@scottwagnon wrote:i have been testing this idea out but i go to a bank, credit union, grab a pamphlet or go directly to their website, select and apply for one of the credit cards that they offer that i like the most. then i fill out the applicaton and press continue/confirm to post. once i am on the confirm and submit page and see that all of my information is correct, i simply close the window. i have filled out 4 applications doing this and not actually applying. i just started doing this as an experiment to see if it will work, so i dont know what will happen. i hope my theory is correct about them saving my information and then responding to it by soft pulling my credit, thus sending me offers that they are willing to qualify me for. for now i am keeping my fingers crossed.
What is it you are trying to accomplish? Are you looking for better signup bonus offers? You can probably find those by searching the internet.
I don't think banks relax their credit criteria with a preapproval. If you get approved applying in response to a preapproval, I would imagine you would have been approved if you had just applied without the preapproval.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
@scottwagnon wrote:i have been testing this idea out but i go to a bank, credit union, grab a pamphlet or go directly to their website, select and apply for one of the credit cards that they offer that i like the most. then i fill out the application and press continue/confirm to post. once i am on the confirm and submit page and see that all of my information is correct, i simply close the window. ...........
.......i hope my theory is correct about them saving my information and then responding to it by soft pulling my credit, thus sending me offers that they are willing to qualify me for. For now I am keeping my fingers crossed.
If that procedure fails to generate any offers you can go back and repeat the process by almost applying for deposit accounts. You could almost open a checking account by almost transferring a few thousand dollars from a competitor where you park a whole lot of cash. How about shopping for CDs or IRA accounts. Who knows? You raise some interesting questions.
As for myself, if I wanted an offer from a particular bank, I would actually open both a checking and savings account and then park a minimum of $5,000 in each. I would opt in for all offers and then get a bigger mail box.
I don't know if you have a few thousand dollars available for deposit. If you do that's the way I do it. I call that system; "Show them the money". Of course it wouldn't hurt to grab a $100 sign up bonus if you can find one. I call that; "I show them my money and they give me their money". 
It also could help to target a bank that is a big competitor of a bank that appears as a tradeline in your credit reports. I think that would help in the approval process once an offer is accepted by you. It would also maximize the potential for the highest original credit limit. Chase and BofA has competed for my Luv for years.
Perhaps you are ready to shop around for an account to replace BofA and its new debit card fees. You could (almost) try to save the $5.00/month fee. Unlike your credit tradelines, new creditors don't see deposit accounts in your reports. Keep em guessing. Nobody can know for sure how many, savings, checking, cds, etc. you do or don't have.
Let us know how things work out. I think I might almost apply for some new credit/deposit accounts just to see what happens. Might be fun ! 
@CreditAble wrote:
@scottwagnon wrote:i have been testing this idea out but i go to a bank, credit union, grab a pamphlet or go directly to their website, select and apply for one of the credit cards that they offer that i like the most. then i fill out the application and press continue/confirm to post. once i am on the confirm and submit page and see that all of my information is correct, i simply close the window. ...........
.......i hope my theory is correct about them saving my information and then responding to it by soft pulling my credit, thus sending me offers that they are willing to qualify me for. For now I am keeping my fingers crossed.
If that procedure fails to generate any offers you can go back and repeat the process by almost applying for deposit accounts. You could almost open a checking account by almost transferring a few thousand dollars from a competitor where you park a whole lot of cash. How about shopping for CDs or IRA accounts. Who knows? You raise some interesting questions.
As for myself, if I wanted an offer from a particular bank, I would actually open both a checking and savings account and then park a minimum of $5,000 in each. I would opt in for all offers and then get a bigger mail box.
I don't know if you have a few thousand dollars available for deposit. If you do that's the way I do it. I call that system; "Show them the money". Of course it wouldn't hurt to grab a $100 sign up bonus if you can find one. I call that; "I show them my money and they give me their money".
It also could help to target a bank that is a big competitor of a bank that appears as a tradeline in your credit reports. I think that would help in the approval process once an offer is accepted by you. It would also maximize the potential for the highest original credit limit. Chase and BofA has competed for my Luv for years.
Perhaps you are ready to shop around for an account to replace BofA and its new debit card fees. You could (almost) try to save the $5.00/month fee. Unlike your credit tradelines, new creditors don't see deposit accounts in your reports. Keep em guessing. Nobody can know for sure how many, savings, checking, cds, etc. you do or don't have.
Let us know how things work out. I think I might almost apply for some new credit/deposit accounts just to see what happens. Might be fun !
Isn't this a lot of work for a $100 bonus?
4.2K 
10K 
24.6K 
@SevenNEW wrote:Isn't this a lot of work for a $100 bonus?
As per the thread topic, the primary objective is to generate pre approved credit card offers. Opening a checking account is not much work for me. I simply fill in the blanks. I don't really think that it is any more work than filling out all the credit card apps that the OP fills out and then doesn't submit. We are only filling out apps. If I was going to apply for a checking account why wouldn't I consider a $100 gift from a bank?
Some people used to say that it was a lot of work to take a 1 yr, 0%, fee free, $20,000 credit card balance transfer check from FIA; and then deposit it in a 5% BofA CD for a year. A few hours total over a year to stay on top of things netted a pretty good hourly rate of return. Even so the primary objective wasn't to pick up almost $1,000 for doing next to nothing. I used those BTs over time to raise my credit limits far beyond what my monthly usage would have warranted. The high limits were part of the plan to reach my 800 FICO score. My mission was accomplished and I picked up about $4,000 of free money along the way.
My point is that the work I am willing to do to accomplish my objectives might seem to be a lot of work for you to do but it might not be so hard for me. I personally don't have any difficulty filling out forms.
I was simply responding to the OP request for additional ideas. He might actually like the idea of getting paid a hundred dollars while endeavoring to get a few more pre approved offers. There are many people in this forum who advocate a lot of undertakings that I personally wouldn't see being worth my efforts, but I don't reply to their posts just to tell them so. I am sorry that my suggestions to the OP doesn't make much sense to you, and I do understand your point of view. There are plenty of things in life that are not worth my time. Many people might find the OP's pastime of almost apping for credit cards, is "not worth the work". I think it is an interesting concept.
It doesn't take me a whole hour to fill out a form. Even If it did I would be making $100 for that hour. Even if it was just a $50 bonus, that would be a free dinner out. Of course in the first place, the only purpose of my suggestion was to obtain a credit card offer from a particular bank by opening a deposit account with that bank. If there was a signup offer to boot, that would be A Bonus.
I apologize if I didn't make myself clear enough in my prior post.
Keep us posted if you wind up "artificially generating" a Financial Review.
@Odiseous wrote:
Isn't this a lot of work for a $100 bonus?
IMHO, yes. But that's only my *current* opinion.
The real question is: How much value do you currently place
on your 'free' (not spent at work) time? Can that time be spent
in a better way, based on your particular situation?
I'm lucky enough; that I no longer have to scrimp & save every penny,
So, yes. For some; that would be a lot of work for $100.
For others; $100 goes a long ways.
As always YMMV.
All of your points were well made. I was raised by parents who were children during the depression. I never quite had your experiences but I have had a wonderful life staying out of debt and not living beyond my means. Myself I don't need an extra $100, but I will not turn down a hundred dollars if it is being offered. I certainly don't do anything in life I don't already want to do just for a hundred dollars.
Personally I still get a lot of pre approved offers for credit cards and some even come with a $100 or more signup offer. I have enough credit cards for my needs so I don't apply for a card just for a $100 bonus. But if I wanted the card that would be another matter. I get $100 offers to open checking accounts. I have enough accounts for now so I don't open more just for the $100. There are many people who open and close checking accounts frequently just to get a few hundred dollars a year. I never personally did that. That doesn't mean that others shouldn't do it.
I spent quite a bit of time, possibly too much time responding to the same post you did.
Now that I read your post, I believe all that I had needed to say was:
"Different Strokes For Different Folks 
!"
.
umm. thats amex. im not actually having my credit hard pulled, but certainly a ton of soft pulls. i don't plan on 'fishing' either until i know i am good and ready. FR? you mean cause i just got a gold card combined with 'maxing out' the credit check tool? 
@haulingthescoreup wrote:Keep us posted if you wind up "artificially generating" a Financial Review.