ahself's AOR 2.0 - All app results in

I did an A0R last year and wrapped it up a month ago. Like with my first A0R and my wife's A0R, I was just going to do this one and post the results. However, after both of those, I wondered whether I could've done better with feedback from the FWF community. So, while I think I'm pretty close to finalizing my list, I thought I'd get some feedback. I hope to fire this off next Monday.

Credit Cards
Current Cards / Limit / Age / Utilization:
Pre-A0R Cards
AMEX Skymiles Plat. / $24,500 / 9 yrs / 12% (every day spender)
BOA Worldpoints Plat. MC / $30,000 / 11 yrs / 5% (secondary spender)
FIA Schwab Worldpoints Visa / $10,000 / 2 yrs / 0%
Cards from A0R 1.0
Personal
Citi Prof TYP / $50,000 / 1 yr / 0%
Citi AT&T Universal / $19,000 / 1 yr / 0%
Chase Sony / $20,000 / 1 yr / 0%
Chase Disney / $9,440 / 1 yr / 49% (BT offer ends 9/08)
Juniper I Fly / $15,000 / 1 yr / 0%
Discover Miles / $8,000 / 1 yr / 0%
PNC Select / $20,000 / 1 yr / 0%
AMEX Blue / $2,000 / 3 mos / 0% (tried to convert SPG to Blue and CSR messed up, close account and opened new account instead)
Business
Citi Biz TYP / $20,000 / 1 yr / 0%
Chase Freedom Biz / $15,000 / 1 yr / 0%
BoA Plat Biz / $12,500 / 1 yr / 0%

Total CL: $255,440

Recently closed cards - Citi Biz AA, Citi Biz PP, United Mileage Biz (converted to Freedom Biz), SPG Biz AMEX, United Mileage (consolidated with Disney), SPG AMEX, and Citi AA.

Other than our mortgage, I have no other revolving or installment accounts open.

Personal Info
HHI: high 5 figures
Mortgage: $1550
Age: 33

Credit Scores (True Credit)
Trans: 788
Equifax: 793
Experian: 769

Planned Apps
CB = http://www.cardbenefit.com
(CB bonuses appear to vary depending on account, e.g. new user vs. someeone who's received bonuses before. Read more here.)

(Expected Inquiry, Card, Bonus, BT term/BT Fee)
1 TU, National City Quilter's Rewards (12/$0) - Deferred Approved $12,500
2 EX (Change), Citi Associated Bank Visa Platinum (12/$0) - Instant Approval $15,000
3 EX (Change), CitiBusiness Card with ThankYou Network (1P -> 15K TYP, 12/$0) - Deferred Approved $6,000
4 EQ, USBank Baylor Alumni Association Visa Platinum (12/$0) - Deferred Approved $10,000
5 EQ, NWA WorldPerks Visa Signature (20k WP miles) - Deferred Approved $5,000
6 EQ, Chase Business Rebate (CB $35, 12/$99) - Deferred Approved $10,000
7 TU, Discover Open Road (CB $45, 12/$75) - Deferred Approved $8,000
8 TU, WAMU ESPN Total Access Visa Card - Targeted for 0% BT (not purchases) (12/$$150) - Instant Approval $27,500
9 TU, Juniper Bank Atlantic Rewards Business Card (15/$75) - Deferred Approved $10,000
10 EX, BoA Platinum Plus (12/$0) - Instant Approval $15,000
11 TU, Banco Popular Platinum MasterCard - Targeted (12/$100) - Deferred Approved $13,200 CL

Total Applied for: 11
Instant approval: 3
Deferred approval: 8

Credit Scores
Using TC - Includes major changes and/or updates
Date EQ EX TU - Inquiries
7/02 793 769 788 - (pre-A0R, 1,5,0)
7/03 789 763 782 - (3,8,4) - BoA Plat Plus showing on EX
7/06 789 763 780 - (3,8,6) - Inq from last year reappeared on TU and Nat'l City Inq showed up
7/15 781 743 778 - (3,8,7) - Sony BT balance showing on EX
7/18 757 743 761 - (3,8,7) - Sony BT showing on all 3
08/5 754 729 717 - (3,8,7) - A couple more BTs showing

Inquiries
NCBK-NCCS 07/03/2008 TransUnion
BANCOPOPULAR 07/03/2008 TransUnion
BANK OF AMERICA 07/02/2008 Experian
CBSD/UFC 07/02/2008 Experian
CITI 07/02/2008 Experian
USBK 07/02/2008 Equifax
CHASE 07/02/2008 Equifax
BRCLYSBANKDE 07/02/2008 TransUnion
WAMU 07/02/2008 TransUnion
DISCOVER FIN 07/02/2008 TransUnion
AMEX 04/30/2008 Experian
ALLIANT CU 04/04/2008 Equifax
CHASE BANK USA, NA 07/25/2007 Experian
BANK OF AMERICA 03/27/2007 Experian
DISCOVER FINANCIAL SER 03/21/2007 Experian
AMEX 03/21/2007 Experian

New Credit from A0R: $132,000

Completed Balance Transfers so far
Sony - $17,700 (Deposited BT check mailed to me)
BoA Platinum Plus - $45,500 (BT'd over phone to checking account)
Associated Bank - $13,350 (Deposited BT welcome check)
Banco Popular - $11,700 (Deposited BT welcome check)
Baylor - $8,900 (BT over phone to BoA Plat Plus)
Discover Open Road - $13,800 (Deposited BT check I requested)
Chase Biz Rebate - $21,400 (Deposited BT welcome check)
WAMU ESPN - $25,000 (BT'd to debit card, which was deposited into checking)
Bank Atlantic - $20,000 (BT'd to BoA Plat Plus)
National City - $11,125 (Deposited BT check I requested)
- Totals: $188,475

Rewards/Bonuses Expected
15,000 Thank You Points
20,000 NWA Worldperks Points (received 7/31)
$80 Card Benefit Cash (confirmed as of 7/19)

Notes
- I received 0% BT convenience checks for my existing Sony card and decided to use one of them concurrent with this A0R.
- I intentionally kept the overall number of applications down (i.e. not 20 or 30) due to the continued reports of A/A by Citi and others and the increased scrutiny that issuers seem to be applying. I wanted to take advantage of some offers from new banks (e.g. National City, US Bank, WAMU etc.) and take advantage of offers where I could leverage some of my existing CLs.

I don't think you should use a citibank upromise as your planned BT target. I think you should get a Biz card. Sure, there's a transfer fee, but you will be able to reallocate credit to it from other biz, the professional, and personal cards, and the utilization will be hidden from your credit report. It's worth the $75 or $99 or whatever bucks. The upromise card, being a personal card with a 0% is going to be hard or imopssible to reallocate anything too.

For similar reason, I would normally recommend that biz card trick with Chase as well, especially after you pay off the Disney in only a couple months. (actually, you might pay it off now as part of the AOR, especially if you need card to BT to).

i'd be tempted to give the WAMU a shot. It might not work out, but at least you'll get a free pfico. That's one thing that my card with a $250 limit has going for it.

I have been receiving WAMU offers every week. I pulled the trigger on this one. After spending 4k receive 10% rebate on gas purchases for 6mo. 0% on purchases until 1/1/2010 if you transfer a balance (100 min) with application, max cl 30k. Instant approval for 30k.

Does CB still work? I read the following at http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com

For cardbenefit.com, anyone who received money from them by following my directions for special dollar bonuses before March 25, 2008, can still receive the excellent bonuses that were offered before. Just log into your account and then click on Apply & Earn Cash near the top of the page. You should see offers according to the following schedule:

...

This was posted probably by the very person who introduces new applicants to the creditors for the commisions via CB, but he's saying "Before March 25, 2008"

Does CB still work regardless of his presence or absence?

After some hesitation, which included re-thinking and re-organizing some of the applications, I decided to fire off the A0R yesterday. I think the final spark that got me going was this thread about TU inquiries starting to reappear on credit reports...I didn't want inquiries I'd bumped off to reappear and negatively influence application decisions.

Application changes:
- I took out the Discover Biz application since I couldn't find one with good 0% BT terms.
- I included a CitiBiz TYP application. Even though I already have one, I'm hoping I'll be approved since it seems to have the most favorable BT terms as well (e.g. no BT fee).
- I included the NWA WorldPerks application for the bonus miles. Knowing that the Delta/NWA merger is approaching and frequent flier accounts are supposed to be combined, these will convert to Delta Skymiles, which are what I primarily fly/use anyway.

Results so far:
- Approved for Citi Associated, WAMU ESPN and BoA Platinum Plus...deferred on the rest. Updates in the OP
- Primary surprise is the $27,500 CL with WAMU...sweet! Glad I decided to go for that one.

Nice credit line from WAMU. appears to reinforce the notion that targeted offers are good.

Also, you go the max possible line on the BofA card. not too shabby.

ahself said: - A National City rep called about my app. After verifying my info., she asked if I had recently applied for more credit cards other than their card. I mentioned that I applied for a few credit cards to get some bonuses and other offers. Knowing that they pulled TU, I mentioned a couple of the cards that also pulled TU. She then asked if that was all. After pulling up my list of inquiries, I then mentioned the two others that pulled TU. She again asked if that was all and I told her it was. She said that my application would be processed. I'm not too confident in getting approved after having that conversation.
It sounds to me like she suspects you applied for others. Is it possible/legal for them to pull another report from some other bureau? I know for mortgages banks pull all 3, but it seems they only ever pull one for CCS. Does anyone know why?

Banco Popular approved 13.2k! Nice!

Rorer714 said: ahself said: Primary surprise is the $27,500 CL with WAMU...sweet! Glad I decided to go for that one.
You are seeing more reports of targeted offers from WAMU bring in nice credit lines.

I agree. I was very encouraged by your post above and quite pleased by my results.

I probably average 6-7 WAMU offers in the mail every month; but almost all of them have been for 0% on purchases. The 0% BT offer was a nice surprise, especially with the CL I received.

LaJollaInvestor said: Did you have a previous relationship with WAMU ?

No, no previous relationship with them. I just started receiving CC offers in the mail last year, after my first A0R, and continued to get them until I finally got the 0% BT offer last month.

- Approved for all cards...yeah.

- I received an email from US Bank letting me know I was not approved for the Baylor card. I called the credit (status) department to find out why and was told that they generally only approve one application in a given time period...they like to track the history with them before being approved for other cards...and, I was given a line of $15k on the NWA card, which should be sufficient. To that last point, I asked if I could use some of the CL from the NWA card to get the Baylor card approved...and she said I could...nice. She told me they like to leave at least $5k on the NWA card since it's their signature card. So, she put $10k on the Baylor card and even processed a BT for me at the same time.

- Since I don't really have any prior BTs that I need to pay off, I plan on using the BoA Platinum Plus card as a clearing house for BTs from other cards that won't issue checks (like the Baylor card). It should work out nicely since there's no BT fee on the BoA card and I can continue to make transfers from it to my checking account.

- I noticed a new inquiry from Discover on my TU report...turns out they pulled my report again when CLR'ing between my cards, even though the rep told me they wouldn't have to. I called TU, but they said they don't touch/dispute inquiries and I have to work that out with the inquiring company. So, after the runaround from two CSRs, I finally got a nice rep that offered to talk to her supervisor. She came back and said her supervisor would take care of removing that inquiry for me. She also told me that the previous rep was incorrect about the hard inquiry. She said that since the process to CLR with a new card is basically a CLI, they may or may not pull the report.

djspray said: Nice persuasion with US Bank. Now that CSR gets her BT commission, too. Everyone wins.

Yeah, I wonder whether I could've gotten a higher overall limit if I'd mentioned the BT plans first.

BTW, I forgot to mention that I received the standard 3 check welcome package from Associated Bank. I know there was some question as to whether this still happens based on Rorer's experience and response in Mike's thread.

ahself said: I plan on using the BoA Platinum Plus card as a clearing house for BTs from other cards that won't issue checks (like the Baylor card). It should work out nicely since there's no BT fee on the BoA card and I can continue to make transfers from it to my checking account.

Sorry for the nooby question -- when you BT from BoA cc to BoA checking, do you do it by phone or on the website ("transfers" same as between checking and savings)? I can't tell if the online method would be considered cash advance. Thanks.

- I'm currently CLR'ing between a few cards, between my Chase Business cards and between my Juniper I Fly America and Bank Atlantic cards.

- Question: Any suggestions on how I should handle the new CitiBiz TYP card wrt CLR'ing? I have the $20k CL on the old CitiBiz TYP card and the $50k CL on the CitiProf card. I'm not sure whether I should consolidate the two CitiBiz cards and move CL from the CitiProf, or just CLR from each card, or just from one card, etc. I want to take advantage of the CL's I have, but want to tread somewhat lightly with Citi as well.

- I've already BT'd over $97k and it looks like I'll be able to BT ~$200k overall while still keeping my overall personal utilization below 50% and no card over 90%.

- BTW, on my application for WAMU, I put my debit card number in for a BT request since I didn't actually have a card to BT from at the time. I called WAMU to find out the BT status and was told they weren't able to BT electronically, so they mailed a check to BoA. I'm curious if it will go through since it may appear as a payment to my debit card.

cyberkost said: Re: above -- this is exactly what happened to me 17 months ago. IIRC, I did not even have to provide WAMU with the address of my bank... The BT money they sent just appeared in my checking account, though it took a bit longer than it would have taken had it been fully electronic transaction.

Sure enough, a $25k credit appeared on my BoA online account statement. I called and verified it was a teller deposit of a check from WAMU. Nice. The only downside is that the teller placed a 7 day hold on half and a 10 day hold on the other half.

- I deposited a few more BT checks and am now up over $157k in BTs processed.

- I called National City this morning to request a BT check be sent to myself. A few hours later I got a "courtesy" call from a National City rep asking if I'd like to take advantage of my 0% BT offer. After telling him that I'd just made a BT request this morning, he asked if I'd like to increase my CL so that I could BT more money, e.g. another check to myself. He said he'd just call down to the credit department and ask them to up my CL, e.g. by $5k. I considered it for a second, but then passed after remembering the conversations I'd had with their credit department recently (mentioned above). I just thought it was interesting how willing they are to get BTs done.

I've been trying to avoid asking the question, because I'm sure I'm missing something, but: Doesn't your BoA card have an uncapped 3% BT fee? That seems to be true of all the cards I can find from them (save NEA and PetRewards), and I just talked to a BoA person who said yes, all other BoA cards have the 3% uncapped fee. When I used BoA for my AOR 1.0 last year there wasn't any such thing, and I used it as my personal little clearing house like I've seen others do, but what am I missing here? I followed the link for your BoA card and it looked like an uncapped 3% fee?

Pangloss1980 said: I followed the link for your BoA card and it looked like an uncapped 3% fee?

Like muratk said, it states "Standard Balance Transfer Fee: None." in the second box. I'm using it as a clearing house as well for those cards that don't have convenience checks. Maybe you were looking at the Cash Advance Fee when you saw 3% uncapped.