I believe the AA resulted from a cursory account review. I had some $160K of balances with 50+% utilization showing at some point. Individual cards were at much higher utilization. The odd thing is that the AA coincided with my rapid deleveraging in advance of the next A0R. So the two main arguments that seemed to work were 1) my utilization had gone way down (< 20%) with individual lines all below 50% (except Discover), so outstanding debt was within $70K and 2) I had plenty of assets and income to support the existing credit lines and outstanding balances. The rest of the argument was straight-forward: no lates, 14 year relationship, and 2 business banking and credit accounts. I don't think the business relationship made any difference.

Venturion said:Question: would it make sense to consolidate and close any of the unused young accounts (e.g. RBS, State Form, Sony, and ESPN)? Does that reset "recently opened accounts" data? Thanks.I had a closed Chase card last year (only opened for a month) that showed on my EQ report as "Most Recent Account".

Nothing like a little Chase BUSINESS AA to get your weekend off to a good start. 10/26/08 - UPS Capital Platinum Business card closed due to:

Too many open bankcards with high balances
The number of bankcards opened has grown too fast

Experian (TRW) pulled. Again, it's very odd since all of these accounts have been reporting for 7-8 months and the personal balances are actually quite low now. Is it worth calling to see what they see? FYI, Experian score is in 760+ range from creditsecure.

PS. This account was dormant since its 2/2008 opening, never used except for CLR to another Chase Biz account, and only had a $1,000 CL.

MikeR397 said:Venturion said:What to do with Citi UPromise? I got a Citi letter indicating the UPromise card is going away and will be converted to one of two options. If I don't use the BT by November, it will not transfer. Wondering if I should just let it expire so I have a clean slate for A0R V3.0?I called Citi and tried to get them to consolidate my Upromise to another card, but they refused. They said I either get the BOA Upromise card, or another comparable Citi card. I opted for the comparable Citi card, which then of course can be consolidated into another Citi card. This won't happen till Dec though.

I applied for a Citi Platinum AMEX, as my wife's was approaching the 1 year annual fee. I called to the credit ninjas, and they said I was approved for $2k more in credit line but would have to reallocate from another card because I had the max amount of cards Citi allowed. I plowed the Upromise line into the new card, and moved a portion of another card's line to make up the minimum $8k line.

Venturion said:FYI, the biggest net worth enhancer: new addition to the family in Nov 2007!! Didn't need any help in this regard Congratulations! How about some pics, don’t forget to include mom.

Well, the heloc probably used a "regular" FICO, which is mortgage-centric. It must weight things differently than the FAKOs. My wamuFICO (which is yet another card-centric scoring model) lags my FAKOs by around 30 points.

I guess the question for you is... what part of your credit report is the weakest? Utilization? Age? "Mix" of credit? (good mortage history may help, I'm guessing)?

Venturion said:Rorer, I would be happy to show them off; however, the young and beautiful must be protected

So I think I posted it here and perhaps elsewhere as well. I got rejected by BofA on 10/24 for a HELOC. Last week I received the official rejection letter, which provided a FICO TU score of 698. This doesn't correspond at all with my CreditKarma and CreditSecure scores from that period. Find below my CS scores from that week. Any thoughts on the discrepancy? TIA and I may post this in the appropriate FAQ thread as well.

CreditSecure TU Plus Score
10/20 745
10/21, 10/22 777
10/23, 10/24 780You can get your true FICO (TU) score for 4.95. Link
There was also a link for a free trial. If I find it I will post it.

Venturion said:Thanks, Rorer. I got another score point recently.

Applied for Third Federal Heloc ($200K line, which is under 80% LTV for me, but max for 3F) on 12/20. EQ Fico score is 726 (so a nice improvement over 696 over a month ago as I further paid down revolving balances). Loan is being processed. Once I get the decision, then I'll decide whether to kick off the next A0R.

I was paying around $4K a month in cash flow on the $200K revolving cc balances. If I get the prime-1.01% HELOC, that will drop to IO of around $400 a month.
how'd it turn out?

Venturion

You should be commended, it takes guts to pay off the mortgage with floating HELOCs and AOR money. I would like to do the same except that the current crisis doesnt look to promising for AORs. I could float the HELOC for one year then hope for the market to recover and banks start lending but I cant risk my mortgage note. Can you suggest what to do for people like me?

36yo, $270K 6.375% fixed mortgage, $2510/month (property taxes & insurance $716 included), roomates ($1200/month)
$90K single income, 8 years federal job (very stable).
$36k debt (0% apr) in business card
Last AOR $210K, almost gone now.
No business.

I am thinking to refinance first, if rejected, I will follow your steps.

Venturion

I bought the house for $350K three years ago and it probably sells for $320k. One roomate has being with me since i bought the house. Two rooms have come & go but in overall a steady income and it will continue to be so. I am not sure if i qualify for Obama modification program and neither a large HELOC. You are really caught between a rock and a hard place now that you missed a card payment. I dont think is a good idea to play this game any longer, the most i will get probably is $60k in AOR money with a good score.

Eureka, instead I should apply for a HELOC to replace the mortgage instead, looks like rates are staying low for 1 or 2 years, then what? maybe no more AOR? maybe they merge the business + personal cards together, etc.