Jackcrawfish Encore AOR 2.0 | Grouped by Bureau - Experian Frozen - Reward Checking IN USE

From your description of the US Bank persons' description, it almost sounds like she's trying to "reconcile" inquiries, either TU/EX/EQ inquiries against ICS, or just inquiries against your new accounts. Likely it's just poor communication. Slim chance it's a very worrying level of thoroughness.

ICS is the cra I was talking about, seems to be getting alot more use by banks.

bas2000 said:
I also applied for the Discover card to get the free DigiCam and 0% BT. I already have 2 Discover Cards for ~$20k combined CL which is very low! They called me today wanting to verify employment to give me $8k credit limit. I asked if they were joking and why they were wasting my time. I told them I'm not faxing a W2 in and NO you're not calling HR. $8k CL is a joke!! I ended up having them move $14K CL from another Discover CC to the new one so I can do 0% BT I have always hated Discover card for how they treated me when I was a college student. I never use their CC and will only use them for 0% BT or free stuff.

Compared to my other Credit Cards, a $30K CL is low so I don't know what these CC Companies are thinking offering less than $10K CL on new cards to me. This just shows how much Discover sucks!!

Does Discover always call you to process the applications?
If so, do they always ask for the physical, hard verifications of the income/employment/address and so on?
Looks like a very old-fasioned way let alone inefficient.

So another story about Discover...
My wife's first card was a Discover, they gave her a $1000 CL while she was in college. We didn't think anything of it until I started to apply to some Citi and Chase cards to do BTs. We figured this was a better way to owe money than to pay the bank interest on our car. So after we both graduate and get jobs, our HHI jumps from almost nothing to 100+k. I use this opportunity to ask for CL increases on all our cards. Chase brings me up to 22k. Citi increases all my cards to 25k, 10k, and 15k. AMEX goes up to 16k; I suspect they'd give me more, but that's all I asked for.

Discover gives us a mind boggling 2,200... To makes matters worse, I decide to apply for my own Discover at this time, and I get DECLINED!!! Oh, and their reason for not increasing my wife's card further? She doesn't use it enough... Well no $*&#. It's a 2K limit! We're worried about maxing it every time we take it out...

BTW, this didn't stop me from applying to them in my recent AOR and getting 10k for personal, and 10k for biz. But unlike Chase, Citi, and others, I almost never use Discover simply because a 2k limit just isn't enough for an everyday card.

It just strikes me as dumb that Discover would give such a small CL, and then cite lack of usage as a reason to deny a CL increase. Seems like a self fulfilling prophecy to me.

In my AOR, I got a call for the biz asking me a bunch of questions like why do you need a biz card now, about previous biz cards, and about what my biz does. The personal got canceled by mistake, and took a call to get it approved. They said that if I was willing to mail in a proof of income, I could get the CL increased above the 10k they gave me initially.

lhendricks92 said: althes said: ICS is the cra I was talking about, seems to be getting alot more use by banks.Details? The only FI I know that uses ICS (or at least denies based on ICS) is FNBO/Infibank.I too am curious, althes ... is there hard evidence?

FWIW, I called USBank "investigative services" this morning (aka verifications dept @866-268-7231).

I called regarding of their "100 applications at your address" concern mentioned yesterday (8/20/2008). After being on hold for 14 minutes, they told me my application has been forwarded to underwriting. I asked specifically whether an ICS report was the source of information used in underwriting USBank applications. The rep did not know. After checking with another person (another 4 minute hold), she came back with "what is it again you're asking for?" After re-explaining what an ICS report is, she quipped, "well...your already being approved so I don't understand your question"

I gave up... Sorry FW, I could not verify whether USBank uses ICS reports for verification and/or underwriting...

Also, how long should I wait before reallocating CL between cards? Do I wait to activate the cards, or can I just start doing it now.

Ok, that sounds like a solid plan. What about others? USBank, Juniper, etc. Also consolidate over to biz and do the BT from there? Should I just close the personals after moving the CL over? Since they are brand new cards, it would be more beneficial to my report if they just don't exist?

US Bank is interesting for me. The biz had a 6 month 0% while the personal is 12 month. Biz had a 10k higher CL. On one hand the total CL is better on the biz, on the other the term is better on the personal. Even if I transfer from biz to personal, I would have to play it safe and only use 49% of the CL. I might just do a BT on both in that case.

called Credit department for USBank... approved me for 8,000... I was told not for more due to amount of current available credit on my report.

Bank Atlantic recap:
......Day 1

• I closed exising Bank Atlantic card (29k line) leaving a 13k balance
  
• I applied and was immediately denied for new Bank Atlantic card (too much available credit with Barclays) NOTE: no credit report was pulled - the app was halted in the process
  
• I called Barclays credit to move 15k of old Bank Atlantic credit line to personal Juniper National Park line (from 1k to 16k). Rep said after balance is paid off, the rest of the line ($14k) can be moved to personal.
  Day 2
• I called Barclays credit and rep offered to move $15k personal line in order to approve Bank Atlantic app (inquiry on TU with this approval).
  
• I paid off remaining old Bank Atlantic card balance (now $14k credit line available to reallocate to personal)
  
• For a data point, I applied for a Juniper Biz card (13 mo BT promo) and was immediately declined for "Sufficient credit is available on your account issued by Barclays Bank Delaware"
  Day 3
• I called to move the remaining and now available $14k credit line from old Bank Atlantic to Juniper National Park card. Rep put in for submission to 'business card analyst' because regular credit reps cannot see those cards.
  Day 4
• With increase to Juniper National Park card now viewable online, I called back and asked to move $14k of the National Park card to my recent Juniper Biz card application for approval. Rep said, "I was not previously aware of this but you cannot have more than one business card account per social security number. We do not offer cards for LLCs - we underwrite using SS#." With 20 minutes left in their business day, I requested the $14k be moved instead to the existing Bank Atlantic business card. (I will update this post tomorrow and let you know whether all got moved)
  Day 5
• National Park card shows new credit line of just $1k. It appears that the new Bank Atlantic card approved as part of this encore AOR2.0 finally has a credit line of $29k ($15k to open + $14k reallocated)

Don't do things the way I did... this sucked. Instead, follow markkundinger's easy Barclay Bank Atlantic 2nd card process below

Good data point, but why oh why did you transfer credit bank to the bankatlantic card, when you can only have one biz cardSorry if I wasn't completely clear. I transferred personal credit back to the new Bank Atlantic card - not the old, closed, spent-my-0% card. It was my 2nd such transfer (the 1st transfer of credit was to gain approval, the 2nd was to move the rest of the available line)Are you high?With your interpretation of the events, I would think I was high too.

your steps mentioned are ideal:

• Reallocate Bank Atlantic biz to the personal card
  
• close the Bank Atlatic biz card
  
• then get a new business card (Bank Atlantic or Juniper Biz)
  
• Reallocate from personal to business.

I called Wachovia again to try and obtain a credit line for my approval...(I called 2 days earlier and was told it was approved).

I was transferred this time to the credit department (direct line = 866-900-0662).

Credit rep said denied: TOO MANY RECENT TRADELINES OPENED IN 2007.

I told her they were all over 12 months old now (13 ) but that didn't seem to make a difference. I asked whether an application for a business credit card wouldyield the same results and she only offered me their number to apply...

She also said the only bureau they use is EQ (so plan your AORs accordingly)

UnixLab said: Today Bank Atlantic biz card shows up in my personal credit report, only on EQ.
anyone ?Not for me through CreditSecure this morning.

FROM OP:Barclays advised me that a closed Bank Atlantic card with a balance still owing would report to my personal credit report.Do you carry a balance?
Is your card closed?
Are you late?
Are you OCL?
Are you late on any other Barclays lines?
Are you the only user of the card or are there other authorized users?

markkundinger said: Thanks for guinea pigging, Jack, let us know how it works.

And next time you're talking to them, see if you can ask, theoretically, about reallocating from a barclay's biz card to another barclay's biz card.During my most recent call they said she can't move line from a closed biz card to an open biz card.... YMMV but I hope Squeezer tries it

jackcrawfish said: I called Wachovia
She also said the only bureau they use is EQ

Thanks jack for that data point.

There seem to be fewer FI running anything but EX these days. Good info.

Ok, I got one of my 1st new CC in the mail today from my min AOR. It's a Bank of America AMEX w/ $14K CL (World points = yuk). 0% APY BT until Sept 2009. The problem is there's a 3% BT fee on it with no cap If I BT $12k, that's $360

I believe one of the best rates we can currently get is from WAMU since they just came out with a 5% CD for 12 months. Some banks will possibly match them such as IndyMac and FlagStar.

Any advice on what you guys are doing for the Credit Cards that offer 0% APY but have a 3% BT fee with no cap? Are you just not taking advantage of the BT they offer? I also applied for some cards that max the BT Fee at $75 to $99.

As always, thanks for any advice

Cheers

bas2000 said: Any advice on what you guys are doing for the Credit Cards that offer 0% APY but have a 3% BT fee with no cap? Dont apply for them......

Bummer that you didn't get much net new credit limit, but at least you have the no-fee card to work with (that plus direct deposit BT capability will help if you need to launder another BT or two)

misc

• approved 9k for chase biz with same rep on the phone, I consolidated my existing CHASE Biz ($14.8k)...new line = 23.8k(two personal apps still pending)
  
• iberia still pending (Kiley answered the phone again 501-661-7379)
  
• consolidated ($2k) CITI UPromise to ($14k) Associated card (it was reps' virgin journey regarding consolidation - showed up immediately)
  
• req $7k BT from USBank to checking (I said that i had a LOC balance to payoff)
  
• req BT checks from Discover
  

edit: added CHASE consolidation data point

Jack, what phone # did you go with for the Citi reall? And I thought I heard a rumor of someone doing a personal->biz reall - that's surely too good to be true? Good job on the personal reall though.

jackcrawfish said: The USBank rep was very clear that I could not BT straight to a checking or savings account. I said that I had a line of credit account to payoff:

• ING Direct,fsb
  
• po box 60
  
• St Cloud, MN 55555