I did my first A0R last March and was pretty successful in terms of approvals, bonuses and BT money gained. At the time I had 4 cards in my name.
For whatever reason, I didn't follow up with a WOR. Not until a couple months before most of my A0R BT offers are set to run out did I decide to do one for the wife.
Goals 1. Gain as much 0% BT $ as possible 2. Collect rewards/miles/points 3. Acquire cards from new banks
Knowing that she didn't have any inquiries on her TU or EX reports, I chose not to monitor all three scores until I launched the A0R. I currently have Experian Plus Triple Advantage for EX data. I also had TC via their free trial for TU data. However, I upgraded to all 3 reports and scores via TC today.
Cards Applied For Not knowing what affect my wife only having two (store) cards in her name and being an AU on the other two cards would have on the results, I was a little skiddish about the number of cards I should apply for. However, after some reassurance from dmlavigne1 and others that the AU status wouldn't matter, I decided to apply for quite a few.
I didn't post my list ahead of time like others have because I wasn't even sure I was going to post these WOR plans or results. However, after seeing SecondCor521's thread and list of cards, and knowing I was planning on launching this WOR early this week, I decided to go ahead. If nothing else, I figure the results would provide a good comparison since SecondCor521 and I applied for several of the same cards, but we have different personal and credit profiles. It should be interesting to compare the overall results and those of the similar cards applied for.
Cards without links can be found at Card Benefit.
1P = First purchase TYP = Thank You Points CB = http://www.cardbenefit.com (I used the referral mentioned here, which is supposed to yield higher bonuses than normal.)
Total Cards Approved by Issuer AMEX: 3 Total - 1 Business and 2 Personal Citi: 5 Total - 2 Business, 1 Professional and 2 Personal Chase/First USA: 3 Total - 2 Business and 1 Personal Juniper/Barclays: 2 Total - 1 Business and 1 Personal Discover: 2 Total - 1 Business and 1 Personal BoA: 2 Personal US Bank: 1 Personal National City: 1 Personal Advanta: 1 Business WAMU: 1 Personal
Credit Scores Using TC - Includes major changes and/or updates Date EQ EX TU - Inquiries 3/04 776 3/05 752 760 776 - 9,2,4 including 2 from BRCLYSBANKDE 3/06 752 760 776 - 9,2,1 including NCBK-NCCS; Juniper card appeared on EX 3/07 778 750 776 - 9,2,3 NCBK-NCCS inquiry disappeared; Juniper and BoA NEA on EQ; Discover on EX 3/09 778 750 774 - 9,2,4 as reflected below; Juniper and BOA on TU 3/11 765 750 762 3/12 765 747 760 - 9,2,5 new inquiry from BRCLYSBANKDE; Citi AA and Citi Prof on EX 3/17 758 747 757 - 9,2,6 new inquiry from BOA 3/21 756 745 757 -10,3,6 new inquiries from BOA and Chase for new card apps 3/28 752 745 757 -10,3,6 4/08 728 738 751 -10,3,6 4/17 689 698 747 -10,3,6 BoA NEA BT balance showing on all 3; removed as AU from my BoA MC 4/24 686 698 747 -11,3,6 First USA pull on EQ 4/29 663 690 694 -11,3,6 Disney and Citi Associated BT balances showing on all 3 4/30 663 676 694 -11,3,6 Nat'l City BT on EX 5/01 663 691 694 -11,3,6 SPG and IN:NYC cards showing on EX 5/05 684 678 682 -11,3,3 Baylor BT showing up 5/16 685 678 689 -11,3,0 All TU inquiries fell off
Inquiries from A0R FIRST USA 04/23/2008 EQ CHASE BANK USA, NA 03/20/2008 EX FIA CSNA 03/20/2008 EQ BK OF AMER 03/15/2008 TU BRCLYSBANKDE 03/11/2008 TU NCBK-NCCS 03/06/2008 TU BANK OF AMERICA 03/05/2008 EX AMEX 03/05/2008 EX USBK 03/05/2008 EQ CBUSA/CBSD 03/05/2008 EQ CITI USA 03/05/2008 EQ CITI 03/05/2008 EQ CITI 03/05/2008 EQ CHASE 03/05/2008 EQ ADVANTA 03/05/2008 EQ FIRST USA 03/05/2008 EQ WASHMTL/PROV 03/05/2008 TU BRCLYSBANKDE 03/05/2008 TU DISCOVER FIN 03/05/2008 TU AMERIAUTO 05/04/2007 EQ
Available Credit before and after A0R Before AOR: - Total CL Before A0R: $55,600 - Total "own" personal CL Before A0R: $1,100 After A0R: - Total new CL: $246,500 - Total "own" personal CL: $137,500 - Total business CL: $109,000
Completed Balance Transfers BoA NEA - $8,900 (Deposited BT check provided with card) Chase AMA Biz - $17,000 (Deposited BT check provided with card) Associated Bank - $13,350 (Deposited BT check provided with card) Disney - $10,680 (Deposited BT check provided with card) Discover Biz - $11,125 (BT online to my CitiBiz) Lifespring - $13,300 (Deposited BT check mailed to me) Bank Atlantic Biz - $20,000 (BT over phone to my CitiBiz PP) Baylor - $18,690 (BT over phone, split between my AT&T and CitiProfessional) - Totals: $113,045
Rewards/Bonuses Expected While I'll probably use many of the points for flights, I'll put an estimated value in GCs for ease of providing a total value. From AOR: 45,000 Thank You Points = ~$450 in GCs (all points showing a/o 4/15) 20,000 Starwood Preferred Guest = ~$200 in GCs (10k points showed up on 4/8 from Biz card; 10k points showed up on 5/6 for personal card) $250 Card Benefit Cash (confirmed for all $250 as of 3/21; checked received 4/19) $65 worth of statement credits ($50 AMA and $15 Juniper...both received) 12,000 miles from Discover (1,000/month for 12 months) - ~$100 GC value 25,000 United Airlines Miles - ~$250 value (posted on 4/8) 25,000 American Airlines Miles - ~$250 value (posted on 4/14) Other/bank signup bonuses: 25,000 American Airlines Miles (for Fidelity account) = ~$250 value (received 15k miles on 5/9, 4 days after transferring in initial $10k) ----------------------------- Total = $1,815 estimated value (~$1,615 received a/o 5/6/08)
Thanks to...SIS and DaveHanson (the godfathers) for pioneering and continuing to stay active and comment on A0R and other threads...Glitch99, lhendricks92, markkundinger, polardude, cyberkost, win333, Technologist and others who continue to comment on each A0R thread...SecondCor521 for his recent (concurrent) A0R, which allowed me to see many comments/thoughts and additional card apps/links right before launching mine...Thisguy, DjPiLL, dmlavigne1 and others for detailing their WORs...and dvm395, Venturion, elleve, Alimo, squid3, jakeru, brianLp518, hotpep, JohnYeWest and others for the recent A0R threads.
Observations/Notes - I spent a lot of prep time for this...even when I thought my list of apps was complete, I'd do some more research and reshuffle again. I didn't receive any instant declines...keeping up with comments, trends, etc. from other A0Rs is key (i.e. no wasted apps). Of course, I'm still waiting on several decisions and I'll probably receive a few declines via email/mail, particuarly on the business side. - More Instant Approvals than I expected, but about the same as I experienced with my A0R. 10 out of 23 this time...8 out of 16 last time. - RoboForm was helpful and saved me time as compared to my A0R, but I did have to correct and/or delete data that it filled in automatically in most applications. More comments and updates to come... - I wasn't planning on applying for the WAMU ESPN card, but decided to once I saw SecondCor521's comment and the unexpectedly high CL. Oh well. - Credit inquiries make a big difference on the success/failure of apps (obviously). However, not every issuer pulls the same database and the creditboards.com credit pull database isn't 100% accurate. Chase pulled EQ two times during my A0R, but pulled EX on the Disney card post A0R, even though others have reported EQ pulls for my state (GA). - Per a conversation with a Citi rep, it's not a problem to have a credit balance on a card and you'll be transferred to another department to request the balance via a check. In addition, she also said that $4k was the magic number...if the balance was $4k or more, an additional review would occur to make sure the balance was legit...under $4k and the check would be processed with no issues. I hadn't seen that threshold mentioned elsewhere and thought it was interesting. - Handling this A0R on behalf of my wife has been pretty easy. With the exception of my wife talking to a CSR when she calls to activate cards, I talk to all CSRs now on her behalf. I call and tell them that I'm calling on my wife's behalf, they ask to speak to my wife to verify her identity and make sure it's okay to speak to me, and then I take it from there. It's been very easy with no questions asked after the verification and approval with my wife...and it's worked for items ranging from general questions to processing BTs.
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When's the last time you saw a natural 0/0/0?? Out of curiosity, how did you discuss the option with her and in what time frame did she provider her approval? Asking b/c I'm contemplating the same...
Thanks and good luck (though the initial results are already successful).
That's a lot of instant approvals. I think you'll have good success with this one.
On the United Mileage cards: I also applied for both the personal and business and was deferred for both. Turns out a couple days later when I called them, they told me they didn't even process the personal version as they considered it a duplicate app. Doesn't make much sense to me as I thought the Chase personal/business departments were separate. I'm curious what result you get.
Venturion said:... Out of curiosity, how did you discuss the option with her and in what time frame did she provider her approval? Asking b/c I'm contemplating the same... ...
My situation may be a little different than others since I handle all of our finances. So, she trusts me with decisions like this, i.e. if I think it's a good idea, she'll go along. She saw first-hand (i.e. got money to spend) the benefits of my A0R and understands that this should be a good thing as well.
However, because I handle all of our finances, she isn't in tune with the types of actions that might be required during an A0R, namely talking on the phone with CSRs to reallocate credit lines, request BT checks, etc. In addition, she doesn't like talking on the phone to people she doesn't know, especially about something she's not familiar with. To be honest, this was the biggest deterent for me in deciding to do this or not.
So, after I decided to go forward, I just tried to stress the benefits and tried to minimize the impact it would have on her. I explained that she would probably have to talk to CSRs from time to time, particularly in the first few weeks, but then it should be minimal to no involvement on her part.
Based on information I've read in other wife-o-rama threads (e.g. Thisguy's 2-part AOR, DjPiLL's Wife-O-Rama 1.1, dmlavigne1's Bonus AOR 2.0 WOR) and information I received from other users, I've learned a few options for how to handle CSR interactions: 1) Call and pretend your her...works particularly well if your wife has a gender neutral name (mind doesn't). 2) Let her call and handle it (obviously), but lay out instructions beforehand. 3) Have her call and verify her identity and then say "my husband will be handling it from here"...or, call and tell them you're calling on someone else's behalf, let her verify her identity, and then take over from there. This is the option I plan on doing. 4) Use the online chat or messaging options.
I'll be providing updates handling her WOR and on using these techniques.
That's a lot of instant approvals. I think you'll have good success with this one.
On the United Mileage cards: I also applied for both the personal and business and was deferred for both. Turns out a couple days later when I called them, they told me they didn't even process the personal version as they considered it a duplicate app. Doesn't make much sense to me as I thought the Chase personal/business departments were separate. I'm curious what result you get.
Good luck!
Yes, the inquiries are shaping up like they did on my A0R, mostly EQ and a few TU and EX. This lends further credence/evidence to the idea that where you live has a bearing on which reports are pulled.
I saw that on your thread about the duplicate apps issue, and I thought it was odd. I applied and was accepted for both when I did my A0R last year, and I know others had before me. Hopefully I don't have that issue.
2 USBank Baylor Alumni Association Visa Platinum Card (12/$0) - Deferred
For this one, somehow I read the term as "No balance transfer fees for balance transferred with this application". So did you request balance transfer with the application? I am wondering if this condition applies to BT requested after receiving the card/credit line.
skysurfer1976 said:2 USBank Baylor Alumni Association Visa Platinum Card (12/$0) - Deferred
For this one, somehow I read the term as "No balance transfer fees for balance transferred with this application". So did you request balance transfer with the application? I am wondering if this condition applies to BT requested after receiving the card/credit line.
Any idea?
There's no need to request a BT with the application. I did this 3 days ago and it has posted just as the CSR said it would.
skysurfer1976 said:2 USBank Baylor Alumni Association Visa Platinum Card (12/$0) - Deferred
For this one, somehow I read the term as "No balance transfer fees for balance transferred with this application". So did you request balance transfer with the application? I am wondering if this condition applies to BT requested after receiving the card/credit line.
Any idea?
I did request a BT on the application, but only because I was hoping it would boost my resulting CL...based on others' experiences, the amount you request as a BT on the application does seem to have an impact on the CL.
Also based on others' experiences and comments, US Bank is apparently liberal in waiving the BT fee even if you don't do a BT with the application.
I checked my CR tonight via TC and noticed something odd. Tonight my inquiries looked like this: NCBK-NCCS 03/06/2008 TU BANK OF AMERICA 03/05/2008 EX AMEX 03/05/2008 EX USBK 03/05/2008 EQ CBUSA/CBSD 03/05/2008 EQ CITI USA 03/05/2008 EQ CITI 03/05/2008 EQ CITI 03/05/2008 EQ CHASE 03/05/2008 EQ ADVANTA 03/05/2008 EQ FIRST USA 03/05/2008 EQ AMERIAUTO 05/04/2007 EQ
Whereas last night they looked like this: BANK OF AMERICA 03/05/2008 EX AMEX 03/05/2008 EX USBK 03/05/2008 EQ CBUSA/CBSD 03/05/2008 EQ CITI USA 03/05/2008 EQ CITI 03/05/2008 EQ CITI 03/05/2008 EQ CHASE 03/05/2008 EQ ADVANTA 03/05/2008 EQ FIRST USA 03/05/2008 EQ WASHMTL/PROV 03/05/2008 TU BRCLYSBANKDE 03/05/2008 TU BRCLYSBANKDE 03/05/2008 TU DISCOVER FIN 03/05/2008 TU AMERIAUTO 05/04/2007 EQ
Any ideas where those 4 TU inquiries from last night might have disappeared to? Maybe I bumped them off in one day.
Oh, and the Juniper I Fly America card is already showing on my EX report.
Any ideas where those 4 TU inquiries from last night might have disappeared to? Maybe I bumped them off in one day.
Oh, and the Juniper I Fly America card is already showing on my EX report.
The 2 BRCLYSBANKDE I got in my last AOR reported the 1st day, then both went away on day 2, and then 1 returned on day 3, so I think that's going to happen for the Juniper Cards, but i'm not sure about the other 2 missing inqs.
You know I had the same exact thing happen with Barclays. I think Barclays is very smart about multiple apps (my four Juniper apps all got the shaft) and also respectful in consolidating the inquiries as a result of multiple apps. However, I don't know why all of them disappear (edit: one of them should stay on)... I hope it isn't b/c you got the shaft too.
Venturion said:You know I had the same exact thing happen with Barclays. I think Barclays is very smart about multiple apps (my four Juniper apps all got the shaft) and also respectful in consolidating the inquiries as a result of multiple apps. However, I don't know why all of them disappear (edit: one of them should stay on)... I hope it isn't b/c you got the shaft too.
Thanks, and thanks Jevon90.
The interesting thing is that of those 4 inquiries, I know I was instantly approved for 3 of them: Juniper I Fly America, WAMU ESPN and Discover More. I guess I'll check again tonight and report back if any of those inquiries return.
I got an approval email for the CitiBusiness card. My wife also got a phone call from Discover Business. She handled the phone call well and was told she was approved for the card. She didn't ask for the CL, but I plan on reallocating from the Discover More anyway.
Thanks for the props...I like the way you formatted your post, too!
Good luck on your AOR and glad mine could help out in any way. I did what you appear to have done also -- read a bunch of A0R threads in my planning stages.
You seemed to get a higher proportion of instant approvals than I did. When I spoke with the credit ninja at Discover last night, it seemed like she didn't have any concerns with my credit history, it was just a matter of verifying that everything was in order. That got me to thinking that perhaps my lack of instant approvals were due to some inconsistencies in my address and employment information on my credit reports. For example, if I lived at 123 North Main Street apartment 101, one credit agency has it listed as "123N Main #101" and another might have it as "101 123 North Main". Also, my employer is listed as "123N Main Street Previous Employer" in one case, as the CEO of 2Cor521 Enterprises in another, and as my regular job on another. I think these inconsistencies could be causing grief to the identity-matching software that the CC companies must surely be using to automate the process. Anyway, that's my theory.
I was a little reluctant to do an AOR for my wife, for pretty much the same reasons as you - She had pretty much been letting me handle most financial things. At first, I had to coach her before she called the CSRs, but she picked it up pretty quick. After a few weeks, she called me at work one day to tell me that she had just called a Citi CSR and consolidated her CLs onto her new 0% Home Rebate card and requested a BT check for 89% of her new CL, and I hope that's OK??? Yup, that's OK, and now we have a new shared hobby.
That Bank Atlantic card from Juniper has this statement about the 0% BT:
"The 0% introductory Annual Percentage Rate(APR) applies to Balance Transfers for the first 15 months after you open your account and requires that you maintain your current level of credit performance and that timely payments are received."
What do you guys think about the credit performance thingie? If I am at 740 when applying and then I arrive in the 670 range from the AOR, do they take away the BT??
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