I am longtime reader of Fatwallet finance, but this is my first post.
Small Introduction
Before I started reading Fatwallet finance, I was very conservative with my finances and very skeptical to purchase anything using credit cards (I always thought, people will spend more if they use credit cards). My perception towards credit cards changed after reading the success stories and how you guys are able to benefit from credit cards and in general money management. Based on all the reading, Last year I have done a very small AOR with just 3 cards, which earned me about $700 in interest. I have also financed part of my oversees home mortgage using the 2.99% fixed for life of balance using Chase Freedom card (Currently I am paying 11% on my oversees home mortgage ). This helped me to reduce the amount of I pay in interest by more then half over the life of the loan.
I am planning to do a small AOR to get some additional money, which I am planning to use for my Vacation next year. Below are my details
Age 34 HHI - 80K No Mortgage in USA. SCORES
DateServicetuexeq
07/08/2008 CitiIDMonitor 693 713 720
07/29/2008 Chase Id Pro 685 695 720
INQUIRIES
TransUnion 07/09/2008 TRANS UNION
Equifax 06/12/2008 AT&T SRVS
TransUnion 05/28/2008 FIRST USA NA
Equifax 07/22/2007 FIRST USA
TransUnion 07/21/2007 US BANK
TransUnion 07/21/2007 BK OF AMER
TransUnion 03/16/2007 FIRST USA NA
Experian 01/08/2007 TRANSUNION RESID CR SO
TransUnion 01/08/2007 TU MRTG DPT
TransUnion 11/18/2006 CITI
I don't have any Mortgage in USA. I don't know why I have this enquiry TransUnion 01/08/2007 TU MRTG DPT
ACCOUNTS
PersonalLimitBalance
Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards 9.5k Daily use
Citi Platinum AMEX 15.5k 0
BoA
Platinum Plus 10.2k 0
US Bank
Platinum Card 11.5k 0
Chase
Freedom Visa 21.5k 18k (2.99% fixed for life).
Freedom Master 2k 0 (Recently reallocated to Freedom Visa Original 5000)
Platinum 2k 0 (Recently Reallocated to Freedom Visa - Original 9000)
Discover
Regular Card 7k Daily use
Credit card from local credit union 1k 0 (This is my oldest card from 2001
Store Cards
JC Penny 500 0
Macy's Visa 6.5k 0
Kohl’s 1k 0
Mervyns 200 0
Any suggestions in making my AOR successful are really appreciated.
Thanks to jackcrawfish for the format and some apps. Thanks in advance to everyone for their suggestions. Updated with one more card info which I forgot in my initial list.
I have a comment about your Chase cards. Why keep the remaining 2000 each on the Master and Platinum version if you are not using it anyway. Right now your utilization ratio on the Freedom Visa is 83%. If you reallocated 1800 each from the other two chase cards to make your total line 25.1k, the ratio goes down to 71%. It won't make a huge dent on your score just by this, but given that you are gonna AOR soon, every little improvement in credit score helps.
I wouldn't advise you to do a AOR unless you are preparing to lower your utilization on your Chase Freedom Card closed to 0%. Issuers esp. in this credit crunch enviroment will not like what they see in your credit report. Try to change this personal card to Business Card by calling Chase and then make sure it's not reported on your report any more. Other than that try limiting cards to no more than 5 as Citi is now taking AA on seeing so many inquiries on one's cerdit card.
I have also financed part of my oversees home mortgage using the 2.99% fixed for life of balance using Chase Freedom card (Currently I am paying 11% on my oversees home mortgage ). This helped me to reduce the amount of I pay in interest by more then half over the life of the loanBooyah!
How recent did you reallocate your two CHASE cards to this fixed for life CHASE? Reason I ask? If the utilization hasn't yet reported to the bureau, fire your AOR immediately. As JuNooNi eluded to, your scores are marginally adequate AOR material (I suspect the CHASE utilization is showing).
How old are your existing accounts?
kkumar
New Member
posted: Aug. 1, 2008 @ 10:55a
To answer the questions. I have completed the CHASE reallocation in May (Offer was expiring in june. So I had to take it). Chase balance is showing in the credit reports now. I have some extra cash (about 5K) which I can use to pay off part of the balance on Chase. Do you guys think it will help ?
I have updated my OP. The oldest account is from 2001.
My recommendation would be to first pay your chase freedom down to 49% utilization (or about $10,500) when you can, and wait for that balance to report on all three of your credit reports prior to pulling the trigger on any additional applications. You will get much better results if you do that, IMO.
Also waiting for your newest opened account to be at least 6 months old (or longer... ideally 12 months) will also help a lot. You haven't really made clear how old your newest account is, but I'm guessing you might not be there yet.
Consider also performing soft pull CLIs, especially with your BoA card (I'll bet they would match other largest lines and give you 25k if you played it right) and wait for that to report prior to performing your new credit account applications. You will get your best CLI results also after paying down your freedown utilization and waiting for it to report.
kkumar
New Member
posted: Aug. 1, 2008 @ 2:40p
Thanks jakeru. To Answer your questions
my last CC application was in July 2007. I have not applied any CCS after that. My latest inquires TransUnion 07/09/2008 TRANS UNION ---------> I don't know what this is for?? Equifax 06/12/2008 AT&T SRVS ------> This is for AT&T DSL connection. TransUnion 05/28/2008 FIRST USA NA ---------> This is from request for Chase CLI.
I will pay down some of the amount on my Chase Freedom in next month or two and will check back.
Also I will request soft CLI with BoA.
Thank you again for the suggestions.
kkumar
New Member
posted: Aug. 20, 2008 @ 3:08p
Today, I have noticed an unusual drop in my credit score. There are no changes in my credit report. I am checking the scores using Chase ID Protection
Scores as of 08/15/08
Date Service tu ex eq
08/15/08 Chase Id Pro 685 695 720
08/20/08 Chase Id Pro 618 644 653
no late payments, no new credit cards.
Any Idea what might have triggred to lower my scores? Thanks for the help
1) charge-off...(unlinkely) 2) paid in full for less than full balance (ie, settlement) (more likely) 3) updated credit lines sometimes take a long time to report. your two chase reallocations updated to the credit agencies (most likely)
kkumar
New Member
posted: Aug. 20, 2008 @ 3:40p
The Chase reallocations were showing before 08/15/08 also. There were no settlements. I have no balances other then 18K on Chase.
Anyways, This week I have paid 9K out of 18K . Will have to check how this effects the score.
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