al613

Another update: Today I have noticed that that all my wife's Citi account were closed. She called and was referred to "credit management department". Left a message and they called back. The rep said, that they have a small department that reviews accounts randomly. When they reviewed hers, they seen too many credit inquiries. The supervisor of that department personally reviewed it again and will not reopen it now. We can ask for another review within 12 month and if credit risk lowers they can reopen them. I asked why her credit line was increased at the same time and the rep said that computer automatically increases or decreases credit line, but their department oversees accounts by manual process. I asked what happens if my wife will apply for a new credit card and they said it might be automatically approved and then, if she still high credit risk, it can come to their department again. Sounds like FR team at Amex without a way out.

c2d

Okay, having considered the Hilton devaluation more, I have decided to still jump in. I'll do SPG and Hyatt for the next churn after 6-9 months.

I have now raised the count to 10! Am I crazy? Please give me your thoughts on this.

Feb 2013 AOR (proposal v2) -- 10 cards in 1 day!?:
Citi Select AAdvantage Amex (50k)
Citi "Gold" AAdvantage MC (30k)
Barclay's US Air MC (35k)
Chase SW RR Plus (personal, 50k)
Chase SW RR Plus (business, 50k)
Chase Ink Bold (business charge, 50k) -- low chance of approval.
BoA Hawaiian Air (35k miles -> 70k HHonors)
BoH Hawaiian Air (35k miles -> 70k HHonors)
Amex Hilton HHonors (50k, no fee, silver elite)
Amex Premier Rewards Gold (50k MR)

Total points: 505000 (-50k if 3rd chase is denied)
Total minimum spend: $17501 in 4 months (~ $4375/mo)
Total 1st year fees (net): $146 (after $150 credit from Citi Amex)
Total hard pulls: 7 (1 citi, 1 barclays, 2 chase, 1 BoA, 1 BoH, 1 Amex)

New Questions:
1. Am I crazy? How many out of 10 do you think I would get approved? What is the impact of a denial other than wasting a hard pull?
2. How much time do you expect this whole apps process to take if I am prepared with list of links etc?
3. I hear that the Amex PRG offer might disappear rather quickly. I was going to do the AOR tomorrow (Thu) early morning. Can/should I do it tonight? Is there much risk of pulls over 2 or more days if I do it at night?

Thanks again caGALINDO and dcpilgrim for your inputs!!

PainCorp

The thing about doing an AoR in one day, is if you do it quick enough, within a few hours, the banks won't see the applications yet, that's why we do them all together, so you should be fine with 10 apps, as long as your credit can support each card on it's own.

There's also other factors in play, your individual credit history, your relationships with the banks, etc. I personally spread 8 out over about a week and a half and got approved for all of them, and I have similar scores to you. Chase didn't even do a hard pull on my credit.

As for your cards, the Southwest Plus is a no go (for me), I would only get the premiere, and only if it has the 50k bonus. With the Premiere you get 6,000RR points which is equal to the annual fee, with the Plus you only get 3,000 which is $50, leaving $20 of the fee uncovered.

I love that you've done your research and have the AA Platinum and Gold, kudos to you, too many people are still trying for the Amex and Visa. Good combo. ^

Barclay's to me is a no brainer right now, since they'll be AA miles soon (as long as merger is approved).

I personally got the BoH card, but will not touch BoA due to ethical issues with the company.

I got the same Hilton card, and it's going in the drawer to hold on to, I think. No fee makes that a hard decision, since Amex can be finicky with churning and new bonuses.

Have you looked at UA MP Explorer? Those miles can be more beneficial depending on your travel needs compared to SWA, but depends on your intended destination and travel preference.

After this, for your next AoR, if I were you I would plan out how I want to use my miles/points and base your next AoR on that, since you will know how many you need in which programs to achieve your goal.

c2d

Thanks so much for your detailed comments, PainCorp:-:!
This is greatly useful information for me. Your experience is encouraging. I will apply with a little less worry now.
Understand your point about SW+, but Premier is only 25k now, so I'm going to go with SW+ for now.
Thanks
I have the same thoughts of keeping this card once I get it.
I will do UA MP Explorer for my next AoR. Right now, I know I will make good use of SW Companion Pass and points.
Thanks again. Definitely will plan out use of miles/points for the next AoR. Where better to do some research than here at FT? I will of course post my results here once I finish my 1st AoR.

PainCorp

I would also prioritize the cards in order by how much you want them, but doing the same bank cards together. I saw one report (only person I can remember off the top of my head) having a bank see an application very quickly, within a few hours. One app isn't a problem, you just say you need one for business, keep expenses separate, etc. Usually if they ask, and you have the credit, it's really easy to just move it around. Keep this in mind if you have to call recon, that always helps.

It might have been the BoA/BoH that saw the app quickly since they use the same system for that card, can't really remember.

One thought I just had, was potentially upgrading the SWA Plus to the Premiere after the bonus posts (maybe after 6 months), wonder if that's possible. I might have to try it. Worst case, you just cancel and move credit after a year. Also, not sure if the Ink Bold can do this, but I know with CSP you can transfer UR points to SWA at 1:1. You can also do a transfer between Chase accounts, so if you have to Ink Bold -> CSP -> Southwest. Not sure if this would count towards the companion pass though, haven't looked into it too much.

Might be worth thinking about whether you want the Ink Bold or the SWA business more.

c2d

Thanks again for the tips, PainCorp! I did reorder my apps based on your suggestions.

c2d

Ladies and Gentlemen of FT, I have just completed my 1st AoR. Thanks to all the great posts and comments!

Here's my report (applied in the following order):

Feb 2013 AOR (ACTUAL) -- 10 cards in 1 day!:
1. Amex Premier Rewards Gold (50k MR) - Instant/Approved (no pre-set limit).
2. Amex Hilton HHonors (50k, no fee, silver elite) - Instant/Approved @ $12k limit.
3. Chase SW RR Plus (personal, 50k) - Instant/Pending - Approved by the time I called @ $20k limit.
4. Chase SW RR Plus (business, 50k) - Instant/Pending - Approved after 1 call @ $7500 limit.
5. Chase Ink Bold (business charge, 50k) - Instant/Pending - Denied after call (will call again later).
6. Citi Select AAdvantage Amex (50k) - Instant/Approved @ $30k limit.
7. Citi "Gold" AAdvantage MC (30k) - Instant/Pending - Approved after chat @ $19k limit.
8. Barclay's US Air MC (35k) - Instant/Approved @ $15k limit.
9. BoA Hawaiian Air (35k miles -> 70k HHonors) - Instant/Approved @ $15k limit.
10. BoH Hawaiian Air (35k miles -> 70k HHonors) - Instant/Pending - Approved after call @ $10k limit.

Score card:
Approvals: 9/10
Total NEW credit line: $128,500 (not counting Amex gold no-pre-set limit)
Total points: 455,000 (+50k if Chase Ink Bold denial can be reversed).

Total minimum spend: $12500 in 4 months ($17500 if Chase Ink Bold were to be approved).
Total 1st year fees (net): $146 (after $150 credit from Citi Amex).
Total hard pulls: Don't know yet; Will update this in a few days.

Notes:
* Chase reconsideration personal phone# 888-245-0625.
* Chase reconsideration business phone# 800-453-9719.
* Bank of Hawaii reconsideration phone# 888-503-6090.
* Citi Gold chat -- the agent just asked to confirm my cell# and then approved.
* Overall took me ~4 hours for the whole process above including calls and this post.
* Tried two-browser trick for the Hawaiian Air cards. BoA was instant approved. BoH was pending. BoH recon line analyst knows about your BoA application (they can see both); He wanted to make sure that I did want both cards, and when I said yes, the BoH was approved.
* I know I was pushing it with 2 Chase business cards -- let me see if I can convince someone by calling again later.

Special thanks to PainCorp, caGALINDO and dcpilgrim.

Now comes the harder part of making sure I meet all minimum spends by appropriate deadlines... on that topic, when does the 3-month timer start? Is it day of application or day of card activation?

terpfan101

Wow that's a lot. A bit too ambitious for me w/r/t min spend. I'm currently working on AMEX Gold 10K in 4 months and after 1 month just got an email suspending charges. Thankfully I cleared it up by simply making my full payment which was due in a week.

Our scores are fairly similar but you have the benefit of not having opened a card in a while. I've done about 8 in the last year. Waiting for a little while to do another mini round of apps.

Oh I'd focus on Hilton cards first to get those points and try and burn within the month but it's probably pushing it to meet the deadline.

PainCorp

When you call to activate/talk to a CSR they can confirm your sign on bonus and tell you the spending date for each of your cards. One thing which has become integral to this is maintaining a spreadsheet with data such as date opened, credit limit, last four, spending needed, etc. Mine has four pages, and I keep track of every transaction so I always know how much spending I have left to do.

Not sure if you've done it yet, but take a look at the Manufactured Spending thread under Miles Buzz.

happy9zz

Wow, It is really a lot for me. My Feb churn is 6 cards only. Do you guys think that it is better to apply 10 card in a day? I know that people usually wait 3 or 4 months to do a next churn after apply for 6 cards. How about 10 cards? how long will they wait for next churn?

PainCorp

It's all about what your credit/income can support and what spending you can support/manufacture. I don't like to rely on manufacturing spending since that can become troublesome when things like VRs dry up suddenly.

liw5215

adding the AMEX Premier Reward Gold with 50K points yesterday, got approved today!

BTW Citi AA biz also approved. Citi Hilton still pending.

MileLife

Congrats on great churn. Seems like a LOT of inquiries. I have like 9 or 10 within 24 months and scared to make new AOR. When you cancel, I assume you would consolidate the CL's.

brownie20

wow congrats, that's an impressive haul you didnt want to get another barclays card while you're at it? the big issue i think with massive AORs is barclays habit of soft pulling an experian report several days to a week after a barclays card approval. i was checking credit reports today and noticed that they pulled experian ~10 days after approving their cards - fortunately they didnt close the accts but it's changed the way i view AORs. i dont think it'll be an issue in your case b/c it seems that you'll only have 3-5 experian pulls with your AOR but just something to think about

caGALINDO

biggest haul ive seen to date.. props - day of application