Happy

As long as you have seen the last 4 digit of a card, the card IS APPROVED. It just takes time to arrive.

Doing 2 online accounts is not necessary and would NOT improve anything other than complicating stuff because you will NOT get access to your account details anyway without the PHYSICAL cards in your hand because of the CVC required. This is the security feature and has always been this way. In fact you have to ACTIVATE your card first before you gain full access of your online account. This is standard for ALL Citicards not just the AAdvantage varieties.

burnsy0118

How do you log into the online account and see the last four digits of your cards before you get the physical cards? Is there a link on the approval web page or email?

echip

Finally got my 75k points. Thanks OP.

Does anyone know if I use the points to redeem, say a trip from New York City to Orlando. Assuming I book American Airlines, and have no luggages to check in. Is there any other fees I have to pay?
If so, usually how much?
TIA

Stoughton

Just the tax.

Happy

Only when your application has reached Step 5 where you are invited to customize your account despite you have not gotten approval yet.

At the step 5 you can set up user id and password which you can then use to log in to check.

If you are instantly approved, you would not see Step 5 therefore no customization but since you are instantly approved, you should not have any anxiety to check.

If you only reached Step 3, you dont have the ability to customize it either.

Happy

They are not points. They are MILES.

If you book online you only need to pay tax and fee (the government 911 fee). Domestic flights the tax and fee is usually about $10xx per stop. So if your flight is JFK to MCO direct flight, the tax and fee is 10xx. If a connection is involved, it adds another 10xx.

If you need a phone agent to help you book, you would need to pay $20 phone booking fee.

You can only book American Airlines own flights online. All partner flights including AS flights require phone booking, thus the phone booking fee.

chubbuni13

How many people have been successful in applying for all three of the 75k bonuses? I signed up for the business and the AMEX at the same time in September and got 150k from it. Was thinking about canceling the Personal Amex and going for the Personal Visa to go for the trifecta and get that last 75k bonus... this is because a lot of people have said that they tried for all three at the same time and one of the personal cards would always get rejected.

Any thoughts?

Happy

You already knew your answer.

The way to successfully get all 3 cards is to do 2 personal cards simultaneously then add the biz card later.

If you dont believe in it and your credit report can take a hit, you can always try and see for yourself if you would be denied as being "this is for first time customer only" clause.

skynerd

As many of you are probably aware, you can sometimes effectively increase the rewards that you get from a credit card by using the credit card to buy a Visa, MasterCard or American Express gift card via a rebate site such as bigcrumbs. Citi is one of the few (only?) credit cards publicly reported to treat AmEx gift card purchases as cash advances.

So, I am pleased to report that I did a test purchase of a $500 Visa gift card on giftcards.com (not AmEx) via bigcrumbs.com and it apparently posted as a purchase on my Citi AA personal Visa. I believe it should count toward the second half of my 100k mile sign-up bonus. The discount on the card should net out to ~1.3% (2.4% minus activation fees and shipping). For more details see the first few paragraphs of my message at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/15515560-post299.html . If you are not familiar with rebates for credit card gift cards, a reasonable place to start would be the first post of the thread that contains the message I just mentioned: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...purchases.html .

huge

My wife and I would like to take advantage of the 75K offer. If we could get multiple 75K's that would be great, but if it's just 75K each, that would still be worth it. I'd like to confirm what the best strategy would be given the following:

We each have good credit - not sure exactly, but well over 700 FICO, probably over 750.

I have had a personal AA card before (MC I'm pretty sure) and probably biz as well, but neither recently. Pretty sure I have had neither in the past year, and it's probably been much more than a year since my last application.

My wife has never received AA bonus miles from a credit card.


Looking back through the last few pages of this thread, I surmise that I should be OK in terms of getting approved, given that I haven't had an AA card in a year. Correct?

Each of us could apply for two different personal cards and add a biz card later, correct? If we do that, should we apply from different IP addresses, or does it matter?

Do they care about multiple applications coming in from the same mailing address?

2 or 3 CC applications should only hit my FICO score by 10-15 points, correct? I haven't applied for any other cards recently.

Thanks for any tips on strategy and sequence that you can provide...

johndeere19

Do 2 personal each, the same day...BUT you may get a rejection after 2-3 due to too many recent apps from the same address so if you have another address, spread it out a bit. Make sure to at least clear recent (if not all) browsing history in between apps. Business may be possible, but shoot for 90+ days after these apps.

I'd recommend your wife sign up for her 2 personal from your home address first, then you sign up for another 2 if you have another address as you're less likely to get it due to your recent AA card holdings (yes ~1 year is still recent).

huge

excellent - thanks for the helpful reply. We'll apply for 2 for my wife first and then take it from there.

So it's best to do the 2 personal card apps more or less simultaneously, right?

And there's no reason to bother with doing them from different IP addresses?

Any confirmation to my vague idea that 2 card apps will only cost her <10 points on FICO score? Any idea how long it takes to gain those points back?

onthego15

If you are concerned with your FICO score, I suggest you track it yourself on creditkarma.com or some similar service. My experience is that my score has gone down very little in applying for new cards this year. Remember that how many cards you have is only one part of your score and your score is only one part of your overall credit health.

huge

I'm only mildly concerned about our FICO scores, so I was hoping for just a rule-of-thumb kind of guideline. I know that score calculations are complicated and mysterious - I'm happy to get just a "pretty good guess" at what will happen.

onthego15

IMHO, your guess is good.
A couple months ago, there was an extensive discussion on this blog about how many months/years does /Citi look back in deciding if you are considered "new" . the experience of previous cardholders who applied did vary, but I recall that people who hadn't had a Citi AA card for more than 18 months did well. Also, people who Citi considered to be "good" customers (used the card a lot, did not churn) also did fairly well in getting approved for new cards. Of course, there are no guarantees of what Citi will do.