I’ve had a quiet period on my credit report recently, with the only inquries in the last 6 months being 1 inquiry from Citi on Experian for 2 AA cards about 80 Days ago, and 1 Mortgage Inquiry on all three credit bureaus about 60 days ago.
So, about three weeks ago, I did a huge app spree for every credit card I thought I had a non-zero chance of getting.
I thought you guys might get a kick out out of seeing just exactly how reckless you can be with applications.
The spree was not as successful as I would have hoped. I wasted the top two spots on Citizen’s Bank cards that were declined. I could have had at least 2 more approvals if I had moved the barclays applications to these spots.
I ended up with 18 applications submitted in one day Edited.
6 Denials
2 for “Sufficient Credit”
1 for Citi’s 2-card rule
1 for Citi’s new 1 Hilton at time rule
1 for Business too new
2 for Barclays being conservative
12 Approvals
The Haul (after some spending):
5% on Grocery for 6 months, worth at least 50k points, hopefully more
100k British Airways Miles and a companion pass
65k United Miles
400$ Cash
100k Hilton Points
25k Starwood Points
270k Hilton for 345$ in fees (will try to get them waived)
6 Hilton points per $ at CVS until May, worth 100k Hilton points at least
Gold Hilton Status
All in, I’ll probably clear at least $5,000 in value from these applications.
2k in BA tickets, 1k in United tickets, 2k+ in Hotels, some cash back
First Application:
Charter One – 5% back on pharmacy for 3 Months, estimated value of 50000 points
Declined, and turned down by reconciliation because of “Sufficient Credit Obligations from Other Issuers”. I called up for reconciliation and was told that they wouldn’t give me a card because I already had enough credit from other banks. I hung up and tried again, with the same result. I was told that a manager had already manually reviewed the application, and would not approve it. The credit analyst actually started rattling off the other accounts I had (25k with BoA, 20 k with Chase, etc.)
This was a total waste since it was the first and second application I put in.
Second Application
Citizen’s Bank – 5% back on pharmacy for 3 Months, estimated value of 50000 points
Same as Charter One, since they are two faces of the same bank, this isn’t too surprising.
Third Application
TD Bank -5% back on grocery for 6 Months, estimated value of 50000 points
Finally approved after 12 days, with no intervention from me. I will churn this card with Grocery-store based gift cards for the next 6 months, with a goal of $500 cash back per month. 10k Limit.
Fourth Application
Citi AA Business with EIN, 50k miles
Denied. This was a casualty of my experiment if I could get around Citi’s 2 application limit by applying with an EIN as the primary number supplied instead of my SSN. No, you can’t, and this was processed as the third Citi app, causing this denial. Reconsideration failed for this app because of the strict rule on 2 apps.
Fifth Application
Chase British Airways – 100k BA miles after 20k spend, companion pass after 30k
Initially denied, but approved by calling reconsideration. I am going to put 30k on this card and use the 130k (100k bonus, 30k spending) miles and the companion pass to book 2 first class trans-Atlantic tickets this summer. 9k limit.
Sixth Application
Chase INK Bold with EIN – 50k UR points
Declined after 14 days. I’m not going to try recon for this one. The reason for denial was “Business too new”, probably because this EIN is only a couple months old.
Seventh Application
Chase United Card – 65000 value, 50000 United miles after 1k, 5000 for an AU, bonus 10k after 25k spend
Initially denied, but approved by calling reconsideration. 5k limit.
Eighth Application
Barclays’ NFL : $400, or 40000 points equiv
Approved automatically. Received and bonus already paid out. 6k limit.
Ninth Application
Citi Hilton Reserve, two free nights, automatic Gold status as long as you have the card, 95$ annual fee
Unfortunately, a victim of Citi’s new policy of only one Hilton or AA card at at time. Initially declined, and the very nice credit analyst still couldn’t get it approved on recon. He actually put in it for approval, and had it rejected by ‘the computer’ because I had already received the other citi hilton card.
Tenth Application
Citi Hilton Platinum, 50k points, no fee
Automatically approved. 11.7k limit.
Eleventh Application
American Express Hilton, 50k points, no fee, automatic silver status
Initially deferred, but approved automatically the following day. 10k limit.
Twelfth Application
American Express Starwood Business, 25k points after 5k spend
Initially deferred, but approved the following week without any intervention by me. 4k limit.
Thirteenth Application
Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines Card. 70k Hilton Points, 89$ fee
Initially deferred, but approved by recon. 12k limit.
Fourteenth Application
Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines Business Card, 70k Hilton Points, 89$ fee
Initially deferred, but approved the following week without any intervention by me. 7.5k limit.
Fifteenth Application
Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines Card. 70k Hilton Points, 89$ fee
Initially deferred, but approved by recon. 5k limit.
Sixteenth Application
American Express Hilton Surpass Card, 60k Hilton points, Free gold status the first year, diamond status after 40k spend, 6x points at CVS until May
Initially deferred, but approved the following day automatically. 10k limit.
Seventeenth Application
Barclays US Airways Card, 50k points after first purchase and a small BT
Declined, denied by recon. Analyst only two two other inquiries and two new accounts open, and still asked why I was appying for ‘so many cards’. He noted that I had recently open the NFL card and that I should wait for that account to age some.
Eighteenth Application
Barclays US Airways Business Card, 50k points after first purchase and a small BT
Declined, didn’t call recon.
Inquiry Damage:
7 Experian Queries
1 Equifax Query
2 Transunion Queries
Average Age of Accounts change:
Via TU, Average age prior to App-o-Rama was 38 months.
After, average age was 33 months.
Open Accounts Change:
23 Accounts open prior to App-o-Rama
35 Accounts open after App-r-Rama.
Credit Score Damage:
Pre App-o-Rama TU Score was 759, dropped immediately to 747 the day after.
Pre App-o-Rama Experian Score was 747, no update yet.
10 Days post App-o-Rama TU Score was 727, with 2 inquiries and 3 new accounts reported.
20 Days post App-o-Rama: TU Score was 727, with 2 inquiries and 7 new accounts reported.
*8/10/13
Starting Score: 530
