Barclay closed all my accounts with them in my mini-AOR in March. I already had the US Air card from several months earlier, but I wanted to try churning it as others had reported doing. I got declined and called the recon line. The rep told me that I was a high risk because of all my recent apps (maybe 10 or 12 in the previous year) and that not only were they going to deny me for the new card, but they were also going to close my existing account.

Strangely enough, on the same day Chase instantly approved me for the largest credit limit they've ever given me.

That said, your current AOR looks good. Just be prepared to do battle with Barclay if you've had a lot of recent hard pulls.

Talk to your mortgage broker. They can tell you the qualifications for rock bottom rates. Also, remember, it's not just credit score any more. Mortgage lenders focus on # of applications, # of cards, recency, length of history and other such things.

Also worth running what a 0.1% drop in rate does for you over 5, 10 and 15 years. Generally a lot more than a cash purchase of a couple of F RTW tix !

You must get really cheap F RTW tickets! A drop from 4.0% to 3.9% on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage of $250,000 would result in a $5,172 increase in total payments over the 30 year term. Using your example of 5, 10, and 15 years the amount would be significantly less ($676, $1423, and $2250 respectively).

That being said, I agree with the OP in that once your credit score is in the high 700s, any incremental improvement is unlikely to impact the mortgage rates you can get.

So I went for it today and got approved for all 9 cards (phew!). I was sweating after first sending all the applications and not getting more instant approvals.

Total: 515k miles/points
270k Hilton pts (incl VA50k->100k, HI 35k -> 70k)
30k Starpoints
100k Southwest miles
40k US Airways Miles
75k Membership Rewards


Here were my results:

Instant Approval:
30k SPG points ($5k in 6 months, $0) - Experian
2x50k HHonors Pts Citi Hilton ($1k in 4 months) two browser trick – Experian
50k VA -> 100k Hilton BofA ($2.5k in 3 months, $90 fee)
40k pts Barclay US Airways (first use, $0) - Transunion

Had to call:
75k point Amex Gold Business for $2k spend in 4 mo (targeted) - Experian50k SW points personal ($1k in 3 months, $69) - Equifax50k SW points business ($1k in 3 months, $69) – Equifax
35k Hawaiian Air Bof HI ($1k in 4 months) – Experian?

Nice, congratulations on the successful apps! Now, good luck meeting that spend requirement...

You need to read it again! It says the cc bonus miles DO still count towards companion pass!

Congratulations on your success!!

That's an impressive haul, much better than any AOR I've ever done.

2 suggestions going forward.

1) Go for the Southwest Companion Pass. You only need 10,000 more points, and their shopping portal can help you get there pretty quick. Frequent Milers blog would be your go to source for this.

2) Get an Amex Hilton card, either the no fee one or the Surpass one. That will give you access to Hilton's AXON awards which many consider to be the best use of Hilton points. U

Congrats! Please reply back over the next few months updating how your credit score was affected.

Also if you could see which inquiries were combined. I tried a Chase biz and personal earlier this year and it resulted in two. Congrats btw, impressive haul.

I'll definitely give updates RE: credit score and inquiries.

Anyone have any recommendations on best way to track inquiries? I track scores through Credit Sesame, Credit Karma, and then I get my FICO (Experian) score through my old credit union. I don't seem to have nearly as much info on credit inquiries. Do I have to wait til I get my free report once a year? Or should I just buy them for like $10 or whatever I can get them for?

I use Credit Secure from AmEx to keep track of my scores and inquires. It is $14.99/mo.

You should check out USAA credit monitoring, you can call after a few months to cancel and you'll get all 3 reports daily for a little over $6 a month.

I refinanced 2 rental houses and both applications just closed. My mid bureau score was 788. One was over 800 and the lowest in the low 780's. My average age of accounts is low due to CC churning and other recent accounts. (car loan opened in mid 2010 and paid off in Dec 2011). No issues whatsoever!!! I do have nearly 20 yrs with the same employer (govt) with decent pay. I was told that was the largest factor in getting the approval at the lowest interest rates. (my scores were above average especially with the CC churns and all the recent account openings in the last 2 yrs). My second largest factor in the approval is nearly no debt excluding rental real estate. I had a few small balances on CC's that showed up on my reports but those got paid off every month and was extremely small (<1%) relative to my income.

Refinancing rental houses are usually a major PAIN but I was pleasantly surprised that mine was a "slam dunk" with zero issues.

Bottom line: Nice App-O-Rama!!

How did you get that price? I'm seeing $5.50 for Experian only, or $12.25 for all 3. Either way, not a bad deal.

You initially sign up at full price, wait a few months and call them back. Just tell them you're looking to cancel as you found a different service for less. They knock off 50% for 12 months. Excellent deal IMO.