johndeere19

Hmmm, don't like the way that sounds...please keep us updated.

deant

Which AMEX card did you apply for? http://frugaltravelguy.com/ has links to all the information you probably need.

Huck

So I applied for this (Business card) online close to 2 weeks ago & haven't heard anything yet.... is this typical for this offer?

Happy

Data points have been a prolong period between 9 to 18 months from the last time you opened an AA card. The duration of such obviously is YMMV as there are reports that were only 8+ months for the lucky few but also reports near 12 months still not successfully including one such from a good friend whose last personal AA cards were Oct 2009.

The 60/90 days rule apply to ALL Citi cards as general - not specific to AA cards. That is, you are allowed 2 (for some people it is only 1) new applications for ANY Citi personal card. The 3rd one within the 60 days period would be auto-rejected by computer. 90 days refer to business card application. However whenever you have both categories in your records, it is better to err on the safe side by using the 90 days clock.

It is very simple and straight forward. Dont understand why it has so much confusion to so many posters. Must be people only pay attention to the AA cards and completely lose sight that AA card is one of the Citicards which ALL subject to the 60/90 days rule. On top of that AA card also subject to the "First Customer Only" ADDITIONAL rule.

learningtime

Thanks Happy, this helps. I had (1) and (2) below quite right in my mind. (3) was causing confusion (for me, not sure about others).
So as long as:
(1) it has been 9-18 months since I last "opened" an AA card, and
(2) it has been 60-90 days since my last citi application (AA or non-AA), and
(3) I have closed any and all open AA cards at some point (let's say a couple of months) back, I would "arguably" still qualify as a first time customer? YMMV of course.

Thanks everyone for helping out.

thehawk75

When one says 'same time' that means:
1) Apply for the Visa or Amex
2) After submitting the form, immediately apply for the other one that you did not apply for in step 1



Who on earth started this separate browsers nonsense?? Are you just making this up? Why are you guys making this so difficult? Using a separate browser, separate computer, or even separate IP address, or even using a proxy server and routing the application to appear as an IP address from another state will not improve your chances of getting the cards. They're going to look at your credit file either way, plus your account history with Citi.

If you're trying to avoid the second inquiry on your credit file, all you need to do is complete the second (personal) application 'around' the same time as the first. Granted, 'around' is loosely defined, however, it's fairly safe to say if you make both applications on the same day (you likely have 2 days actually) it will still be shown as one inquiry.

thehawk75

Update for all of you (former Citi AA) churners interested in how this former Citi AA churner's progress has been.

Yesterday I received two welcome letters from Citi. One for the AAdvantage Visa card and the other for the AAdvantage American Express card. Both with piss poor credit lines, but, that was because I already have a sum total of over $100K in credit lines with Citi on other cards. At least it's enough to place a couple of $1 coin orders without exceeding the limits on both.

Unfortunately, I still do not actually have the cards yet!

Each welcome letter states I should be receiving my respective card within the next 5 business days, and to call if this is not the case.

I'm fairly certain I won't have a problem now, but, Citi has been known to do some serious about faces on issues of approval. A year ago or so when I was churning I got a call saying I was approved and if I'd like to re-allocate some credit line from one of my existing accounts to this 'new' account. I agreed and was told to expect the card in 5-7 business days. Well, to make a long story short, 2 weeks later no card arrived, and I called them back, whereby I was told that they reversed the decision from 'approved' to 'pending'. There's more gory details to this story, but, this is merely to highlight the fact I'm not going to do my dance of joy until I've actually got the cards in my hands. At least the difference from that case a year ago is this time I got the welcome letters indicating credit lines.

wise2u

It's because some are too dumb to clear the cookies and apply for the same card twice, as when you apply it retains the info and offer code, when they try for second application it fills in info from the first when they try and submit it, which causes an error (as in you've already applied for this card). So instead of explaining how to clear cookies, people advise to use 2 open browsers to apply for the 2 cards......yes stupidity is confusing

Happy

You misunderstand the reasons WHY 2 separate browsers / IP addresses should be used.

The 2 different browsers approach is NOT to minimize inquiries - which can be achieved 90% of the time by doing applications back to back on same day.

The 2 different browsers approach / delete cookies is to AVOID your 2nd application of a different card turned out to be the SAME version of your 1st application - this has happened to a good number of people and has been reported many times in the past - an ongoing issue for years if you will. The latest such report is as recent as late last week. I always do 1 in FF 1 in IE and press my 2nd submit button as soon as the 1st one came back with a screen (regardless what it says - as the 1st could stop at Step 3 but the 2nd got instant approval - happened before.)

Regarding for IP addresses: I can assure you if you have both spouses to apply you would be advised to change IP address between the 2 sets if you are going to use same computer. Citi fraud alert dept once called me because it saw 4 applications from SAME IP back to back. I have affirmative information on this happening from other FTers via PMs.

On the 2nd occasions, despite the applications were set a few days apart - the 2nd set was auto-denied with a bogus reason since the 2nd set actually coming from a BETTER credit profile (cleaner in number of inquiries and accounts). The ONLY reason I could attribute the denial to, is the SAME IP address being used.

The reason Citi Fraud Alert dept gave me when they called on the first occasion is: multiple applications from same IP is an indication that such applications are from those "credit repair" companies - the guy admitted it is an assumption written to the program and the Fraud Alert would then call to verify if the flagged applications are legit or not. Unfortunately after multiple job cuts in the banks, there is no more Human intervention to verify this - now it is just automatically done.

No, using separate IP addresses do not enhance your approval chance. But it would help to eliminate one factor used by the computer for AUTO-REJECTION.

YMMV.

thehawk75

That still doesn't make sense. The URL for each application is quite different. Clearing cookies or not, is not going to prevent you from getting a message saying 'you already applied for this card' if you're stupid enough to actually apply for the same card. I didn't even think about clearing cookies or using a different browser when I applied for both cards.

I took the following 6 simple steps:

1) Clicked the Visa link
2) Used the already existing citi customer button to pre-fill the form
3) Clicked the submit button
4) Clicked the American Express link
5) Used the already existing citi customer button to pre-fill the form
6) Clicked the submit button

Took exactly 3 minutes to complete both applications, and as you can see by my previous posts (which I only share with you guys because former churners of the Citi AAdvantage cards would be interested), I ended up getting approved for both cards. There was no using different browsers or clearing cookies required.

Happy

As long as your welcome letters have the last 4 digits of the new cards and credit lines, you will receive the cards because only when an actual card is issued then you would have the new card number.

From your previously posted info we see your prior last opened AA cards were 12+ months ago.

johndeere19

The reason for using 2 separate browsers is because people are applying for 2 cards on the same browser and getting accepted for the same card twice (due to not clearing cookies)...this has happened to a bunch of people earlier in the thread.

Happy

The reality is it happens on a good number of people that their 2nd app turned out to be for the same card in the 1st app when they do not switch browser. It probably has something to do with their own computer settings as well.

To avoid this from happening the easiest way is to use 2 different browsers. It is just an elimination of an uncertain factor. There is no right way or wrong way of doing it.

Personally I prefer 2 browsers method just so one extra potentially troublesome factor is eliminated this way.

thehawk75

Hrmm... ok, perhaps I was wrong for 'flying off the handle' at the other guys then. Truth is though, I've never had that problem. I notice that the urls are different for each card, and, when I click the link, I can clearly see it's showing me a different card that the one I previously just applied for. Had no clue that people were experiencing problems of the sort you describe. But, agreed, if in fact people are experiencing that sort of problem, a different browser or clearing cookies will help. As an aside, for you firefox fans out there, enabling multiple profiles, and using 2 different profiles for each application would also work. To do this, change your firefox start up from:

'path_to_firefox\firefox.exe'
to
'path_to_firefox\firefox.exe -ProfileManager'

Happy

They did, too. That is why they were all caught by surprise when the final screen showed their 2nd card turned into the 1st card version.

It probably also has something to do with people's own computer set up.

It is more involved to use 2 different profiles in your FF as described, then simply use IE and FF simultaneously. This is the easiest path to follow, no additional work involved to delete the cookie, change the profile etc etc.