It has been close to a year since my first AOR and I am more than ready to do another one 
My first AOR was quite successful. I doubled my credit line (added $141K) and made almost $5000 in bonuses and interest income over the last 11 months.
Pre-AOR Prep
- Paid off all my balances and disputed them with all 3 CRAs.
- Closed AMEX Starwood and Chase Priority Club to avoid annual fees.
- Made small purchases on the oldest cards I carry to discourage issuers from closing them for whatever reasons.
- No soft CLI requests to avoid hitting maximum exposure per issuer.
- Downloaded and installed RoboForm.
FAKO Scores
All the inquiries on EQ and TU have been bumped off using CreditSecure. My current FAKO scores are as follows:
EX: 762 (9 inquiries on EX but only 1 is from 2007)
EQ: 783 (0 inquiries)
TU: 783 (0 inquiries)
Current Accounts
Card, CL, Member Since
Citi Simplicity, $33.8k, Dec 06
Citi Dividend, $2k, Oct 99
Citi Platinum, $4k, Oct 98
Citi Professional, $1k, Dec 06
Citi AT&T Universal, $4k, Dec 06
AMEX Blue, $56.7k, Dec 06
AMEX Blue Cash, $5k, May 03
BofA Money Return, $49k, Dec 06
BofA Platinum, $4k, Aug 04
BofA World Points, $1k, Dec 06
BofA Rewards AMEX, $5k, Dec 06
Chase Sony, $41.5k, Dec 06
Chase Platinum, $1k, Jul 05
Chase Flexible Rewards, $1k, Jun 06
Chase Cash Plus Rewards, $3k, Dec 06
Discover Gas, $11k, Dec 98
Discover Miles, $6k, Dec 06
Sears, $3.5k, Jan 06
Kroger 1-2-3 Rewards, $10.4k, Dec 06
PNC Rewards, $8k, Dec 06
Capital One Platinum, $2k, Dec 06
Age: 31
HHI: $125K
Number of accounts: 21
Total Credit Line (personal): $255K
Total Credit Line (business): $0
Total Utilization: $0 (no mortagage, no car loans, no nothing!!)
AOR Apps
The idea is to secure more BT opportunities by applying for around 15 credit cards. I am not yet decided if I should throw some biz apps in there as I am reluctant to do it without actually owning any business.
Update: After enough research I have decided to apply for biz cards too, hurray!!!!
1) Principal Bank, 0% for 12 months, $75 fees
2) US Bank Baylor Alumni, 0% for 12 months, $0 fees
3) LifeSpring VISA, 0% for 12 months, $0 fees ($25k BT request with app)
4) Advanta Business, 0% for 15 months, $90 fees, $25 CS bonus
5) Citi Drivers Edge, 0% for 12 months, $0 fees
6) Citi Business, 0% for 12 months, $0 fees, 15K ThankYou points
7) BofA NEA, 0% for 12 months, $30 fees
8) Chase Platinum MC, 0% for 12 months, $75 fees, $25 CS bonus
9) AMEX IN:LA, 0% for 6 months, $0 fees, $30 CS bonus
10) Discover More, 0% for 12 months, $75 fees, $40 CS bonus, $40 card bonus
11) Amex Business Freedom Pass, no BT offer, $60 CS bonus, $50 card bonus
12) Chase Professional (targeted offer), 0% for 12 months, $99 fees
13) RBS Platinum, 0% for 10 months, $60 fees
14) SunTrust Platinum, 0% for 6 months, $0 fees
15) Wells Fargo, 0% for 6 months, $0 fees
16) HSBC Platinum (targeted offer), 0% for 12 months, $75 fees
17) State Farm VISA, 0% for 9 months, $0 fees
18) GE Money, 0% for 12 months, 3% fees
19) Citi Amex Platinum, No BT offer, 15K ThankYou Points
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
- Based on feedback from dealcather and JuNooNi I have removed Juniper National Parks card from the list.
- Based on feedback from markkundinger I have removed all FNBO cards from the list.
- Based on feedback from djspray I have removed WAMU Platinum card from the list.
- Thanks to devildoc for letting me know that GE Money now has uncapped BT fees, hence it is out of the list.
- On bogalusa's suggestion I have added US Bank Baylor Alumni card to the list. No fee offer may still be valid.
- Added Wells Fargo Platinum card after some research. I have checking/savings accounts with them.
- Finally decided to go for biz apps too; 3 biz cards added to the list.
- Took out Key Bank from the list as I already have high exposure with Citi.
- Economist suggested to do a BT request of $25k with the app for Lifespring VISA.
- Added Chase Professional to the list. I got a targeted offer for this.
- Chase WWF is out and Chase Platinum MC is in as the latter also has $25 CS bonus.
- Moved Principal Bank's app to the top of the list based on cardjuggler's suggestion.
- On cardjuggler's suggestion I added SunTrust Platinum to the list.
- Got a pre-approved offer from HSBC, goes at the end of the list.
- Citi Home Rebate is out (realloc problems reported) and replaced by Citi Drivers Edge.
- Last moment additions are State Farm VISA, GE Money and Citi AMEX Platinum.
AOR Results
AOR was done on 17th Dec morning except for Principal Bank and US Bank Baylor Alumni cards (applied on 16th Dec).
1) Principal Bank - Deferred/Approved, $15k CL
2) US Bank Baylor Alumni - Deferred/Approved, $25k CL
3) LifeSpring VISA - Deferred/Approved, $12.5k CL
4) Advanta Business - Approved, $12.5k
5) Citi Drivers Edge - Deferred/Approved, $3.7k CL**
6) Citi Business - Deferred/Approved, $10k CL
7) BofA NEA - Approved, $5k CL
8) Chase Platinum - Deferred/Approved, $11.5k CL
9) AMEX IN:LA - Approved, $2k CL
10) Discover More - Declined, already have 2 discover cards
11) AMEX Business Freedom Pass - Deferred/Approved, $59.2k CL**
12) Chase Professional - Deferred/Approved, $15k CL
13) RBS Platinum - Deferred/Declined, too many inquiries
14) SunTrust Platinum - Deferred/Declined, excessive active bankcard accounts
15) Wells Fargo - Approved, $12k CL
16) HSBC Platinum - Approved, $6k CL
17) State Farm - Deferred/Declined, too many inquiries
18) GE Money - Deferred/Declined, too many inquiries
19) Citi AMEX Plantinum - Deferred/Approved, $8k CL**
** means no new CL, issuer reallocated CL from existing cards
Total personal cards applied/approved/declined: 15/10/5
Total business cards applied/approved/declined: 4/4/0
New personal credit line: $89k
New business credit line: $37.5k
Credit Pulls EX: 5
Principal Bank, BofA NEA, AMEX IN:LA, Discover More, State Farm
Credit Pulls EQ: 12
Advanta Business, Citi Drivers Edge, Citi Business, BofA NEA, Chase Platinum, Chase Professional, Wells Fargo, HSBC Platinum, GE Money, Citi AMEX Plantinum, State Farm, RBS
Credit Pulls TU: 3
US Bank Baylor Alumni, State Farm, National City
Post-AOR Blog
12/17: AOR done, waiting for results and cards.
12/18: GE Money declined, too many inquiries.
12/19: AMEX Business Freedom Pass approved but reallocated CL from Blue card. This means I have hit my max exposure limit with AMEX.
12/19: Citi Drivers Edge and Citi AMEX Plantinum approved but reallocated from existing Citi cards. This means I have hit my max exposure limit with Citi.
12/19: Got e-mail from US bank that my card is approved, no CL info given.
12/20: Got e-mail from Citi that my Citi Biz card is approved, no CL info given.
12/24: Received Advanta card with $12.5k CL. SunTrust declined with excessive active bankcard accounts reason.
12/26: Received Chase Professional card with $15k CL and Baylor Alumni with $25k CL today. State Farm declined.
12/27: RBS declined citing excessive inquiries.
01/02: Received Principal Bank, Citi Business and LifeSpring VISA today.
01/10: E-mailed US bank and got the offer for 0% for 12 months with no fees.
01/12: BTed $20k from Citi Simplicity to US Bank. Plan is to request a check for the negative balance on the Citi card once it posts.
01/13: BTed $10k from Citi Simplicity to LifeSpring VISA.
01/13: BTed $12k from Citi Simplicity to Principal Bank. I am almost sure of a review and some negative action from them.
01/13: Called Chase to consolidate $39k from Sony card to Professional card. If it goes through I will have a CL of $54k on my Professional. Plan is to use the BT check I received in welcome package.
01/15: Got Advanta to transfer $11k to my checking account.
01/15: Deposited $48k Chase Professional BT check into my checking account.
01/15: Reallocated $54k from AMEX Business to AMEX Blue. This dropped my personal CL utilization.
02/01: Got my Chase Platinum card today with $11.5k CL.
02/05: Got the $42k refund check from Citi today.
02/15: Consolidated BofA cards and got $43k direct deposit.
02/16: Put in a consolidation request to move CL from Citi Simplicity to Citi Business card. I hope it goes through.
02/22: CL consolidation to Citi Biz card went through. Thats a relief!!
03/05: Got my $29.5k check from Citi. This completes my AOR.
AOR Summary
New personal CL: $89k (10 cards)
New business CL: $37.5k (4 cards)
CS and card bonuses: $190
Citi ThankYou points: 30k
Total personal CL: $311k
Total business CL: $82k
Card --------------------- Credit Line / BTed amount ------ Utilization ----- BT offer
US Bank Baylor ------------- $25,000 / $22,000 ---------------- 80% -------- 0% for 12 months with no fees
LifeSpring VISA ------------ $12,500 / $10,000 ---------------- 80% -------- 0% for 12 months with no fees
Principal Bank ------------- $15,000 / $12,000 ---------------- 80% -------- 0% for 12 months with $75 fees
Advanta Business ----------- $12,500 / $11,000 ---------------- 88% -------- 0% for 15 months with $90 fees
Chase Professional --------- $54,000 / $48,000 ---------------- 89% -------- 0% for 12 months with $99 fees
BofA NEA ------------------- $49,000 / $43,000 ---------------- 88% -------- 0% for 12 months with $30 fees
Citi Business -------------- $29,000 / $33,000 ---------------- 89% -------- 0% for 12 months with no fees
Total BT (personal): $87k
Total BT (business): $88k
Total BT amount: $175k
Total Utilization (personal): 29%
Total Utilization (business): 83%
