Hi. I'm relatively new here, I suppose. I've been lurking for a long time, just never really posted, much less made a thread. The reason I'm doing so now is because I'm desperate. I am trying to get a Southwest companion pass using the credit card bonus 'trick' and seem to have run into a bit of trouble. I was approved for the Premier Plus personal card but they took 2k of credit off of my main card, from 13k down to 11k and put the 2k towards my new card. This worries me because this card will only give me my first 50k points, I still need the other 60k, which for 50k of the remaining I was counting on another card bonus. I don't see them approving another application if they're already having to take credit from my main card. I doubt they'd even give me the crappiest personal card, much less a business card - seeing as how I do not have any business.

I need help from the pros. I don't know what to do, but as someone with barely any money, I am desperate to get a companion pass for me and my fiance. I will literally say or do anything to get it, just tell me what to do.

Some info that may be important: credit score = 770 and 'full' credit report = http://i.imgur.com/UmEoZst.jpg

Thanks so much in advance.

there are many articles written on business cards and the SW companion pass, so will not repeat here. However, I looked at the report and question when you need Chase to approve another card, why are you allowing cards to close with such a large balance? If your CL is $11k and your balance is over $4500, you are in for some trouble getting approved. Read some over at a credit forum and search out some posts from MDtRChicago and 84 Fiero. They have quite informative posts that discuss managing CCs and your score. you need to get your presentation together befor applying to have a shot here.

I hope I am wrong, but ryguy2 could be carrying a balance.

By close, do you mean that literally? Because I have not closed any cards in some time. I am carrying a balance of a couple grand that I have spread out between 2 cards. I have 6 credit cards total, with a total credit limit of around 30k. I know it's best to keep the debt spread out as much as possible, but I flip things on eBay constantly so it's not exactly the easiest to do that month to month.

OP, please forgive me if you know this already, but it is NOT "best to keep the debt spread out as much as possible"; the only way to play this game is not to have debt whatsoever.

Now, I don't want to sound sanctimonious, and I do understand there are circumstances beyond our control sometimes, so if you only need these two cards in order to get the CP, I'd recommend trying for the business card next. They will still look at your personal score, but with Chase, getting a business card in questionable situations might be easier, at least in my experience.

Now, what wcj meant by closing is that you closed your billing cycle with debit to credit ratio over 30%. If you can only imagine a red flag for any creditor, this is it! They will be extremely wary of extending any new credit to you until you bring it to a manageable, preferably single digit number. Simply put, pay it up if you can.

Good luck!

Paying any interest to the banks easily negates any value of the miles earned. I would first get a 0% interst card to transfer the balance to and pay it off in full before playing the miles game.

Can you pay all your cards down so that on your next statement all of your cards report zero balance? Then apply for the business card. If you get denied call and ask them to move 2k from the 11k card over to the new business card just like they did for this last card. What they have told you is that they do not want to extend you anymore credit right now, but you can usually allocate that credit to the cards you want.

1. You have a business. It is just getting started.
2. This offer will almost certainly be back, likely sometime next spring. So meet the spending requirement on your new card in January, and add the second card (business) sometime next year. You have all of 2014 to earn the 110K points for a CP good through the end of 2015, and you can spend the points as needed - they still count towards your 110K.
3. If you are carrying a balance, you should look at getting a 0% card to park that balance on and pay it off completely before playing this game.