This is my attempt at my first AOR, so I am very much open to suggestion and criticism.
FAKO scores 750-780 Credit limits:
Bank of America (All except WA & ID) - Credit Card - BankAmericard Rewards $22,000.00 4 year old Citibank Credit Cards - CitiDiaPref $14,500.00 4 month old. Discover Card - Discover $4,800.00 4 month old. Washington Mutual Credit Card(Formerly Providian) - WaMu Visa $13,500.00 4.5 year old Emigrant Direct (Juniper) Cash Back No preset spending limit. (CL used to be around 12k?) 2 year old Chase card (never used) $1000 1 year old
Credit Cards to consider. Combination of Aquone's AOR and RhizzleBop's AOR. Primary goal is to get 0% BT money & secondary is bonuses.
BANK: CC NAME: BT FEE Months for BT Referal/Bonus
Business:
Advanta Advanta Kiva Business 90 cap 15 CardSelect $50 Advanta Advanta Plat Biz Card with Unlimited 90 Cap 15 Chase Chase Business Rebate Visa 3% 15 CitiBank CitiBusiness® CardTYP 0 12 15K TYP after 1st purchase CitiBank CitiBiz Aa - - 25k AA miles after 750 purch in 4 month. Juniper BankAtlantic Rewards BusinessCar 75 cap 15
Personal:
Boa BoA Platinum 0 12 BOA BOA NEA 30 Max 2% 12 Chase Chase Platinum MC 3% 12 CardSelect $30 CitiBank Citi Professional Card 0 12 15K TYP after 1st purchase CitiBank Citibank Associated 0 12 CitiBank Citi AAdvantage MC - - - 25k AA miles after 750 purch in 4 month. Juniper Juniper National Parks 50 Max 12 Free Gift? USBank US Bank Linux Visa 0 12 (Card Type not chosen yet.)
1)My HHI is 50, but for my mother is also registered in the appartment that I live in. If I add her income, I'd be up to about 120K. Will CC companies request proof of income for the amount of 120k? Does the benefit of showing 120HHI outweigh any potential delays do to income verification?
2)Does the time of day that I do the AOR matter? Should I try to do it all as early in the morning as possible?
3)Are there any good bonus or BT cards that I am missing?
5)The Advanta Kiva & Advanta Platinum seem to have the same terms, should I just choose one, and if so, which one do you recommend?
6)Do I have too strong a focus on any bank (Perhaps Citibank) What should I cut?
7)I verified the terms of the CCS to make sure that they are not changed (as of 2:00 Tuesday)
8)Sorry, this is a bit of a novice question (Yes, I have been reading the AOR posts and FAQ) but are any of the above cards against direct deposit to a checking acc?
9)When I do the AOR, besides saving the terms for each card, is there anything else that I should do? I already have Yodlee set, and will put in automatic payments.
10)If cards refuse to DD to a checking account, what are my options?
11)Has anyone had success getting the CSRs to cap the BT fees? Also, is applying online or over the phone better?
12)Is there anything that I have completely missed? Please point out anything, as I said, this is my first AOR attempt and I am fairly new to the AOR game.
13)I will attempt to maximize the bonuses from Cardselect.com, or cardoffer.com when applying.
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Applied 11-13-2008 No instant approvals.
Update 12/9
1 Business CitiBank CitiBusiness® CardTYP Lost track of this one, either rejected or did not apply for at last minute. 2 Personal Boa BoA Platinum 2500 3 Personal CitiBank Citi Professional Card 15000 4 Personal CitiBank Citibank Associated 15000 5 Personal USBank Baylor Rejected 7 Business Advanta Advanta Kiva Business 5000 6 Personal BOA BOA NEA 26500 (They lowered my existing CL for this one, without even letting me know!!!) 8 Personal Juniper I Fly 2500 9 Business Juniper BankAtlantic Rewards BusinessCard Declined 10 Personal Chase Disney Rewards Visa 3000 11 Personal State Farm State Farm Good Neighbor 8500 CL
I Fly is mostly worthless as they refuse to consolidate the CL with my Emigrant Direct card. Consolidated my chase CL to the Disney card for 6000 total Consolidated remained of BoA CL to NEA card for 30800 CL total Nagged Citi for consolidating CL from my existing citi pref. diamond card to either the Professional or Associated cards. They did not give in stating that the cards are business. I kept pointing out that Professional is a person card, but they claim that it has a different classification in their computer... Changed tactics and called up asking for citi to lower BT fee on my existing citi pref diamond card (4 months old) or to move CL over to one of those two. Associate was unable to do so, but supervisor put in offer of 0 apr 0 bt fee on my diamond pref.
Issues so far: Citi was unable to DD BT funds into my existing citi checking or another account, stating that the cards are new and don't have an existing link...They will have to send me a check, up to 10 business days.
Issue with Experian which delayed the Apporama. I froze Experian before applying, but BoA and Citi denied applications because Experian was frozen. When I called and gave them the pin, they were unable to access the credit profile, it was still coming up as blank. Experian must have messed up with the pin. I was unable to find a live person at Experian, so I had remove the freeze, for which they charged me almost $6. Still can't find a person to speak about that at Experian. All I find are either computer prompts, or people who can't see the information. Once I unfroze, BoA and Citi approved cards.
State Farm is being difficult with their BT, it has to go to a credit, I think I'm going to send it to my Citi card and do another BT from there. Open to suggestions on this.
Things I would have done differently: Apply for more cards. Not be as afraid of multiple applications from the same bank. The I fly card and the Disney card would have been nearly worthless after the BT fee. So looking at the applications, I really ended up with 2 new BoAs, 2 new citis (1 business), 1 advanta business (not very profitable) and one state farm.
Thanks to everyone who contributed and commented on my posts. -Greyrabbit
Message edited by: GreyRabbit on 2008-12-09 16:27:25 CST
10)If cards refuse to DD to a checking account, what are my options?
That's the big question. It used to be that you could launder them through Citi, since Citi provided BT checks on demand. However, I think that attempt is what resulted in Citi closing all my cards recently. I requested a BT check from Citi, then immediately initiated another BT from USBank to Citi with the intention of requesting a third check from Citi once the balance was paid off. Instead, Citi closed all my accounts.
Chase and Barclays LLBean cards came with checks. BoA deposited directly to checking. I am fortunate that I have a Visa from my credit union (USE) which integrates nicely with my checking account; BTs from Discover and BankAtlantic to the Visa (which had no balance) were deposited to my checking account, although USE did put two-week hold on the funds.
Advanta Kiva gave me a lousy $2000 line, as did AMEX Blue. AMEX will no longer reallocate, so unless you plan to use the AMEX card for purchases, it isn't of much use. I'd say don't bother applying for more than one Advanta card, and if you've had one recently, don't bother at all.
Five Citi Cards is probably guaranteed to result in Adverse Action; the reason they cited for closing my accounts was too many recent inquiries on Experian.
1)My HHI is 50, but for my mother is also registered in the appartment that I live in. If I add her income, I'd be up to about 120K. Will CC companies request proof of income for the amount of 120k? Does the benefit of showing 120HHI outweigh any potential delays do to income verification?
I've never been asked to verify income, although other AOR threads indicate that business cards sometimes do ask.
Is there a reason that you chose the Advanta Kiva card? I can't find a current AMEX offer which has 0 apr on BT, all of the ones I've seen are 0 apr on purchases.
If you want good results (approvals and high credit limits), I would wait until your newest accounts are at least 6 months old, or more ideally 12 months old, before doing any new applications.
a) Check Chase terms, the fees probably have no cap, making them unappealing for BTs. b) Only one Advanta card c) If your mom lives with you, then 120k would be a reasonable HHI. If not, it's dodgier. In either situation though, if the credit card company decides to throw a fit, they're probably only going to care about the income of you and your spouse. However, HHI of 120k will yield better results than 50k. d) time of day doesn't really matter. e) BofA can usually ach to a checking account. Chase usually includes a check. Citibank usually lets you request a check. With the others you have to be creative, look at the giant thread.
f) How many inquiries are on your credit reports? The new cards with discover and Citibank might ding you. The new citibank card might specifically hurt your odds of getting more personal citibank cards.
Is there a reason that you chose the Advanta Kiva card? I can't find a current AMEX offer which has 0 apr on BT, all of the ones I've seen are 0 apr on purchases.
Thank you for your reply.
I chose Advanta because they offer good BT terms (15 months and $99 cap), and Kiva because I had the other card before, and I hoped that maybe since the Kiva was new they might want to promote it a little by giving me a higher credit line. No such luck.
I don't think AMEX has any good BTs anymore, and hasn't for awhile. I applied for a Blue card only because I intended to reallocate $25K from a business card to improve my overall utilization, but just days before I made the call, AMEX introduced a new no-reallocation policy.
BTW: AFAIK, Chase's Disney card is the last one with capped BT fees. They only gave me a $7000 credit line, but Chase hasn't liked me since my first AOR in 2006, so you may have better luck.
New card to consider (from Pana's AOR): Personal USBANK Visa® Platinum Card 0 12
I'm not sure if this will conflict with the USBank Linux Visa 0 12 card....
I am going to cut the 3% uncapped cards, which means that I don't have a good Chase card nor an AMEX card... I can't seem to find anything decent out there.
Update: Checked Transunion credit score =749 and 3 inquiries
I'm currently trying to figure out the optimum strategy of getting the Balance transfer money, as some banks won't deposit to checking.
Is it better to apply for the BT right during the application and list a large amount to transfer? Will a large BT (30K+)scare any companies? Or is it better to wait until I am approved and then process the BT?
Still looking for more suggestions and comments! Tentative launch date is either 11/6 or 11/7.
Updated list:
Order of Application Type Bank Name BT FEE Months Referal? Bonus? 1 Business CitiBank CitiBusiness® CardTYP 0 12 15K TYP after 1st purchase 2 Personal Boa BoA Platinum 0 12 3 Personal CitiBank Citi Professional Card 0 12 15K TYP after 1st purchase 4 Personal CitiBank Citibank Associated 0 12 5 Personal USBank US Bank Linux Visa 0 12 Choose which cARD?? 6 Business Advanta Advanta Kiva Business 90 cap 15 CardSelect $50 7 Personal BOA BOA NEA 30 Max 2% 12 8 Personal Juniper Juniper National Parks 50 Max 12 Free Gift? 9 Business Juniper BankAtlantic Rewards BusinessCard 75 cap 15 10 Personal Chase Disney Rewards Visa 3% max 75 12 11 Personal State Farm State Farm Good Neighbor 0 within 90 days 9 12 Personal USBANK Visa® Platinum Card 0 12
I decided to cut both Citi miles cards (personal & business) because I was afraid of having too many citi applications. Now have 3 instead of 5. Does anyone agree or disagree with this?
Does anyone have any comments on my application order?
Should I replace the Citi Associated with a different citi card which will also reward me with more TYP?
GreyRabbit said:Is it better to apply for the BT right during the application and list a large amount to transfer? Will a large BT (30K+)scare any companies? Or is it better to wait until I am approved and then process the BT?
YMMV. I requested a BT for $12K when I applied for Advanta and they gave me a $2500 CL. I requested a $19K BT from Associated during the application process, but after I had been approved, and it was never heard of again. Had to request it again later.
GreyRabbit said:Should I replace the Citi Associated with a different citi card which will also reward me with more TYP?
Definitely apply for Associated. They instantly approved me for $20K and I've seen large CLs in other threads as well. Then they let me reallocate another $25K from AT&T Universal, which is practically unheard of. Of course they eventually closed my account, too.
RudolfSchmidt said: BTW: AFAIK, Chase's Disney card is the last one with capped BT fees. They only gave me a $7000 credit line, but Chase hasn't liked me since my first AOR in 2006, so you may have better luck.
The other Chase card with capped BT fees is the OptionsExpress
Thanks Downhillskier, will add that card to the list.
So my main concern remaining is how to get the BT money. The banks that DD or give checks won't be a problem. For the rest, I'm going to try transfer the balance to a debit card... My debit cards are : Wamu, Chase, Citibank. (I've looked at http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/522179) does anyone have any recent experience with how each of those banks will react to a large credit to the debit card... Am I overlooking a simpler way to get the BT cash?
GreyRabbit said:Thanks Downhillskier, will add that card to the list.
So my main concern remaining is how to get the BT money. The banks that DD or give checks won't be a problem. For the rest, I'm going to try transfer the balance to a debit card... My debit cards are : Wamu, Chase, Citibank. (I've looked at http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/522179) does anyone have any recent experience with how each of those banks will react to a large credit to the debit card... Am I overlooking a simpler way to get the BT cash?Bank Atlantic is the only one on your list needing to be transfered to a 16-digit credit card account number.
All the others will either DD to your checking, provide a BT check, or let you request a BT to virtually anyone you claim to owe money to (I'd just make sure its to someone/someplace with a different last name and different address than yourself).
"or let you request a BT to virtually anyone you claim to owe money to (I'd just make sure its to someone/someplace with a different last name and different address than yourself)."
Like have them deposit it to a friend's account?
Unfortunatly, I don't have anyone with a different last name, who has a bank account to whom I would trust a transfer of like 10k+
Can you clarify a bit of those of us who are a bit dense (me)
GreyRabbit said:"or let you request a BT to virtually anyone you claim to owe money to (I'd just make sure its to someone/someplace with a different last name and different address than yourself)."
Like have them deposit it to a friend's account?
Unfortunatly, I don't have anyone with a different last name, who has a bank account to whom I would trust a transfer of like 10k+
Can you clarify a bit of those of us who are a bit dense (me)
Thank you.They will send a check to anyone/anyplace you specify - you need a name the check is payable to, an address to send it, and an 'account number' to identify who the payment is from. So dont try to be creative, just think about it. An Aunt, Cousin, Grandparent, etc? If your bank accepts deposits-by-mail, you can even give the bank's address and your account number (esp if the bank is local and you can give them a heads-up that a large check will be coming for you).
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