click to close
help
edit

Forums
Finance

Not just another AOR (well maybe it is)

  • filter:
  • Tell A Friend
  • Text Only
  • Search this Topic »
  • switch to 'Classic' view
  • Go to Page :
  • 1 23456
rated:
alert mods    

I have been thinking about an AOR ever since I found this board about 6 months ago.
Before that I was doing 0%BTs almost at random without the benefit of sage advice found here.
I would just apply whenever I saw an ad or got a mailer or even at the airport once to get stuffed animals for my kids.
It worked out well enough, but the time has come to try to do this right instead.
Its been 6 months since my last hard pull (except for one lapse for 10% off Home Depot) and I have a large amount of BT that just ended

Date TU/EX/EQ FAKOs and MyFAKO
7/19 -- 674 670 767 -- 662
9/3 -- 723 703 789 -- 722 waiting for removal of AU and paid off BTs to clear (total $200K 85% 80% and 65% utilizations)
9/14 -- 734 707 793 -- 749 waiting for Chase and Citi to report paid in full ($125K total)
9/17 -- 734 726 793 -- 749 Ex picked up a 108K payment
9/19 -- 763 726 809 -- 749 all 3 picked up final payments


Inqs TU-6 Ex-16 Eq- 3
As of Aug 20 only one inq in 6 mo (Ex)

HHI ~ 400K
Credit history 40 years via AU, >10 years for my own stuff

Current lines - personal
Chase, BoA and AMEX I have 5 cards each all with <$1000 CLs except:
Chase 0% until Feb just paid off (I can reBT just after AOR) CL 118K
BoA just paid off 0% CL 151K
AMEX one I use daily 30K CL, one just paid off 0% CL 45K

Discover 2, total CL 20K
Citi/ATT 4 cards unconsolidated Total CL 68K
Juniper 2 cards one CL 1K, one 36K
CapOne 7K CL
USBank 9K CL

Grand Total for personal is about $480K

Biz
Chase 50K
BoA 10K
Advanta 10K using for 0% til Apr

I’m waiting for some large payments to post and them I’m off…
I just disputed the last two so it should be about a week

I’ve grouped these cards in the order in which I plan to apply

1 - Rollover 0% I just paid off.
BofA is my biggest fish at over 150K available. I don’t really need a card with a new CL, just a new offer -- if I can consolidate. I think I need to apply there first and twice if no instant approval.
Plat Plus MC 12/0 (months/fee cap)
NEA – 12/30 or this link

Chase and citi are next with 235K available between them. I mostly just need cards to consolidate to.
Chase biz and Citi biz will probably let me consolidate from personal
(Thanks markkundinger for the suggestion to move these up in the order)
Chase biz Rebat 12/75 $30 CS
I might need a second option if no approval. Chase GM 12/75 $30 CS
Citi biz with TY pts 12/0 15K TYP with first purch
Personal cards if biz won’t consolidate
Chase Platinum MC 12/75 $20 CS
Citi Drivers edge 12/0 $25 CS
Citi Professional 12/0 $25 CS
ATT 12/0 6K TYP with first purch $25 CS
Ax USBank and Juniper I could use some more CL and a new offer to consolidate to, would love to get over 100K among those three.
Amex In:LA 6/0 $30 CS
Juniper National Parks 12/50 Update: applied early 6K limit
US Bank 12/0 phone only Baylor 12/0 now has no cap

2 – new 0% BT from new banks
National City Lifespring Health 12/0Thanks to navysix for finding me the extra 6 months
RBS 10/60 or Peoples bank 8/60 Kroger 1-2-3 seems to be uncapped now
Wachovia 6/75
WaMu Plat MC 12/75
Pulaski 6/0
FNBO UnionBank of Calif 12/75
UMB 6/50
Compass Bank 12/75 in branch only
Dscover 12/50 invitation FHAG (usually 75 cap)
Wells Fargo 6/0
PNC – only one I found was 3 months, not useful
GM – HSBC 12/99
HSBC 12/75
Principal 12/75 (infibank) or this link
BB&T Coastal Federal 6/0 Southeast only
Commerce bank 6/75
Vectra Bank 6/50
PNC Mechanics Bank 6/0
State Farm 9/0 Their reputation makes me think twice

3 - Get new biz deals
BoA I can’t find an uncapped fee one, but markkundinger thinks I might talk a CSR out of the fee, so I'll try it for 9/?
Juniper BankAtlantic 15/75
Fifth/Third 12/0
Nat City 6/0
Discover biz miles 12/75 $40 CS
M&T 6/0
PNC biz 6/0

4 – Rewards. I love to fly for “free”
Chase BA 20K miles
FirstUSA/Chase SWA 16 units
Amex Delta 15K miles $30 CS
Amex Biz Delta 15K miles $60 CS
Amex biz SPG 10K points $60 CS
Citi AA 20K miles after $750
Citi Biz AA 20K miles
Chase Marriott 20K points no fee first year $30 after that
Chase biz Marriott 15K bonus
TD Ameritrade Starpoints bonus not a new credit card, but I gotta put the BT money somewhere, right?

5 – Drop utilization by adding cards I won’t use. Only a few banks I don’t already abuse for BT, so I’m going second tier.
Advanta Life-of-Balance card biz card so no utilizaton drop, but 2.9% forever could be useful $25 CS
GEmoney Canine association 6/250 if the $250 fee outweighs any profits, I'll use it to drop utilization
Etrade
BMW Bank 0% purchases for 6 months
Bellco CU
Ranier Pacific
PNC Bank their 0% deal is only 3 months with no fee cap
PenFed
Franklin Templeton
5Star bank
Everbank
Target 10% off on-line or in-store
Simmons The offer page says 6 months 0% but the T&C's say 8.9% no BT fee either way.
First Tennesee phone only
Cap One no Hassle points, 0% purchase til July I put it next to last because of the CL reporting issue and the fact that they pull all 3 CRAs. I may not even bother
Hooters – why not if I bothered to apply for capone?


Eventually I’d like to acquire a total of $1MM in outstanding 0% BT between me and the wife. Previous high total was $538K.

I wonder if there are too many Chase cards here (miles cards I could do without) especially since I have 5 cards already.
I am considering canceling some unused, small CL cards that aren’t too old to avoid the “you have too many cards” denials
I have no real business, but that shouldn’t matter much (except maybe AMEX and their FR)
I’m not sure I need to apply for the ATT card since I have so many Citi apps here


Many thanks to several recent AOR threads I've borrowed from (PolarDude's mega thread,DJPill,VerbalK, and others)

edit: updated National City card from 6 month offer to 12 month offer from Snuffy's 2nd AOR and reordered the list a little
added CardSelection links/bonus info

Message edited by: devildoc on 2007-10-04 14:36:10 CDT

First of all, I learned that you can have all 3 CRA's report paid in full balances within 3-4 business days. I did an online dispute with all 3 CRA's on Friday and Wednesday they were all reporting paid in full.

BofA Plat MC - Deferred Approved $10,000 FIA pulled TU BOA pulled EX
BofA NEA - Deferred Approved $15,000 but they took $10,000 from my personal line
BofA biz - Deferred Approved $15,000
Chase Biz Rebate - Deferred Approved $15,000 Chase (First USA) pulled EX twice Chase pulled TU 5 days later
Chase Biz UPS - Deferred Approved $10,000 Consolidated to $160,000
Citi Biz - Deferred Citi Pulled EX twice Approved $15,000 Consolidated to $63,000
Chase personal Plat - Deferred Approved, took CL from Sony Card $17,000
Citi Drivers edge - Deferred Approved $10,000
ATT - Deferred Approved $10,000
AMEX In:LA - Approved $2,000 EX Consolidated to $86,000
National City Lifesrping - Deferred Pulled TU twice Declined
National City unbranded - Deferred Declined
RBS - Deferred EQ Approved $7,000
Wachovia (phone) - Deferred TU Declined then reprocessed, Approved $10,000
WAMU- Approved $2,500 EX
Pulaski - Deferred TU Declined
FNBO - Deferred EX Declined(Firstbankcard)
UMB - Deferred TU Approved $20,000
Discover Miles - Deferred TU Approved $10,000 Consolidated to $19,000
HSBC Plat Miles - Approved $10,750 EQ
HSBC GM card - Approved $4,000
Prinicpal - Deferred Declined Infibank pulled EX
Commerce - Deferrred Approved $20,000 not sure who they pulled
Vectra - Deferred Zions pulled EX Approved $10,000
PNC Mechanics - Deferred Approved $5,000 Elan pulled EX
State Farm - Deferred TU Declined
US Bank phone - Deferred EX Approved $8,000
Juniper National Parks - Approved $6,000 Consolidated to $43,100
Juniper Travelocity - Approved $25,000 Then Cancelled Barclay/Juniper pulled TU twice
Juniper Biz BankAtlantic - Deferred Approved $10,000
5/3 Biz - deferred Declined (out of area)
National City biz - Deferred Approved $50,000 $49K BT immediately by phone
Discover Biz Miles - Deferred Approved $10,100
M&T biz - Deferred Approved $15,000
GEMB Canine - Deferred EX Declined, could not verify identity
Simmons - Deferred TU They asked for all sorts of income and asset verification. I declined them
Wells Fargo (in branch) - Deferred EX Approved $10,000

Non 0% offers
Chase BA Miles - Deferred Approved, took $1,000 CL from Sony Card
AMEX Starwood biz - Deferred Approved $50,000
BMW Mini - Deferrred
Target - Deferred EQ Declined Address didn't match CRA
Hooters - Deferred (how embarassing) TU Approved $15,000

Running Totals
Declined: 8
New Personal Cards: 20
New Credit: $175,250

New Biz Cards: 9
New Biz Credit: $190,100

BTs
UMB $18,000
Nat City Biz $49,000
AMEX $77,200
Juniper $38,500
Chase biz $159,500
RBS $6,200
Discover $17,000
M&T biz $14,500
BoA biz $24,500
Mechanics $4,400
BoA personal $164,000
Citi biz $62,000
Wachovia $8,900
Chase personal $15,000
Chase biz #2 $14,700
Commerce $17,900
Vectra $8,900
BankAtlantic $9,900
USbank $15,500
Discover biz $10,000
HSBC $9,500


New 0% BT So Far -- $745,100

Citi personal (Driver's edge). I think I'll save it, reallocate as needed/possible and start the 0% year sometime later, when I need a little cash flow.

FAKO FICO
9/20 --736 712 806 - 752 -- Pulls 17/29/7 ?myFICO not seeing pulls yet?
9/21 -- 745 712 800 - 752 -- Pulls 12/30/8 reporting new Juniper lines already. Not sure why TU pulls went down, only one fell off the 2 year list
9/25 - 738 712 798 - 757 myFICO went up! (caught up with the large payments) only a few new accounts reporting
10/2 - 741 721 798 - 741 pulls 15/30/9 some new lines reporting
10/15 TrueCredit down, 703 myFICO
10/19 719 673 771 - 714 Ex reporting HELOC $160K and Barclay's $38K BT
10/23 700 679 729 - 686 some more BTs
10/28 707 673 734 - 669 myFICO already hates me and many more BTs have yet to post.


Citi (EQ) National City (TU) and State Farm (EX) all pulled a second time the next day with no new app. Chase pulled 5 days later for the 3rd time.

Message edited by: devildoc on 2007-10-28 15:04:15 CDT
rated:
alert mods    

I'm sure you'll top thisguy's recent 1/2 mil AOR.

Strategy seems well thought. Impressive list's....

FYI Wells Fargo wants only those with an existing relationship:

At this time, Wells Fargo is only accepting online credit card applications from customers with an existing Wells Fargo relationship....

Message edited by: jackcrawfish on 2007-09-14 13:40:22 CDT
rated:
alert mods    

jackcrawfish said:I'm sure you'll top thisguy's recent 1/2 mil AOR.

Strategy seems well thought. Impressive list's....

FYI Wells Fargo wants only those with an existing relationship:

At this time, Wells Fargo is only accepting online credit card applications from customers with an existing Wells Fargo relationship....

Thanks. I didn't know about WF. It's probably not worth opening a bank account just for one BT card.

thisguy's AOR was a bit of inspiration for me

rated:
alert mods    

FYI, Wells Fargo will BT to any checking account via ACH (rapid $$$ if you'd like a good laudry card for accts that won't let you write check to self).

Message edited by: jackcrawfish on 2007-09-14 13:48:48 CDT
rated:
alert mods    

There is a Wells Fargo near me, so maybe I'll just apply in person (try doing that with 30 cards in one day)

rated:
alert mods    

I... I can't can't this is the easiest writeup to understand, but I see where you're going with it, and it looks like it will be good to watch.

1) I predict you're already at your maximum exposure level with BofA and Chase. There's a decent chance if you want to increase the aggregate amount of credit, you're going to need some quality time with an analyst and document some assets and whatnot. But that's okay, because the reallocation game is avaialble.

2) Since Chase is easy with reallocating, and Citibank is easy with reallocating to business cards, then the business apps will take on paramount importance with these two banks. Then you can pretty well disguise a few hundred grand of BT debt.

5) UMB and 53 bank both have limited lending areas. I recommend verifying you're in that area before you apply.

6) Reputationally, FNBO and Pulaski are reputed to be a pain.

7) I recommend applying for the WAMU and HSBC cards, but just for the perverse test to see if you get CLs <$3000.

8) I recommend applying for a BofA business card if you don't have one already. They have often been capping BT fees even though the terms have they're uncapped.

Message edited by: markkundinger on 2008-02-12 17:45:51 CST
rated:
alert mods    

$400k HHI - and you bother with this. I'm amazed. I guess with those kind of credit lines you can earn a pretty decent return. However - way too much time investment and headache for me and I'm not even close to that level on income.

rated:
alert mods    

bNeta86 said:$400k HHI - and you bother with this. I'm amazed. I guess with those kind of credit lines you can earn a pretty decent return. However - way too much time investment and headache for me and I'm not even close to that level on income.
I made 10% of my income from this "bother" in the last year

rated:
alert mods    

I wish I had your discipline as I am unable to stop applying for cards, knowing I will get a hard pull and a denial for too many inquiries in the past six months. But I am making a vow...no more new accounts of any sort for six months. Come February when the last of my $230,000 comes due I will sit patiently and see what happens to my credit scores and seriously consider an AOR, as I too, accumulated my cards and my 0% money haphazardly over the course of a dozen years or so. Good luck!

rated:
alert mods    

This should be fun to watch.

rated:
alert mods    

If you don't care if I ask, what do you do for a living?

rated:
alert mods    

TideLeonheart said:If you don't care if I ask, what do you do for a living?
I do shift work

rated:
alert mods    

jackcrawfish said:FYI, Wells Fargo will BT to any checking account via ACH (rapid $$$ if you'd like a good laudry card for accts that won't let you write check to self).

This is very interesting.
Could you explain in more detail?
Is this a Wells Fargo CC?
What is the name of the card?
Any links?

rated:
alert mods    

DavidScubadiver said:I wish I had your discipline as I am unable to stop applying for cards, knowing I will get a hard pull and a denial for too many inquiries in the past six months. But I am making a vow...no more new accounts of any sort for six months. Come February when the last of my $230,000 comes due I will sit patiently and see what happens to my credit scores and seriously consider an AOR, as I too, accumulated my cards and my 0% money haphazardly over the course of a dozen years or so. Good luck!Maybe we should start CCA (credit cards anonymous). I get preapproval offers in the mail and it hurts me to shread them as I know I'll just get denied.

rated:
alert mods    

Onenote said:jackcrawfish said:FYI, Wells Fargo will BT to any checking account via ACH (rapid $$$ if you'd like a good laudry card for accts that won't let you write check to self).

This is very interesting.
Could you explain in more detail?
Is this a Wells Fargo CC?
What is the name of the card?
Any links?

Yes its a CC, the visa platinum
The link is in OP under "Wells Fargo 6/0"
Some BT's are hard to turn into cash -- AMEX, national city and others.
A laundry card with fast ACH right into your bank account can be an intermediary for other CCs that only do transfers to other CCs.
My best laundry card by far is the BoA. Huge limit, quick ACH. Fees add up though.

rated:
alert mods    

devildoc said:
My best laundry card by far is the BoA. Huge limit, quick ACH. Fees add up though.

Thanks for the info.

Another question, though (Sorry, I'm a newbie at this).

So, to use this, BofA will deposit money into my account and treats it as a charge on the CC, then I BT this charge to one of the 0% cards?

Do you have to call them to request this, or is there a link on their website?