topic Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card in Credit Card Approvals

Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

K-in-Boston — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 19:09:48 GMT

Needed a new couch, so went furniture shopping up in the 'burbs at Jordan's Furniture (your regular neighborhood furniture store with an IMAX theatre and indoor ropes course inside). Fully intended to just put it on SPG for 4000 or so Starpoints but since TD Bank is offering 72 months at 0% on their store card, the temptation was real and I pulled the one-armed bandit. $10k SL and not charged until we take delivery in a few months, so there should be an opportunity to pay it under 30% before it reports if I choose to. Maybe I'll just enjoy the $50-something/month couch for a while. HP on EX, score is 736.

I was moving around some expiring balance transfers last night and decided that I want to move a balance over to my Travel Rewards card since that's the one I plan on keeping long-term (albeit with a future PC to plain ol' BankAmericard). BoA stole $21k of its limit when I opened my Premium Rewards card back in September bringing it down to $5800 from $26,800. An immediate CLI request on it gave me $7100 back, bringing it to $12,900. I decided since I was out of the garden, may as well give it a shot. Asked for $50k and they came back with $23,000. Not what I wanted, but hard to knock a $10,100 CLI 3 months and change after the last one. A HP on TU as expected, score also 736. Since I actually haven't asked for a CLI on my Cash Rewards card since getting it in June (surprising, I know), and knowing that there was no harm in asking, I asked for a CLI from the $7500 SL ($6,000 of it "stolen" from my BankAmericard which was at $34,600 after receiving a $13,000 CLI moments before) to $25,000 and they countered with $15,000.

That brings me to a total of $92,600 across four cards with BoA, plus I'm an AU on DW's $70,000 card. I'm almost positive I could have pushed it beyond $100k total last night had I asked for a CLI on my Premium Rewards and/or BankAmericard cards, but thought I'd hold off for now. My plan for the summer is to ask for CLIs on those two cards, then close them and combine them into my Travel Rewards card. Even without any additional CLIs, that would give me a $71,600 Travel Rewards and a $21,000 Premium Rewards. I plan to PC my Travel Rewards card (which was an MBNA card opened in 2005) to a BankAmericard for balance transfer purposes after that is done. My plan was to churn the Premium Rewards and combine it, but I'm actually thinking about keeping it for the time being. If I don't get a big CLI on my existing BankAmericard prior to the merging of the three cards, I may just move most of the credit line over. I really want that first $100,000 limit credit card!

Brief history of my BoA cards:

Travel Rewards (circa December 2005, was an MBNA card originally and at the $5,100 SL for a decade.) $3,000 auto-CLI in early 2016 ($8,100). $8,100 CLI 01/17 ($16,200). $10,600 CLI 04/17 ($26,800). $21,000 automatically moved to Premium Rewards 09/17 ($5,800). $7100 CLI 09/17 ($12,900). $10,100 CLI 01/18($23,000).
BankAmericard (circa November 2016, talked into by senior analyst when asking for an APR reduction on TR card. $12,000 SL.) $9,600 CLI 02/17 ($21,600). $13,000 CLI 06/17 ($34,600). $6,000 automatically moved to Cash Rewards 06/17 ($28,600). $5,000 CLI 09/17 ($33,600).
Cash Rewards (circa June 2017, offer popped up when I was logging out after $13k CLI on BankAmericard, $7,500 SL and $6,000 of it taken from that CLI I had just received). $7,500 CLI 01/18 ($15,000).
Premium Rewards (circa 09/17, $21,000 SL all taken from my TR card.)

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

Adkins — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 19:58:01 GMT

Congratulations!! 👍👍

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:08:26 GMT

Amazing.

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

credit_endurance — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:10:06 GMT

That’s awesome K! I’m going to give it 6 months between requests this time instead of my typical 3 and see if I can squeeze out a more substantial increase from them.

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

K-in-Boston — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:14:54 GMT

Thanks to you all. I just added up my revolving accounts and with the NFCU CLOC, I'm less than $11k from hitting the $600k club. Woohoo!

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

K-in-Boston — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:19:27 GMT

@credit_endurance wrote:
That’s awesome K! I’m going to give it 6 months between requests this time instead of my typical 3 and see if I can squeeze out a more substantial increase from them.

I wish there was an easy way for us to be able to tell whether it actually makes a difference or not. As you can see by my dates, I got 5-digit CLIs just 3-4 months after receiving others. Cash Rewards is the only one that I've requested where I waited more than 6 months and it was "only" (oh boy do I sound jaded now!) $7500, although that was a 2X CLI so nothing to sneeze at. Best of luck, though!

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

Time2letgo — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:23:19 GMT

Congratulations, that's super awesome!!! Is BOA always a HP for CLI?

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:30:25 GMT

Holy cow! Thats awesome!

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

K-in-Boston — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:32:09 GMT

@Time2letgo wrote:
Congratulations, that's super awesome!!! Is BOA always a HP for CLI?

Thanks! BoA does auto-CLIs (rarely) that are not HPs. They also target users for a SP CLI request (rarely). Otherwise, customer-initiated requests are almost universally TransUnion pulls. The exception to that is if they have already pulled a report for you for another reason (recent CLI request or app), as they will reuse HPs for about 30 days. (FWIW, new apps are almost always Experian pulls.)

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

DeeBee78 — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 21:40:36 GMT

Congrats on the progress, K! I'm tempted to hit the CLI button on my 123, but I'm using it for a massive BT consolidation that has it pegged at 80% utilization for the next three months, at least. I'll pay a chunk of it off in March, when I need a score boost for a new car loan.

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

simplynoir — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:03:49 GMT

Congrats on the CLIs there, sir! Goal is almost in sight...

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

credit_endurance — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:05:11 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@credit_endurance wrote:
That’s awesome K! I’m going to give it 6 months between requests this time instead of my typical 3 and see if I can squeeze out a more substantial increase from them.
I wish there was an easy way for us to be able to tell whether it actually makes a difference or not. As you can see by my dates, I got 5-digit CLIs just 3-4 months after receiving others. Cash Rewards is the only one that I've requested where I waited more than 6 months and it was "only" (oh boy do I sound jaded now!) $7500, although that was a 2X CLI so nothing to sneeze at. Best of luck, though!

Right.. I know...I was on a pretty good roll with them up until Nov when my last cli request(s) only yielded $3,900 total between both my Merrill + & 123 Rewards. I even used that pull to app for Premier Rewards and of course declined. Figure now it’s time for me to cool my heels with them for at least 6 months this time and it might yield some nice results down the road. 😉

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

K-in-Boston — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:14:16 GMT

@DeeBee78 wrote:
Congrats on the progress, K! I'm tempted to hit the CLI button on my 123, but I'm using it for a massive BT consolidation that has it pegged at 80% utilization for the next three months, at least. I'll pay a chunk of it off in March, when I need a score boost for a new car loan.

Thanks (and thanks to everyone else, as well)! You may be interested to read the first post from my thread nearly a year ago. This BoA CLI-mania began with massive CLIs on 3 cards that had 70-82% utilization from balance transfers. BoA loves high utilization, as long as it's on their own cards and not across the board with other lenders as well.

@credit_endurance I think I've seen more people denied for Premium Rewards than approved; don't take it personally!

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

luxeprw9 — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:18:14 GMT

Congrats! Your track record with BOA is impressive!

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:21:09 GMT

Congrats Buddy🍾🎈🎉🎊. BOA obviously loves you. I am due for a cli. I’m not asking for a while. The last one was like a 130% increase. I don’t run a ton of spend on it. It won’t have any interest until December. Then I PC to a reward card. May use for a BT soon though. And for the love of god keep warm. 🌬🌞

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

K-in-Boston — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:22:09 GMT

@luxeprw9 wrote:
Congrats! Your track record with BOA is impressive!

Thanks, but DW blows me out of the water! $22k - $25k with auto-CLI. Then her 3 HPs resulted in $40k, $60k, and now $70k - on a single card. Glad that credit is not a competition!

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

simplynoir — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:23:38 GMT

How fluid is BoA with regards to PC for cards? I plan to app for the PR card initially but I don't know if I want to keep it long term but I also acknowledge I might want to go back if I have remorse doing it. So just curious how they treat going from one card to another so to speak.

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

Gmood1 — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:27:54 GMT

The B-town baller has done it again! lol
Congrats man!

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

luxeprw9 — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:30:16 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@luxeprw9 wrote:
Congrats! Your track record with BOA is impressive!
Thanks, but DW blows me out of the water! $22k - $25k with auto-CLI. Then her 3 HPs resulted in $40k, $60k, and now $70k - on a single card. Glad that credit is not a competition!

I've been following your progress because I am working on my BOA card. Based on your previous post, you indicated that BOA loves high utilization. But what about hard pulls? Are they sensitive to that? I have 6 so far (3 from BOA alone - 2 declines and 1 approval) and it's freaking me out!! I want to grow this card but I'm concerned with excessive hard pulls.

Re: Weekend Update: Almost $100k BoA + store card

DeeBee78 — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:31:46 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@DeeBee78 wrote:
Congrats on the progress, K! I'm tempted to hit the CLI button on my 123, but I'm using it for a massive BT consolidation that has it pegged at 80% utilization for the next three months, at least. I'll pay a chunk of it off in March, when I need a score boost for a new car loan.

Thanks (and thanks to everyone else, as well)! You may be interested to read the first post from my thread nearly a year ago. This BoA CLI-mania began with massive CLIs on 3 cards that had 70-82% utilization from balance transfers. BoA loves high utilization, as long as it's on their own cards and not across the board with other lenders as well.

@credit_endurance I think I've seen more people denied for Premium Rewards than approved; don't take it personally!

HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP, K!!!! Request 40K, got 30K, which is a 50% increase! I guess there was no need to wait until March, but there goes my spade, lol