Instantly approved for the B of H card. Had to call in to be approved for the B of A.

Looks like B of A handles the applications for B of H, I'm thinking. The apps are identical and they knew right away I applied for both.

I just requested transfer to Hilton. The agent said it would take 3 to 4 weeks. They have gone from Hawaiian immediately

They're both handled by FIA.

Ah, thanks. Hopefully it is one pull for both apps then. Anyone know where they might pull from (AZ)? I didn't see FIA in the credit pulls database.

Nope, one pull from FIA and one pull from Bank of America.

From my experience, it took about 2 weeks to show up in my hilton account.

I'm confused...
 

Why is everyone so hot and heavy on these cards?

The yearly fee (not waived) is kind of a deal-breaker for my thrifty budget.

What am I missing?

I believe it is because it is one the main ways to get Hawaiian miles (HA) which can be converted to Hilton Honors (HH) points at 1:2 ratio. Also BOA cards can be churned. AMEX and Citi also has HH cards but they are not lucrative and/or easy to churn. Also having a HA card allows one to receive HA miles with no transfer fee from other HA members. Not the best but works for some.

My current plan is to churn these each at least 4 times, getting 280k miles at a minimum and giving me two Virgin Atlantic Upper Class tickets to anywhere VS serves. Any leftover miles will go to HH. Might do it one less time depending on if I want to transfer some AMEX MR points.

Applied for both cards yesterday. I got the "we'll let you know within 30 days, or you can call for expedited processing" message. Any reason to call, or should I just wait for them to call me if necessary?

(And if I should call, could somebody give me the numbers -- I didn't write them down).

I'm a little worried I'll be rejected, because it feels like I've been "greedy" the past quarter: I successfully applied for the Chase Sapphire and the Citi Platinum. Indeed, that's why I went for these, figuring it would be wise to try a "different bank." Are the recent pulls from Chase and Citi likely to matter to my app?

What attracted me to the cards is that 70K in the Hawaiian program gets you a coach ticket anywhere Virgin flies. So if my wife and I each get the two cards, we have 2 coach tickets to Australia. Seems like a good deal, given that Australian redemptions are generally high in the major ff programs. If we don't each get 2 cards, my backup plan is to transfer to Hilton -- which isn't exciting to me, but would likely be useful at some point.

BTW, my wife once had the B of H HawaiianAir card -- several years ago when we needed some interisland tickets and Hawaiian required far fewer miles for those tickets than they do today (at the time, this seemed like the most logical way to get those flights for free). I've read above that the BofH card is "churnable," so I assume this old (and long closed) credit card account isn't a problem getting the new bonus?

I applied for both on a Friday and got that notice, they called me the next business day in the morning before I even had a chance to think about calling them. So I'd give it a couple days to see.

As a follow up to my earlier post, I emailed the Hilton Hhonors sutomer service email and inquired about why I didn't have the 40,000 points that Hawaiian was supposed to have transferred a month ago.

Within 24 hours Hilton emailed me back and said they found the Hawaiian transfer and credited my account for the 40,000 points.

I have also transferred the remaining 15,000 Hawaiian miles, that request is pending. Had to call Hawaiian and wait for them to call me back to re-ask the same questions in order to complete the transfer. I still find that to be odd.

1-800-893-6032 hours are 8 AM to 7 PM Eastern, M-F

I had the same message, which seems to be fairly common. Upon calling it just took a couple of minutes for the agent to look over my file and approve it. I'll also say that the agent I had was probably one of the better CSR experiences I've had in awhile as far as being friendly, proficient, and efficient.

Let us know how your wife's app goes, it would be good to have another data point on churn prospects from having an older closed account.

The CSR really went over my credit report and entered my responses in the computer. For example, she asked what my home equity loan was for. First time had that happen. She was very nice.

Thanks. So one phone call can take care of both apps? I know that they're processed by the same outfit -- I didn't realize it was the same phone number.

As previously recommended, I think I'll give it a couple business days before calling.

If I get both approved, I'll do my wife's. I might wait a few weeks, just to help manage the minimum spend requirements (although these are pretty low).