tomsam

My apologies for not reading your first post. My recommendation would be to wait 91 days from your last app as you have 5 credit requests if I am counting correctly in the last 5 months.

Since you only have 1 Chase card - Chase has a great set of cards to bolster United airlines miles through both the United Explorer card as well as the cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to United. Since you already have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, you could add the Chase Freedom (which allows transfers to United not directly, but through the CSP). Since you have a business you can apply for the Chase Ink Plus and/or Bold both of which have 50K UR points sign-up bonus, a fee-free first year, and no foreign transaction fees. I would suggest adding these over time.

The Chase BA card that you mention you would like to get will aid you in traveling on American within the US, while the ones I mention above will help you with your United miles accrual.

For September (CDG/Europe) I would suggest identifying where you would like to go beyond Paris, and then look for hotels that work for you. Train/air travel is reasonably priced in Europe, so you could focus on a hotel credit card, but check to see that there are no foreign transaction fees. I've taken the train from Vienna to Paris through Zurich. From Vienna it's also easy to get to Budapest or Prague.

Priority Club, Hyatt and Marriott all have cards with Chase that have 0 transaction fees. All 3 have sign-up bonuses that could offset some of your hotel stay needs. There are plenty of Priority Club properties in Europe. I'm a Marriott fan myself and generally find reasonably priced Marriotts in major European cities. Hyatts are a bit on the rarer side. So overall I would recommend the Priority Club or Marriott chase card - make the decision based on how you see yourself using the perks beyond the September trip.

StuckinKC

Thank you for the quick response. I saw several comments that the waiting 91 days was just an arbitrary number and probably unnecessary (alohaDaveKennedy. ?? And MMS) and several others. I'm pretty solid, risk wise, so was hoping for someone to agree it was not really necessary to wait. Thank you for your other input. I will bump marriott to the top of the list. I was looking toward Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, st Petersburg, places I have not been before but will prob only have three days, so distance is an issue. Again, thank you for taking the time to respond.

KennyBSAT

I have been getting 2-4 cards every 30-40 days, some personal and some biz. My only denial was a Barclays (on the same day they approved another card). The closer your apps, the more likely you will have to call recon.
I will probably wait at least 3 months now, after apps every month since January.

tomsam

It's not really necessary to wait, and you can always try. At some point you may start getting rejected for too many recent inquiries, and have to call reconsideration to try to get approvals.

My points about waiting 91 days was more around building a long-term, sustainable, AOR pattern. Applying every month is not useful unless you have some immediate short-term needs. So, for instance, if you need some specific cards for your September trip that require you to apply faster, then by all means go for it.

In general I believe it's good to have a long-term strategy (what loyalty programs, and therefore what cards), and work towards that in a sustainable (and rotatable) fashion.

Tronic

Would like to apply for some cards today (banks below) but I'm wondering if I shouldn't wait until tomorrow? The main reason I ask is I'm unsure if Recon. lines are open today.

Barclays, US Bank, Chase x2, Citi. All personal.

mia

Wait until Tuesday. Typically the very best people do not choose to work nights or weekends. Avoid Modays unless you like waiting on hold.

Tronic

Will do thanks.

Update: applied this am.

Us air: instant
Csp: instant
United mp: instant
Citi aa: approved via recon after shuffling credit lines.

Decided to hold off on the others til the summer.

Harlem

I'm going to do an AOR in the next 60 days or so. I just don't have the time/energy to do all of the research. Is there someone who does consulting on this who I can pay (in USD or points, if points are allowable) to help me get the best cards for me.

I have many cards now and lots and lots of points - but I need more credit cards for my different businesses so I might as well do the AOR in a way to get the most free stuff....

KennyBSAT

Any data points or thoughts on applying for AMEX PRG Gold personal and PRG Gold business the same day? 50K bonus on each due to a targeted offer on the personal.

BostonFlyer1624

I am considering applying for the Chase Ink Plus and Bold.

I already have a few other Chase cards and think these would be a great next move.

Can I apply for both of these cards on the same day? Should I spread them out? Do I need anything in particular to give to chase (I have a business)?

Thanks for any advice

phantasmic

hello...you will see by my story that i am still pretty new at this.
just sharing my experience because i appreciate everyone sharing theirs.
received invitation to apply for United Explorer 55k miles and pulled the trigger 2/16. then i received AMEX invitation with no points or offer, but I still wanted it. i'd never bothered with Amex before so I was just intrigued with having one. so silly me, i applied for AMEX gold without realizing i should look for an offer. at some point i started i started researching annual fees (whether they could be avoided), and then it led to researching this game. what an amazing world! was very intrigued and found the Chase SW card got it, found out about the companion pass and possibility to get another SW card but waited, found out about CSP, wanted it, applied, did not get it. then saw a special offer for Amex PRG for 50k points, and applied for that too. then i found out i could not get the bonus because i'd just gotten the amex gold. DARN! quite a few silly mistakes in my first couple of weeks. it taught me to calm down, research, and try to have some patience, which is still a little hard. but the more i read, the better this gets. anyway i will summarize my successes/failures as well as credit pulls to help anyone else that wants to read experiences like i have been.

chase UA explorer 2/16 instant approval, EX/EQ (55k miles)
AMEX gold 2/20 instant approval, EX (no points)
chase SW plus 2/21 approved by recon, EQ/EX (50k miles)
chase CSP 2/21 (denied! of course)
AMEX PRG 2/26 instant approval, EX (no blasted points!!)
chase SW premier 3/28, EQ approved by recon (had to try 3 times but got an awesome rep!) (caught it just before it ended, waiting for statement close but on activation they said i would get 50k miles)

then something strange happened, i was trying to clean up my EQ report and disputed incorrect addresses. a couple of weeks later, i found my credit report looked very different. the score was still above 700 but it was down to only 10 accounts, and 1 inquiry. it had been fairly high on inquries before, maybe 15 or so. never even knew that could happen but i read that perhaps any inquiry that was tied to an incorrect address had to be removed. it's good and bad because some of my older accounts are missing, even my car loan, so my AAOA has gone down. i was confused but also excited to have almost no inquiries! was wishing i could apply for CSP/Freedom combo but of course I will wait longer as I just got 3 cards from them in about 45 days and was not smart about this when i first started.

still, i wanted a 0% interested card in case i carry any balance ever(don't plan to) and i was looking for which cards pull from EQ. also i have limited inquiries on TU, so i researched TU pullers as well. i thought if i am going to apply for something might as well do a small AOR and had some cards picked out, but changed my mind when I realized how many of them pull Experian. I decided to have a tiny AOR day on 4/22. here are the results:

Barclay's US Air - 30k points - approved, TU
Citi AA Visa - 50k points, approved, EX
US Bank Club Carlson, denied, EQ. it was not instant, the application froze when i was submitting it and i called to make sure they got it. they same it was being reviewed for the amount, but they would let me know. i called to check status, it was denied. will need to see why. interesting that it happened on the EQ, maybe the AAOA or the new accounts I just got from Chase are what is stopping me.

not sure, just wanted to share in case it helps anyone else not start off too fast as a newbie. by the way i am in texas.

mintcilantro

I made several mistakes like you when I started. It's ok as long as you learn from them.

• I learned painfully not to trust bloggers. They push only a small subset of lucrative cards and they may not be right for you. Finding cards that are right for you is time consuming. Do your research but don't be afraid to ask FTers
• Next, I didn't realize the importance of starting relationships with all major banks. Keeping accounts active with them for a while definitely helps in recon calls.
• Also, it's important to be ready to jump on deals as they come. So it's important to wait out periods when special offers are not available.

phantasmic

Great list, thank you. I have used referral links from some of the bloggers because I really did learn from them but I have noticed that there are many other cards that they don't always mention or promote. So far I have not tried Bank of America and US bank failed but maybe recon can help with club Carlson... If not I will try another time. Or maybe see if they have an easier card to get with no annual fee that I can keep for a long time to build a relationship?

bensim

Hi, I intend to apply for the following in June 2013:

Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Hyatt
Chase Freedom
Club Carlson Visa Signature
Amex SPG

At the same time, I am thinking of giving up my Chase United Visa cards as the annual fees are nearly due.

I would appreciate some advice on the chances of getting all 3 Chase cards. Thanks.

philemer

I'd skip the Freedom card for this churn. Tough to get >2 Chase cards at same time. Save it for the next churn in Sept/Oct. Keep the UA cards and offer to close them to get new cards when you call the reconsideration phone line.