It just seems like more and more issuers are getting better and better about hindering the ways we abuse them in order to make money. Felt like I better get in on the action before they perfect their strategies.

Goal:
My AOR will consist mainly of BT arbitrage and little in direct points/rewards (this will be what I plan on going for with the next AOR because the incentives will never leave).

Stats:
Age: 23
Occupation: Student/Retail worker
HHI: 200,000 (I am still listed as living at home)
Credit History: 5 years, got an Auto Loan when I was 18, no CC until about 20.
Inquiries: 14 19 8
Credit Scores: 738 across the board (is this odd? Using Credit Secure through threw American Express they all came out exactly the same)
TrueCredit as of 10/2/2007: TU 760 Ex 756 EQ 751, on their way up...
Inquires went down a little to: 14 16 8 so three dropped off Experian
The last credit check was by Macys on August 8th. Unfortunately I kept applying for little cards here and there to get the benefits of the moment. In the past six months I have had only 3 inquires and one inquiry hit each credit reporting agency.

Current Cards:

Personal:
At&t Universal Card $500
Chase Rewards $39,000
Hilton Honors AMEX $38,000
Blue Cash AMEX $25,000
Citi Diamond Preferred $19,400
Discover Cash Back $3,000.00
GM Flex Card $600.00

Business:
AAdvantage Business $6,500

Total Credit: $132,000
My Citi Diamond Preferred was just paid off around the 1st of this month (had a 15k BT on their from their "For Life" Promo Offer) and hopefully the balance will not reflect on the credit report next month. I plan on applying for the following cards somewhere around the 1st as long as the Balance drops off the Diamond Card.

Personal Cards:

Lexus Pursuit Card500 points after first purchase, but I really just want the Lexus logo on a card...
Amex IN:NYC
Chase Priority Club30k Points, 6 month 0%, annual fee waived
Chase United Mileage Plus25k Bonus Miles after purchase
Chase Platnium Visa0% for 12, No fee, $75 BT FEE CAP
Chase Sony
BofA World MasterCard0% 12 month, $50 bonus for BT over $25, No Fee, No Cap
Bank of America® Visa Signature®0% 12 month, $50 bonus for BT over $25, No Fee, No Cap
Bank of America Platnium Plus0% 12 month, No Annual or BT Fee
Citi PremierPass® Card10,000 Points after $100 in purchases
Citi Professional Card15,000 Points, 0% for 12 and no BT fee
Union Bank Bucks Back$10 for approval, BT fee cap at $75, 12 month 0%
Union Bank Rewards Advantage Card1000 Points for first use
Wachovia Card0% for 6 months, $75 BT fee Cap
HSBC Platnium Master Card0% for 12 months, 75 BT FEE CAP
Vectra Bank Visa6 month 0%, 50 BT FEE CAP
Commerce Bank Visa6 month 0%, $75 BT FEE CAP
Wells Fargo Visa6 month 0%, $0 FEE!!!
Discover Miles0% until April 2008, $50 max BT FEE
Discover Open Road0% until October 2008, $50 max BT FEE
Life Spring Visa12 month 0%, $0 Fee
Juniper AirTran Visa0% for 6 months, up to 12 A+ Rewards Credits
Juniper Fontier World Master Card6 months 0%, $50
Washington Mutual0% for 12 months, $75
Backup for lower Utilization:
Penfed Platnium Rewards

Checking Accounts are a possibility also:
EverBank6.01 APY for 90 Days for BT $$$
ETrade$75
SunTrust$50
BofA $100 Bonus

And My Business Card(something I will probably just lift off of devil doc's AOR; link)
Platinum Plus® Business Bank of America 0% for 9 billing cycles on BT and purchases 2k bonus points
Advanta Business Card0% for 16 months
Citi Business Premier 0% for 12, $150 in points
Amex Starwood Card10,000 Starpoints with your first purchase - good for up to 3 free nights

Last Questions/Concerns:
Should I wait to do all the BT, or do them on the application without knowing my CL?
What are the 12 Rewards Credits the Juniper Air Trans card is offering?
I am in DESPERATE NEED of a 0% BT American Express Card...I know the IN:... Cards offered it for like a month, but now they just offer 0% purchases, any help would be fantastic!
Lastly, I already have 20 cards, but would do a couple more (1 if I find the AMEX I want) if anyone knows a company I have yet to apply for that has a good offer for cash credits, or even replace a card that I am not using for a BT with one that offers a reward with the card.

*I think these are going to be the final results:
$128 New CL
$175k New Balance Transfer Money
$75k @ 6 months
$100k @ 1 year
40,000 TY Points
$170 Cash Bonuses
30,000 Starwood Points
Chase Priority also gave me 30,000 points but I am not sure if they are TY points or what the conversion rate is on them.

And We are off as of 145am PST Nov 9th:
My final credit score and inquires Transunion, Experian, Equifax respectively (will be updating scores for the next few days):

11/8/2007: 789/762/764 0/16/5
11/9/2007: 776/742/768 9/25/3 *Looks like no one pulled from Equifax yet and the score went up because the previous inquires are still dropping off.
11/10/2007: 789/739/768 0/27/3 *So all of the sudden all 9 of the Trans Union inquires dropped off one day after they were posted... I rechecked this with all four of my CR programs and they all show the same, a sign of splittage?
11/11/2007: 779/739/768 7/27/3 *All of the inquires came back except 2, I guess I am safe.
11/29/2007: 733/688/758 9/27/6 *Finally some action on the credit report. I have sustained a 74 point drop on Experian because it seems like every creditor decided they would pull a report from that one. I am sure this also led to a good amount of denials below, no worries I believe I will still reach just under my goal of 200k in BT money.
1/2/2008: 700/653/671 Two of the biggest balances have hit(all three state a balance of 90k, although in reality it is around 150k), overall about a 90 point drop. Not bad, I think I could still get a good rate on a car loan as well. I assume another 10-30 points when all of the balances hit me.

*kinda of jumped the gun while my Equifax were still melting off but I figured Friday would be the best day to catch an account reviewer trying to get home for the weekend...?

Quick Summary:
Applications - 30
Instant Approvals - 5 @ $61,500
Approved after Review - 16
Deferred - 3
Denied - 9

Personal-
BofA AMEX: Instant 20K
BofA Visa Platnium: 2500
AMEX IN:NYC: Instant 2K
Chase Platnium Visa: Approved with $0 amount, transferred credit line from existing card.
Chase Sony: Denied because I could only open 2 of the 4 accounts I requested, at least the rep was nice when she explained it.
Chase Priority Club: Approved with $0 amount, transferred credit line from existing card.
Citi Professional: 20k
Citi PremierPass: 15k
Union Bank BucksBack: Deferred
Wachovia: 5k
HSBC Mastercard: 4500
Vectra: Deferred
Commerce: Not in my State...No app submitted
Wells Fargo Visa: Only for Current Customers...No app submitted
Discover Miles: Denied
Discover Open Road: Denied
LifeSpring Visa: Denied
Juniper AirTran Visa: 5k
Washington Mutual: Denied
Lexus Visa: 5k

Business
BofA Platnium: Denied
Advanta: 4500
Citi PremierPass: Denied
AMEX Starwood: 27.5k
Chase Platnium Business: 8k
National City Visa: Denied
Discover Miles: Denied
M&T Visa: 7500
PNC Visa: Deferred
Juniper Bank Atlantic: 10k

Savings Accounts:
BofA approved, will go for the Everbank when I have received the majority of my BT cash.
*Argh, Everbank lowered their promo rate to 5.5 and SBoT looks to be doing the same around mid Jan.

Done at 5:45am...
Hourly Wage expected for 4 Hours, $12k ~ $3,000/hour =

markkundinger said:Give the statements a couple of days after your citibank statement cycles, then check the reports. New balance should show up soon.

I generally lean towards waiting to request BTs, ESPECIALLY if you need to reallocate. I'd only request BT at time of app if there were a good chance it would result in a higher limit (and in your case... no sure things).

Both Union Bank of CA cards are administered by FNBO. I don't think you'll get both. I don't even think you'll get one of them, to be honest.

From Chase, get the freakin Sony card.

I also recommend trying to get at least one Chase and one Citi business cards with good 0% deals on them.

Interest catch on the life spring card. Please update to mention it's lended by National City, and also fix the link (should be https or [S] in FWF code)

Thanks for the Sony link. I have been looking for a good SonyCard link to add to my AOR.

FYI - on the Wells Fargo card - I hope you have a WF relationship otherwise you'll have to apply in branch. I remember trying to apply online as part of my AOR and ran into a message stating they weren't accepting online apps from non-WF customers.

OP said:Inquiries: 19 8 14

How on earth did you manage to rack up so many inquiries? Even after my AOR and CLI's I did not have that many. I think you should bump some of these before trying an AOR.

WalStMonky said:You're already too late. I read another thread and realized I was lucky I did mine last month! Ah well, I shall truly miss the free money. Well, after it stops coming in in late '08. Anyway, don't waste your time, AOR has been officially declared dead.huh?

Monkey... care to cite your reference? Legitimize your claim if you please..

PorStaker said:I request my Credit Score Daily through the Credit Secure website on American Express but I think they keep giving me the same report over and over so I do not know if this has the effect as I am looking for.The service is a single report for the intro period. When you "request a report each day," you basically are viewing the archived one everytime. Get TrueCredit instead for bumpage....

PorStaker said:Personal Cards:

BofA World MasterCard0% 12 month, $50 bonus for BT over $25, No Fee, No Cap
Bank of America® Visa Signature®0% 12 month, $50 bonus for BT over $25, No Fee, No Cap
Bank of America Platnium Plus0% 12 month, No Annual or BT Fee

The two BofA cards that you listed above actually do have 3% BT fees with a $10 min, and no cap on the maximum BT fee. Where did you get that it was no fee?

pacman777 said:PorStaker said:Personal Cards:

BofA World MasterCard0% 12 month, $50 bonus for BT over $25, No Fee, No Cap
Bank of America® Visa Signature®0% 12 month, $50 bonus for BT over $25, No Fee, No Cap
Bank of America Platnium Plus0% 12 month, No Annual or BT Fee


The two BofA cards that you listed above actually do have 3% BT fees with a $10 min, and no cap on the maximum BT fee. Where did you get that it was no fee?

Those are actually my notes. The No fee refers to Annual Fee and the No Cap refers to their not being a cap on the amount they charge for a BT. Thanks for trying to spot the problems though. My notes will confuse anyone else sometimes.

WalStMonky said:Well I can't seem to find the thread right now. Perhaps the mods deleted it since FW itself will probably fold up when the AORs go the way of the do do bird. But it is of no importance really as I've noticed people have been declaring AORs dead at regular periodic intervals for the last several years so I'm relatively certain that you'll see a restatement of the death notice soon.

So are you saying I should wait a month until the statements go away, or should I just hope I catch things between intervals?