Personal BT and do another Personal A0R a few months down the line. Time will tell.

5 Chase cards is too many.

You seem to be missing a Citibank business card, with which to reallocate credit and then BT the crap out of.

And, if you enjoy financial reviews, I'd recommend an AMX card with a 0% deal.

ShaneM said:1) Citi Drivers Edge 0% 12 months no fee
(Denied last time because of CitiBank 3 card limit - I will close the AT&T Card and Diamond AMEX before A0R. That should do the trick, unless they are both co-branded?AT&T is co-branded at least, you shouldn't need to close it.

2) Chase Platinum 0% 12 months, $75 BT fee
3) Chase Business Cash Rewards 0% 12 months, $99 BT FEE
4) Chase Business Rebate 0% 12 months $75 BT fee
5)Chase Continental Air Business 20,000 points $85 annually
6) Chase GM Business 0% 12 months $75 BT FeeGet rid of two of the 0% business cards.

7) Citi Professional Cash 0% 12 months no feeMaybe replace this with Citi Business TY.

8) Citi Business AAdvantage 20,000 points $75 annually after 1st yrApply for this one towards the end, it's an easy card to get.

Hindustani said:I agree with markkundinger, too many Chase cards on your list. Also, unless you plan to apply for Suntrust within the first 5-6 apps, stay away from it.

You should think of applying for Citi AMEX Platinum of you already do not have this card. It has no annual fee for first year, 3% CashBack (ThankYou points) for 2 years and free CitiMonitor subscription. I pay $13 per month for AMEX CreditSecure and will cancel it and move to CitiMonitor service for free. A saving of $156 per year!!

I thought citi monitor was like Quarterly, is it a daily puller? Did it change?

ShaneM said:Its been about 15 months since my last A0R.. With that one I got about $120K in new credit line, and ended up with 2 0% balance transfers - $79K with Chase, no fee, 12 months that runs until April, and another at $30K with Citi for life. Right now I'm at 42% overall credit utilization. Unless someone thinks otherwise I will be waiting until the 0% Chase offer expires to fire this one off, but I'm getting a bit of a head start, really for my own organization.

......

A0R #2 Prep.
In the next month or two, I plan on doing the following:
1) Credit: My only negative on my CR is a 30 day late from March 2001, so it should go away soon. I'll follow through on that.
2) Keep bumping my score with TrueCredit.
3) After paying off the Chase BT, up my limits with soft inquiries as much as possible.

............

Newbie questions:

1. What does "bumpingmy score with TrueCredit" mean? And how do you do it?

2. What does "up my limits with soft inquiries" mean? And how do you do it?

TIA

I believe the Chase Business Card listed at $75 fee has been raised to $99. Cost of inflation must be taking effect...even on AOR.