Credit Card Programs - How did I do on my first App Run?

Greetings All -

I entered the App Party tentative last fall when I took advantage of the AAdvantage Business & AMEX cards. We hauled in about 150,000 AA miles between the two and now are off to SE Asia in CX First Class.

I came accross an offer from Hyatt to get a Chase Hyatt Gold Passport Visa with the two free night signing bonus. I applied online about 3 weeks ago and I was approved for that one instantly. Then, yesterday, I stumbled across this forum (in all my years on FT I never scrolled down this far!). Thinking about how to stretch our hotel needs in Asia pre/post cruise, I decided to jump in the game. I applied online for the following:

Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Card (2 weekend nights at any Hilton w/$2500 spend in 4 months)- instant approval

BOA Virgin Atlantic (20,000 miles upon approval + 25,000 after $2500 spend + 15000 after 1st year) - instant approval

Chase Marriott Premier - (50,000 points after 1st use + 1 free night at cat 1-4 + 1 free night in cat 1-5 at anniversary) - pending approval

Fairmont Visa Signature - (2 free nights w/breakfast w/$1000 spend in 3 months + Fairmont Presidents Club Premier Status) - pending approval

So, I called Chase this morning and they had approved the Marriott Card overnight but had declined the Fairmont Card as it looked like a "dupe" for them - two card applications in one day. I told the agent that I did want both. She said that she would have to send it over to the Reconsideration Team for approval. I mentioned that I had just received a Chase Hyatt card with a much higher limit than needed. Could they just take some of that limit and apply it to the Fairmont Card? She said she would check and put me on hold. So, after a few minutesm, she came back and said it was approved for a $5,000 credit limit and they had taken that much off the Hyatt Card (which was fine - it was enough to buy a car with!).

So, looks like I will be the proud owner of 4 new pieces of plastic (5 if you count the Hyatt card I just got in the mail).

Dows this sound like I did well on my first stab on a major App Run?

Next time you may want to spread it around to all the different banks. But impressive that you got 3 chase cards in such a short period.

Also, you may want to send a secure message to Chase when you get the Marriott card requesting the 20K in points to match the 70K offer that is out there.

You don't want the SPG amex with the summer bump (an extra 5K in points)?

I considered it - just not sure that the $5K in spend is doable on top of the $2500 for the HHonors card in 4 months and $2500 on the Virgin Atlantic card in 3 months. We are, however, getting ready to remodel our master bathroom, so maybe I should go for it. Is it better to do it today or wait?

You have till September 3rd(?) to decide. You'd have six months to meet the spend on the SPG. The advantage of grouping the cards is issuers may not see all the new credit lines opening (yet), although the inquiries are reportedly real time.

If you have not been opening a lot of credit I doubt it matters whether you did it today or not. I am assuming you have a high credit score if you got chase to give you 3 cards.

Just applied and was approved for the SPG Amex. Instant credit line of $1500 to be used on starwood.com until i get the hard card in the mail. So, to date, I have:


Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Card (2 weekend nights at any Hilton w/$2500 spend in 4 months)- instant approval

BOA Virgin Atlantic (20,000 miles upon approval + 25,000 after $2500 spend + 15000 after 1st year) - instant approval

Chase Marriott Premier - (50,000 points after 1st use + 1 free night at cat 1-4 + 1 free night in cat 1-5 at anniversary) - Approved

Fairmont Visa Signature - (2 free nights w/breakfast w/$1000 spend in 3 months + Fairmont Presidents Club Premier Status) - approved

Chase Hyatt Gold Passport (2 free nights with first purchase) - approved

SPG Amex - (10,000 Starpoints with 1st use + 20,000 Starpoints w/$5K in 6 months)

Will go back and cxl two AAdvantage cards I received last year - one was an AMEX and the other was a Citi Business Card (now that I am not doing an contract gig that I thought I would be doing).

Also, you may want to send a secure message to Chase when you get the Marriott card requesting the 20K in points to match the 70K offer that is out there.
Don't ignore this advice.

Will go back and cxl two AAdvantage cards I received last year - one was an AMEX and the other was a Citi Business Card (now that I am not doing an contract gig that I thought I would be doing).
Your plan is to hop between lots of different hotels on your vacation? Sounds like you did pretty well.

Why cancel the personal AA card? The award redemption rebate is worth keeping it, especially if they decide to waive your annual fee.

My wife recently did her first churn and I'm planning her second one now. I hit up the following cards on the first round:

- 2 AA Citi Cards
- HH Amex
- US Air Barclays
- Hawaiian BoA
- United Chase

I know that’s a lot for her first app-o-rama. Looking at her credit report it looks like all but one of the pulls were from Experian. Which begs me to ask the question when is it safe to do her next round of apps assuming she may be pulled from Experian again. I want to try and get the app in by 9/4 using the latest SPG offer. The date would officially make it 93 days which is just inside my comfort zone. I’m only planning to get her the following on that day:

- Hyatt Chase
- SPG Amex

What are your thoughts to pull this second round off successfully?

Thanks

My wife recently did her first churn and I'm planning her second one now. I hit up the following cards on the first round:

- 2 AA Citi Cards
- HH Amex
- US Air Barclays
- Hawaiian BoA
- United Chase

I know that’s a lot for her first app-o-rama. Looking at her credit report it looks like all but one of the pulls were from Experian. Which begs me to ask the question when is it safe to do her next round of apps assuming she may be pulled from Experian again. I want to try and get the app in by 9/4 using the latest SPG offer. The date would officially make it 93 days which is just inside my comfort zone. I’m only planning to get her the following on that day:

- Hyatt Chase
- SPG Amex

What are your thoughts to pull this second round off successfully?

Thanks

I would say that at 90+ days and only 2 apps, you have a pretty good chance of getting approved for both. You might have to call reconsideration, but I think they would be approved in the end. This is assuming that your wife's credit profile is good enough to support 2 more cards (which it probably is since she was approved for 6 cards last time around).

OK - may have committed a rookie mistake on my churn. Saw a link for an 80K bonus for a Chase Priority Club and figured, what the heck, and submitted. I had 30K points in my account and adding 80K would give me a nice balance (plus Platinum status which is better than nothing). Well, got the dreaded "Will let you know in 30 days" response. I have already churned 6 cards this week (2 Citi / 3 Chase / ! BofA) so think I will be declined as this is my 4th Chase card request. My credit score is 806 so thought I might be invincible. :eek: Is this one gonna ding me badly if I get turned down? I already called the reconsideration line once for the Fairmont & Marriott card.

I have already churned 6 cards this week (2 Citi / 3 Chase / ! BofA) so think I will be declined as this is my 4th Chase card request.
Time to get the terminology correct - it's actually important in this case.

You applied for 6 cards. You didn't churn them - apply, cancel, then apply again.

It's rare to see anyone get 3 Chase cards so closely together. Never remember hearing of 4.

However, Chase is more concerned with your long-term behavior. If you plan to keep the cards for 6 months then get rid of them - yes, Chase may have a problem with that. There is a thread about them closing all of someone's accounts, due to behavior Chase didn't like. Chase doesn't like churners.

But if, somehow, you convince them to approve you for the 4th card, it's probably fine, as long as you behave "correctly" going forward.

Thanks for the correction - yes, I applied for 6 cards. I don't have a history of turning over cards. I have a great history with Chase (they hold our mortgage!) so hopefully, I haven't ticked them off.

Will advise when I hear something.

I went with "I am traveling more for work and getting cards for the hotels where I stay for work" in my call to reconsideration to get my 4th chase card (in 9 months).

SPG Amex and Fairmont Visa Signature both showed up today. SPG was in an overnight envelope but the Fairmont Visa Signature card was in a really nice box.

The Fairmont card is probably the nicest credit card kit I have ever received. Card was ready to go - just bought tix to Chicago for a long weekend (+ some upgrade stickers) so we are basically already at the threshold!

Called the Reconsideration Line and was told that I had been declined for too many applications. I explained that I have a new job and will be traveling quite a bit (I do work in the meeting & events industry) and the card would eb quite helpful. I have a Slate card with a $17K credit limit (which I have never come close to using) and asked if they could move some of that over to the Priority Club Visa card. After a few questions she said that I had been approved!

So, I was able to secure 4 Chase / 1 BofA / 1 Citi / 1 Amex on this run.

Excellent work; I'm quite impressed.

It's been a bit over a month since I had my app run. So far, I have met the minimum spend or 1st use on all but three of the cards.I should have the HHonors Visa wrapped up next month, the VS Amex by Thanksgiving at the SPG Amex at Christmas. So far, initial goodies have already posted (2 Hyatt nights, 80K Priority Club points, 50K Marriott Points, 10K SPG points, 2 Fairmont nights and 20K VS Points). I had my partner do the Hyatt card as well and his two free nights posted within a week of 1st spend. So far we have redeemed all of the Hyatt nights for our trip to SE Asia (3 nights at Grand Hyatt Singapore + 1 night at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong) plus 3 nights at Hotel Indigo Chicago Gold Coast. A savings of over $2200 for just buying a few cups of coffee at Starbucks!

So, a big thanks to everyone for all of your help! This has been fun and profitable to boot!

wow that's really impressive, especially the 4 chase cards in such a short time frame! :) congrats and have a great trip!

Yes, 4 Chase cards in less than a month is not a small accomplishment. I personally wouldn't dare. Good job:)