I am closing My AOR and my wife's AOR very soon (mine first). Man have I been itching for AOR 2.0. The net totals between the 2 AOR's are about 18K in interest + sign on bonus's + retention bonus's, + the final interest to come. Overall worth it and even with current rates worth re-uping.

Things I have learned from the first AOR:
1. After being nervous, it was really pretty easy.
2. Autopay made it simple for 36 payments and I had to manually remember 4 (2 citi business, 2 advanta)
3. I should have maximized my CD's time because of the falling interest rates. I made a spread sheet of all of the paybacks about 1/2 way through that gave me a $ total of the money due each month. Wish I had done it before setting the conservative CD time. See the attached spreadsheet for how I now calculate payback amount.
4. 15 month cards are semi a waste along with waiting until AFTER the statement cycle closes to pay off the balances because they are delaying AOR 2.0. There is a point of diminishing returns (assuming a successful re-up) and I passed it.
5. Large numbers no longer bother me... 38K, 70K, 15K payments, no biggie...
6. Adverse action.... I went over 90% on my cards and experienced a little (Citi, lowered lines, Juniper lowered lines, AMEX lowered lines) and all were returned except AMEX. Overall was it worth it? YES!! I would have sacrificed ~10K in interest staying at 50%. Worth the ~4 hours spent arguing, you bet.
7. Ask about the date of the 0% expiration, then ask again, then ask a month later. I bet you get 3 different dates as the date approaches. I know I did on multiple cards.

Closing plans for AOR 1.0

1. Pay off US bank 8K about a month early to totally clean my credit report -> EDIT: This took over a month to clear!!!
2. Credit report should be clear about 11-15-08 -> EDIT: Try 12/15/08
3. Call AMEX on principle and get my Blue cash line repaired w/o hard pull -> EDIT: failed on this
4. Sign up for some credit monitoring service now that PM 123 has expired.
5. Close and CLR, Bank Atlantic, Discover Miles, Citi Professional, BOA platinum, Advanta for new apps.

Generic plans for AOR 2.0

1. BT money of course.
2. Hit chase and others for some free miles and freebies. -> EDIT: Chase only allows one app per 6 month period now.
3. Look for some freebies now that interest rates are low. Limit is $100 per application on the low end.
4. No AMEX apps! They just lowered my wifes line (11=6-08) from 17K to 1K on a card that has been active a year and paid off for 6 months. All of her payoffs are within the next 20 days. I'm not going to waste an experian INQ on these guys for a denial.

Changes from 1.0
1. Limit the cards down, I no longer need a ton of cards because of existing lines (assuming successful CLR)
2. Hit Chase and succeed. EDIT: one app only no success
3. No bumpage, no freezes. Take the INQ's like a man because bumping seems about dead and I am not paying for 10 services to accomplish it.
4. More business cards.
5. CLR to business BEFORE transfer. Hide as much as possible.

Bank		Card		Open Date	Line (K)Owed (K)Notes
Personal			
AMEX		Blue Cash	2003		0.5	0	** was 31K before Adverse Action
BOA		Rewards		2006		0.5	0	
HSBC		Rewards		2006		25	0.5	Gas and grocery card
Citi		Diamond		2003		2.5	0	
Citi		Pro		2006		10	0	CLR -> New Card and closed
BOA		Fidelity 	2005		20.1	2	daily spender
Discover	platinum	2000		7.5	0.4	5% cash bonus
Citi		Drivers Edge	8/17/2007	10	0	Took the cl buydown expecting $550 for 6K cl
Citi		Pro Cash	8/17/2007	70	0.4	paid CLR -> New Card and closed
BOA		Platinum Plus	8/17/2007	38.5	0	CLR -> New Card
US Bank		Platinum Plus	8/17/2007	11.5	0	CLR -> New Card and closed
US Bank 	Baylor		8/17/2007	18	0	CLR -> New Card 7.5K
Juniper		Parks		8/17/2007	5	0	CLR -> BA Biz Card and closed
Discover	CB Bonus	8/17/2007	15	0	
Wamu		Platinum	8/17/2007	5	0	
		
Business		
Citi 		Business TYP	8/17/2007	7.5	0	
Chase 		Business TYP	8/17/2007	35	0	
NC		Small Business	8/17/2007	23	0	
Juniper		Bank Atlantic	8/17/2007	24	0	
Advanta		Business	8/17/2007	10	0	

Total Personal Lines:239.1K
Total Business Lines:99.5K

HHI: $210K
AGE: 31
Mortgage 1 House $~120K of $189K original balance opened in 2003
Mortgage 2 HELOC 30K limit 0 balance opened in 2006

Debt is normal monthly charges
FAKO scores
Date	TU	inq	Debt	EX	inq	Debt	EQ	inq	Debt
11/5	751	3	46K	754	6	46K	767	1	46K
11/10	751	3	9K	757	6	9K	791	1	9K
12/15	774	3	2K	773	7	2K	791	1	2K
12/16	774	3	2K	771	7	2K	778	1	2K (true credit)
12/18	781	4	4K	781	7	4K	790	9	4K  (credit secure)
1/18	747	6	44K	738	7	44K	738	9	44K  (credit secure)
FICO Scores (From WAMU)
November 725 Revolving Debt 45-49K
December 762 Revolving Debt 12-14K (US Bank balance still showing)
January 781 Revolving Debt 3-4K

Applications with links :

Bank		Type		Card Name		BT fee	BT Term	Bonus		Fee	App Cash
Citi		Business	CitiBusiness  		0	12	15K typ			
Advanta 	Business	Platinum Rewards	90	15				$50 / CS
Juniper		Business	Bank Atlantic          	75	15	
Chase		Business	United Milage Plus			20K miles	75
			
											
Citi		Personal	Associated		0	12				
BOA		Personal	Platinum Plus®		0	12				
US Bank 	Personal	Linux			0	12				
Citi		Personal	Professional		0	12	15K typ	
Chase		Personal	Disney			75	12
Chase		Personal	OptionsExpress		75	12
NC		Personal	Life Springs		0	6
Fifth third	Personal	Targeted-Platinum	0	12					
Chase		Personal	United Milage				25K miles	60

Results with order of application and bureau pull

Bank	Card		Type		Status	Bureau	Line
BOA	Platinum	Personal	DA	EX,EQ	15K from other card -> CLR to 38.4k 
Juniper	Bank Atlantic	Business	DDA	TU	Called after denial and old line was restored 20K 
Citi	Associated	Personal	IA	EQ	25K
Citi	Professional	Personal	DA	EQ	CLR -> 80K
Citi	Business TYP	Business	D	NA	Require audited financial statements.  Letting go
53	Platinum	Personal	DA	EQ	5K	
Chase	Disney		Personal	DA	TU	9K
US Bank	Linux		Personal	DA	EQ	5K ->clr 25K Worthless 5k	
Advanta	Business	Business	DA	EQ	2.5K (whoppee)	
Chase	United		Personal	DD	EQ	One app per 6 month
Chase	United		Business	DD	EQ	One app per 6 month
NC	Life Springs	Personal	DA	TU	12.5K 

Answered questions:
Closing new cards and CLR before close: (Discussed below) Does anyone have any factual statistics on how it will hurt your credit score if you CLR the lines then close? I have multiple cards and multiple lines and do not think it will thin my credit file that much. Discover was a total pain because I already had one personal card with them last AOR. I think I will close and CLR my Citi pro card and reopen it for the bonus.

Bumping: Is it still worth it? (Discussed Below) I really don't want to shell out for a ton of services. What is the minimum maximum? IE how many services do I need for how long?

Any other good cards that I missed and someone can point me to, I would appreciate it. Found this awesome link on 0% cards and free offers

BTW, save the attached file as an .xlsx file. It switched it to a zip on upload

New Learnings:

1. Citi will only allow one professional card now (I have 2 currently) but will allow closure and reopening with line transfers.

2. Citi is asking for business verification (1040 etc) on business apps currently

3. Chase will now only do one application per 6 months so pick one and go for it.

4. Bank Atlantic Biz denied me and I had to call to get my original line restored (better than Advanta)

5. Spanning Christmas and New Years delayed everything greatly.

6. Bank Atlantic will only do 20K/BT, thus making my additional 5k CLR worthless.

7. Even though Chase only allows one app per 6 months, they will pull your credit every time! 2 wasted hard pulls.

8. Chase used to allow CLR from personal to business (and I assumed the reverse), it is not true any more. I have a 35K line on business that I can't CLR to my personal card.

Summary:

How I got the cash:
BOA Platinum -> DD to checking 38.3K
Citi Associated -> issued check with card 24.9K
Advanta -> $50 from CS and cancelled
NC Life Springs -> Check to me 12.4K
53 platinum -> Launder through Associated 4.9K
US Bank -> Launder through BOA 24.9K
Bank Atlantic -> Launder through BOA 20K
Citi Professional -> Check to me 79.9K
Chase -> Check with card 8.9K

Projected BT money:

Personal:
12 month: 181.8K
6 month: 12.4K

Business
15 month: 20K

Bonus's
$150 GC via TYP
$50.00 CS bonus

Fees:
$150 BT

I was able to CLR from Diamond to Professional on my last AOR. I'll see about it on the new AOR if Citi has become an issue. Which services did you use for bumpage? I might try if it is a month and only 3 services.

Wait, Chase didn't zap you last time? Wow.

Anyway, regarding closure, I would guess your credit report is plenty "thick", so worry about age. Your accounts will have an average credit age.

If you close accounts older than the average age, it will hurt you

If you close accounts newer than the average age, and reallocate the limit elsewhere, it will help you.

the garmin from discover is dead, sorry.
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/831034

People have been doing Chase Disney or OptionsXpress (personal) for capped 0% deals.

dmlavigne1 said:Also, any National City cards still at a 12/0 bt?Have not been able to find any NC 12/0, 6/0 is the best so far.

I think it is a specific card to card. I had no problem CLR on the professional side.

markkundinger thanks for the chase cards. I will add them shortly. I'll probably do one.

I still need to find the following:
1. Chase business capped
2. Discover business capped
3. Discover personal capped (if #2 is unavailable)
4. NC personal and business (hopefully longer than 6 months)
5. Bonus cards to get the bonus and to clr.

DM, for bumpage I did Credit Karma (free), AMEX CS (paid for two months), True Credit (paid for one month), Chase ID (I paid for one month, but it got refunded when I canceled).

I also did a seven day trial on PM 123, signed up for a free trial of EQ Gold (3 month trial) and citi ID (got a pull or two from each). I also hunted did my annual report checks, and a few disputes, and opened a few bank accounts that I knew did soft pulls. It took me just about a month to bump my EQ clean, less for TU.

I am certain that Citi wouldn't let me shift from Professional to my driver's edge card. As far as biz to biz, I remember the first reason was that the cards were in different company names. But after I requested a name change form, I was reletively certain that the rep said that CLR to a 0% card was still prohibited. Maybe it's a change in policy, which would be great since I have 40 grand sitting idle on various Citi Cards, including 20 on a buisiness card.

any app date yet? It'll be interesting to see how you do since the credit markets are changing almost daily.

Chase cut my 3 biz cards to the current balance within the last week, I have about 5K of 200K on my personal report. 770 TU fico and 730 experian fico.

AMEX cut my lines a few months ago, but they've always been $hit!

Good luck