FirstNational's 2008 App-O-Slamma-Jamma II

PRE-AOR (Card – CL – Bal – Util):

Personal
AMEX Optima Platinum - 2700 - 0.00 - 0%
AMEX Blue - 25K - 0.00 - 0%
AMEX - 25K - 0.00 - 0%
AMEX Blue Cash - 20K - 0.00 - 0%
AMEX Clear - 8300 - 0.00 - 0%
Bank of Albuquerque Visa - 500.00 - 0.00 - 0%
B of A Visa - 2K - 0.00 - 0%
B of A Visa - 8K - 0.00 - 0%
B of A Visa - 20K - 0.00 - 0%
B of A Visa - 2K - 0.00 - 0%
B of A MC - 3700 - 0.00 - 0%
B of A MC - 24K - 0.00 - 0%
Cap One - 500 - 0.00 - 0%
Chase Visa - 2600 - 0.00 - 0%
Citi MC - 6K - 0.00 - 0%
Citi MC - 4600 - 0.00 - 0%
Citi MC - 4600 - 0.00 - 0%
Frost Visa - 7700 - 0.00 - 0%
HSBC MC - 600 - 0.00 - 0%
Juniper MC - 10,100 - 0.00 - 0%
NFCU Line Of Credit - 15K - 0.00 - 0%
NFCU Visa - 50K - 752.30 - 2%
USAA AMEX - 17K - 16,330.00 - 96%
USAA MC - 35K - 0.00 - 0%
USAA MC - 25K - 0.00 - 0%
Total Personal - 319,300 - 17,082.30 - 5%

Business#1
Citi MC - 16,100 - (250.74) - (2%)

Business2
AMEX - 12K - 10,941.72 - 91%
Chase Visa - 30K - 9,191.43 - 31%
Citi MC - 25K - 0.00 - 0%

Total Business - 83,100 - 19,882.41 - 24%

Grand Total - 402,400 - 36,964.71 - 9%

Note: the USAA AMEX above is a 0% no-fee BT I got from a mail offer. I might have done better by paying it off, but I knew I wouldn’t be applying for new credit from USAA, and it’s rare to get a no-fee deal these days, so I decided to keep it.

11/14/08 FICO avg: 769
INCOME: $200K

GOALs:
1. Maximize BT arbitrage profit.
2. Get long 0% purchase lines.
2. No annual fees so I can keep these cards in my sock drawer indefinitely.
3. Only apply online.

NOTES:
2nd AOR, 2 years after the first.

Prepared by prioritizing cards based on rate, length of time, bonus, all in a spreadsheet with links for speed. 2 per issuer, picking only the best deals and trying to add some issuers that I don’t have cards with yet, like Nationwide, Advanta, etc.

Used RoboForm and queued up apps using FireFox tabs. Some links from CreditCards.com that I saved were dead the next day. But some of them worked, particularly the Advanta ones.

D-Day was Black Friday 2008, 11/28/08. The process took about 90 minutes.

Card (Balance Transfer deal, Purchase deal, BT fee) <-status (none of these have an annual fee)

• Personal (14):

BofA
Pet Rewards Platinum Plus Visa (0%BT6mo,0%pchse6mo,NOBTFEE) <-instant appr $25K
NOTE:It took ~ an hour talking with customer service to convince them that there was no BT fee.
(FIA) Mercedes Benz Platinum Plus Visa(0%BT6mo,NOBTFEE) <-deferred,declined(total CL with BofA too high)
Accelerated Rewards AMEX(0%BT12mo,0%pchse6mo,3%/$99)<-deferred,declined(total CL with BofA too high)

Chase
Disney Rewards Visa (0%BT12mo,0%pchse12mo,3%/$75) <-deferred,approved

Citi
Platinum Select MC (0%BT12mo,0%pchse12mo,3%) <-instant appr $12K
NOTE: Because no BT cap, planning to use for purchases)
Citi CashReturns MC (0%BT12mo,NA,3%) <-instant appr $7300
NOTE: Lots of Cash Back deals, would be good after 0% pchse runs out on above)

Key Bank
Platinum Visa/MC(0%BT12mo,NA,3%/$75)<-deferred, appr $20,000
NOTE: Initiate BT anytime in 1st 12 mo, then it’s 0% for 12mo, so good ‘sleeper’ BT card.
Platinum with Rebates Visa/MC(0%BT12mo,NA,3%/$75)<-deferred,declined multi-apps

National City
Life Spring Visa(0%BT6mo,NOBTFEE)<-deferred,declined +inq+existingCL

Nationwide
Visa (0% Auto Repair Pchse 12mo, 1% CashBack)<-deferred,declined(+inq,employment?)

Pulaski
Visa Gold (0%BT6mo,0%pchse6mo,0%)<-deferred,declined, +inq's+availCL

Sun Trust
Platinum Visa(0%BT6mo,0%pchse6mo,3%/$75)<-deferred,declined +inq's

USBank
Irish Visa Platinum(0%BT12mo,0%pchse12mo,NOFEE)<-deferred,approved $25K
Linux Visa Platinum(0%BT12mo,0%pchse12mo,NOFEE)<-deferred,approved $25K

• Business #1 (LLC, mainly real estate sales right now, no revenue, just started this year):

Advanta
Customizable Platinum BusinessCard with Unlimited Rewards(0%BT15mo,NA,3%/$90)<-inst approved $2500
Platinum 90-Day Interest Free Businesscard(non-intro 90-day grace period on purchases)<-deferred, declined due to multi-apps
NOTE: Interesting idea, will probably just use for re-allocation of CL.

Bank Atlantic/Juniper/Barclays
Rewards Business MC(0%BT13mo,3%/$99)<-deferred,declined +inq's

Capital One
Business Platinum with No Hassle Cash(0%BT to 01/2010,0%pchse to 01/2010,3%)<inst approved $5K
Business Platinum with Preferred No Hassle Miles(0%BT to 01/2010, 0%pchse to 01/2010,3%)<-inst declined

Citi
CitiBusiness Visa with Thank You Network(0%pchse12mo,10Kpts after $250pchse=$100gift card)<-deferred,DECLINED 11/29 TOO MANY RECENT INQ
CitiBusiness AT&T Universal Business Rewards(0%BT12mo,points for AT&T pchses,3%/$99)<-deferred,DECLINED 11/29 MULTI APPS w/i 90 DAYS

Nationwide Bank
Business Platinum Visa(0%BT9mo,3%CashBack office supplies/gas 1%other, 3%/$75)<-deferred,declined(+INQ,employment?)

I also opened a business MMA for this entity with ING at 2.8%

• Business #2 (LLC, retail operation run by a relative, $108K revenue, just over 1 year old):

Advanta
Kiva BusinessCard(0%BT15mo,3%/$90)<-deferred, declined(multi-app)

Bank of America
Platinum Plus for Business MC(0%BT9mo,0%pchse9mo,3%)<-deferred,appr $10.5K

Instant Approved Personal (CL): $44,300

Instant Approved Business (CL): $5,000

Summary as of 12/04/08:
Total New Lines: ( $124,200 personal, $18,000 business)
Total New CL: $142,200
Bonuses: $0
New total CL: $547,600
FICO avg 11/14/08: 769
FICO avg 12/01/08: 764 (-5)
FICO avg 01/21/09: 694 (-75)
FAKO 11/29/08: TU-750 EX-668 EQ-741 <-10 inq's hit TU/EX on 11/29
FAKO 11/29/08: TU-765 EX-658 EQ-736 <-inq's dropped of TU and EQ!
FICO 12/01/08: TU-776 EX-720 EQ-796 <-inq's back on TU AVG=764

BT Cash:
1. BofA Pet Rewards Visa: $49K ($25K new CL, re-allocated to $62.5K then BT'd <80%)
2. Chase Disney Rewards Visa: $9.4K ($9.9K new CL)
3. USBank Linux Visa: $24,950
4. USBank AOH Visa: $24,950
Total as of 12/12: $108,300

Lessons Learned:
1.I think it would be a good idea to save all of the terms sheets for future reference.
2.I want to find ways to take advantage of 0% purchase offers using more than just my personal or business expenses.

you are crazy for trying to do an AOR now...lol.
Banks are being super stingy with limits...

Green for being ballsy!

Green for you, OP, in particular for great detail.

Hope you do OK with the deferreds. As I was reading, I noticed a lot of small CLs. My first impression was that there were too many of them. Do you keep them because of their age (which benefits your FICO)?

If not, any reason you haven't consolidated more (as it appears you could)?

Dude no Bank Atlantic Biz card?

Apply quick.

markkundinger said: Dude no Bank Atlantic Biz card?

Apply quick.

Thanks, good one. I tried, but I know a bunch of inquiries hit already, so we'll see.

OP, that Nationwide Bank offer is new to me. Do they lend in all 50 states? Any other FWFers with experience with them?

FirstNational said: markkundinger said: Dude no Bank Atlantic Biz card?

Apply quick.

Thanks, good one. I tried, but I know a bunch of inquiries hit already, so we'll see.

you won't get it. you already applied for a Barclay's business card, and Barclay's only allows one Business card per SSN.

JAGLUR said: They are TU puller exclusively and TU inq you put up on 28th will all go away temporarily within 24hours for about a day. In other words, your TU will have no inquiries at some point of 29th.
Time to monitor and pull the trigger again. It won't last for ever

Pretty smooth, Jaglur! You were right. Inq's dropped off both TU and EQ sometime today. Do you know why that happens?

FirstNational said: Squeezer99 said: you won't get it. you already applied for a Barclay's business card, and Barclay's only allows one Business card per SSN.

Which other one is Barclays?

Bank Atlantic/Juniper/Barclays
Rewards Business MC(0%BT13mo,3%/$99)<-deferred

I hope some of those deferred's change to approved, or that's quite a blood bath.

I've never been into the hardcore AOR's myself, but looking at that, my strategy of just taking whatever offers are sent my way that look good sure doesn't look too bad!

Today's activity: Both B of A and National City called today to make sure that there was no fraud. The Nat City chick seemed a little snooty about how many inq's I had and the BT amount I requested. Thing is, I've read here that requesting larger amounts often results in larger CL's. You can always pay off part of it to get to a reasonable utilization. They are still processing.

In other news, I grabbed FICO's today, TU-776, EX-720, EQ-796. 11 of the inquiries showed up on TU, yet the score went up 2 points! Someone explain that to me. EX dropped 20, EQ is also up 2, but hasn't reported the inq's yet.

FirstNational said: Received 4 cards today including Key Bank card with $20K line that had been deferred, and my 0% Purchase/12mo Citi card, which I will start using immediately.

I have this idea to get the most from purchase cards...use a Google checkout account (2% per transaction) and just run purchases through there, invest the cash as usual. It's a slim profit with a 3.75% online savings account, but better than nothing. Any comments are welcome.

Buy State Farm gift cards. Buying $500 cards is $4.95 and unloading the money back to your account is $1.00. You get the float and pay 1.19% instead of Google's 2%.

Couple of declined notices today, Key Bank only allowing 1 app in 60 days, Sun Trust I was too late with I guess.

Approved for Advanta Business, but the CL is only $2500, which, with interest rates so low, is not enough to make it profitable -- too bad since it's a 15-month deal. I activated and tried love button to no avail. Maybe I'll put a few purchases on it and try again, depends on what the rejection letter says.

Approved BofA Business MC $10,500.

Still hoping to get my total CL to $1/2 Million.

tmolloy said: Why not sign up for one of the rewards checking accounts that yields between 5-6% for between $25k-$50k of your balance?

I haven't looked too closely at those, but seems like even a meticulous financial geek like myself would have trouble keeping all the requirements going.

JAGLUR said: FirstNational said:
Approved BofA Business MC $10,500.




Was this through mailed offer? Or did you have to go to the banking center for application?
Either way, I remember people saying BOA biz will report to personal CR even w/o defaulting it..
Not to scare you, but just curious as I do not know for certain.
GL!

I have had a BOA biz for about 1 1/2 years (sole prop) and it has never reported to my personal

Today's update, received 2 rejections from BofA. No surprise there. Actually I was surprised that I got the 2 BofA cards I did get. I have almost $70K with them now.

I also looked closer at the rewards accounts and decided the yield is worth it. I've applied for a Charter Turbochecking account, evaluating others as well. BT money for the BofA Pet Rewards as well as the Chase Disney Rewards Visa came in today. 8 apps are still pending.

Update: Received BOTH USBank cards today, $25K each. This is great because they are 12mo/nofee cards. When they asked for a pay stub I didn't think it was going to get approved, and I think I actually got a rejection notice at one point. Also got rejection from Nat City. Nationwide is requesting income verification, not sure which card that's about, probably both. I have to mail it in, so that will be a while. Hard to believe I haven't heard from Citi yet.

The numbers as of today: 10 approved, 10 declined, 4 pending. My total CL finally broke $1/2 mil.

VanceWade said: FirstNational said: That CL is too small to do a BT with a no-cap 3% fee.


Um, a no-cap 3% fee is a deal-killer with any credit limit. The bigger your limit, the bigger your potential fee. Maybe you meant capped...

I can get better than 3%, but I'm not going to go to the trouble if it's only going to make me a few bucks. The absolute dollar amount is what I'm talking about. Good point though.

I received notice on Friday that both of my Nationwide apps were declined with the reason "UNABLE TO VERIFY EMPLOYMENT AS PROVIDER", which is strange, since I sent them a recent paystub. I'm going to call and check on this next week.

peteypablo said: FirstNational said: Received 4 cards today including Key Bank card with $20K line that had been deferred, and my 0% Purchase/12mo Citi card, which I will start using immediately.

I have this idea to get the most from purchase cards...use a Google checkout account (2% per transaction) and just run purchases through there, invest the cash as usual. It's a slim profit with a 3.75% online savings account, but better than nothing. Any comments are welcome.

Buy State Farm gift cards. Buying $500 cards is $4.95 and unloading the money back to your account is $1.00. You get the float and pay 1.19% instead of Google's 2%.

Interesting idea. How do you get unloading for only $1.00?

bri719 said: Ipecac said: Beckles said: I hope some of those deferred's change to approved, or that's quite a blood bath.

I've never been into the hardcore AOR's myself, but looking at that, my strategy of just taking whatever offers are sent my way that look good sure doesn't look too bad! In my experience, getting deferred is no cause for concern. These turn to approved much more often than to denied.


deferred means no immediate decision? so what, you sit and wait for their response in the mail?


sorry I'm a little new at this.
READ!!!!