It's strange that people are getting waitlisted on the Barclays US card. 2 of my family members and I have all applied within the last month, all instant approvals. Although, my wife's card is taking long to get here, applied last Wed, and not here yet.

I, too, have never had a barclay's card. And with my credit, I didn't expect to get pended. Oh well

Got the approval by calling the reconsideration line (no decision was made by the time I called).

Good to know--I haven't seen anything either, so I'm going to call tonight.

With Chase, you can initially put in two applications in 30 days. Your second app wont be approved online, but a call to their reconsideration dept will get you approved.

It's definitely YMMV. I applied for the Chase Freedom Dec 30, instant approval, applied for Chase Sapphire a week later, rejected due to too many apps in the last 30 days and they wouldn't budge. Told me to apply next month.

Never got around to calling Barclays, but just received approval status via e-mail. 3/3 on the first mini-app, I'll take that as a success. My question now, is, what do I do with my 50K SW/RR points and my 40K US Airways points. I don't fly domestically that much (and when I do, it's not a route SW services). Not to say I don't ever, though, so I probably could just sit on them. Same story for the US Airways points. I know you can redeem SW points for gift cards, but I don't know about the US Air points. Suggestions?

-roki

A little update here. Despite only being 4 cards, this last app-o-rama took a pretty big hit on my credit score. I dropped from the 760-780 range on all 3 reports to 700-715 on all 3 reports. I noticed one thing on all three reports is that it shows my AMEX as 100% utilized, I'm assuming because I don't have a preset spending limit. I only have $200 on the card, so this seems absurd. Any input on this?

Also, looking to possibly purchase a home May 2013, so I'm assuming it would be wise to not do any more apps before then, correct? I'm hoping I have no problem getting my credit score back up to the high 700s. Would closing out my Chase SW or AMEX PRG before annual fees have a negative effect on my score? I expected a hit, but not a 60-80 point hit.

The bulk of your hit is a result of 100% utilization and luckily it can be fixed pretty easily. Either don't use the card for the months before the banks will be pulling your credit or use it and pay off the balance before AMEX reports to the agencies. I believe AMEX report some balances at a time other than statement close so try to figure out the pattern.

Utilization would be the biggest concern with closing out the SW & PRG cards, but their "history" should stay on your report for 10 years. I think you'll be ok closing them.

The Amex is not factored into FICO utilization models (at least the newer ones) so you should be fine there. Closing the accounts wouldn't harm your score with the exception of the SWA card not being factored into your utilization. If it is a large CL it may be helping your score right now by keeping your UTL low.

I've always been in the mid 700s (750+/-) and have seen a 15-20 pt drop every time. If this was your first time in a while applying for new cards that could be part of the issue. Also, I've always heard that the higher your initial scores are the larger the drop with new account(s) or inquires. Not sure if it's 100% true, but I've seen quite a few reports of people having 800 scores then after a few apps they're back down in the 740s.

Overall, I'm at near 1% utilization. My monthly spend is, at most, 5% of my actual revolving credit total. My SW card I believe is only a $3500 limit, so that's not huge, but I'd like to leverage it in the future for a CSP card, hopefully. I think I may just keep it and eat the annual fee, since it does have the annual RR bonus to offset it anyway.

One of my reports said something about using the highest recorded statement balance as the "limit" for the no-set-spending cards. I wonder if it would be worth while to isolate spending on the AMEX to get a closing statement balance in the 2-3K range, at least for a better utilization %? But, now that I've got the PRG signup bonus, I'll really only use that card for the 2% gas, so keeping a low/non-existant balance should be easy.

That's the approach I took and it worked. Good luck.

I have another interesting option in front of me, now.

My room mate knows nothing about points, and doesn't care to learn. He has the chase freedom card, and didn't even know it earned cash back he had to redeem, just thought it was automatic, but never checked. He has nearly 50k UR points, and he's thinking about taking them as cash. Should I offer to give him cash for transferring those to me? I don't have the CSP yet, and probably won't for another year (laying low on CC apps with a potential mortgage approaching). 50k UA points are worth more than $500 to me, but I wouldn't be able to use them until I got the CSP. It seems like a good bet, though, since he wouldn't mark them up, and worst case, I could just cash them out as cash.

Anything I'm missing?

Hate to bump, but, he's looking to redeem. Thoughts? Thanks!

on whether you should give him cash and take the points? If you think you'll use them for premium travel and won't get equivalent pts another way, then it's definitely worth the cash. But only you know your cash-on-hand and travel plans.

Couldn't he transfer directly to your UA account, rather than a Chase account? You could use them right away then. Commits you to star alliance, but that's okay in my opinion.