topic Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required in Credit Card Approvals

Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

ratchada — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:10:05 GMT

I've had my eye on this one for a while, since Alaska miles can be very valuable for booking international business class award flights (only 60,000 miles needed for Cathay Pacific first class to Southeast Asia!!)...plus they're actual quite easy to acquire; Alaska is one of the few airlines I'll fly domestically, which works out well for me since I live in and primarily travel within California. Also, Alaska's online shopping portal is pretty useful; I've accumulated close to 6,000 miles using it in the past 3 months or so.

I applied for an offer I was targeted for over e-mail: $2k MSR for 40,000 miles and $100 statement credit (as far as I can tell, the only thing that makes this different from the usual public offer is that statement credit), and was instantly approved with a $3,200 CL. I was 10/24 at the time of application, with 2-3 HPs in the past several months.

So anyway, I'm very happy to get this card so early in my "end game" (I'll be retiring and leaving the US in 6+ years), since this means that after I close this card after the first year, I'll have ample time to get another (you have to have not the card 48 months to apply again) before I retire.

As I said, I've had my eye on this card for a while, but based on multiple DPs I've seen, I was expecting to have to open a $1,500 CD with BofA in order to get approved for this card, and I'm glad that wasn't the case! I do have a BofA checking acct., but I only keep $10 in it after transferring out the $250+ direct deposit I have set up each month in order to avoid the fee (I opened the acct. this year to get the recent $100 bonus, but I was keeping it to help with getting approved for their credit cards).

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

ratchada — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:13:47 GMT

Forget to add an additional DP: I was given the option upon approval to get my card number to use immediately. Not sure if I will, but of course I recorded it; nice to have the option.

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

Meanmchine — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:24:45 GMT

Congrats !

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

PutThatMoneyOnTheTable — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 14:35:42 GMT

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

ToxikPH — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 14:39:25 GMT

You say you’re 10/24, what’s your ?/12 ?

I Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

ratchada — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 14:42:07 GMT

Bastards!!! I got hosed!

They gave me the FAR inferior "Visa Platinum Plus" and not the "Visa Signature" that I applied for. They don't tell you this, nor do they explain the vastly inferior benefits of the "Platinum:" instead of a SUB of 40,000 miles for $2k MSR, you get a paltry 5,000 miles for $1k MSR, and instead of a $100 statement credit, you get a $50 (yearly) statement credit for Alaska purchases. The annual fee is $50 (as opposed to $75 for the Signature). I had to find all this out on various blogs, after I saw in my BofA account that they had given me the "Platinum Plus." I'm a very unhappy customer now.

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

snickerpedia — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 14:47:47 GMT

Congrats!!

I am just curious where you have seen data points that show you would need a BOA CD account to get this card? Is this a known thing with BOA cards??

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

ratchada — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 15:04:19 GMT

@snickerpedia wrote:
Congrats!!

I am just curious where you have seen data points that show you would need a BOA CD account to get this card? Is this a known thing with BOA cards??

Definitely on the r/churning Subreddit...other places too, I'm pretty sure. Sometimes they even come right out and tell you that you need to open a CD in order for them to approve you.

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

snickerpedia — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 15:05:28 GMT

wow i have never heard of that, good to know. Is it only for certain cards that they offer?

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

ratchada — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 15:27:21 GMT

@snickerpedia wrote:
wow i have never heard of that, good to know. Is it only for certain cards that they offer?

That I'm not sure of...but it's definitely a thing to keep in mind when applying for BofA cards. The Alaska ones are the only ones I'm interested in.

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

stonedog23 — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 15:50:53 GMT

My mom has a B of A card with no other relationship and they are soliciting her for another.

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 18:00:35 GMT

Congrats on the approval, though a bummer that it's not the product you wanted.

Just another reason for me to lean towards other Banks, I don't like when they do this either. It's happend once before, though much earlier in my rebuild.

I've avoided BoA CC for quite some time due to my actual relationship with them, and not keeping much cash in my accounts there.

I do fly Alska more often than not, or most other carriers. So this card does appeal to me from time to time, especcialy with this most recent offer!

However, the recent DPs for the DC Power Visa have left me hesitant to app any cards ATM. Especially one who likes to switch products at their whim. BTW, what CR did they pull?

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

ratchada — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 18:38:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Congrats on the approval, though a bummer that it's not the product you wanted.
Just another reason for me to lean towards other Banks, I don't like when they do this either. It's happend once before, though much earlier in my rebuild.

I've avoided BoA CC for quite some time due to my actual relationship with them, and not keeping much cash in my accounts there.
I do fly Alska more often than not, or most other carriers. So this card does appeal to me from time to time, especcialy with this most recent offer!

However, the recent DPs for the DC Power Visa have left me hesitant to app any cards ATM. Especially one who likes to switch products at their whim. BTW, what CR did they pull?

Okay, it's much better than I thought when I first posted being upset about it being a "Platinum Plus." I just got off the phone with Bank of America, and those huge differences between the two types of cards are a thing of the past. Even with the lower version of the card, I still get 40k miles after $2k spend, plus the $100 statement credit that was promised in the offer I responded to. Apparently they had gotten lots of flak about that bait-and-switch move, and rightly so...so they actually responded positively.

They pulled Experian (mine is 744). I still don't really understand why they gave me such a low CL (apparently you have to get $5k or better to qualify for the "Signature Visa" version of the card)...I have multiple cards with CLs over $5k. But oh well, I got what I wanted, 40k Alaska miles just based on organic spending...with the miles I already have, very close to my goal of a first class Cathay Pacific award flight from SFO to BKK (60k miles, one-way).

Re: I Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

randomguy1 — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 19:23:30 GMT

@ratchada wrote:
Bastards!!! I got hosed!

They gave me the FAR inferior "Visa Platinum Plus" and not the "Visa Signature" that I applied for. They don't tell you this, nor do they explain the vastly inferior benefits of the "Platinum:" instead of a SUB of 40,000 miles for $2k MSR, you get a paltry 5,000 miles for $1k MSR, and instead of a $100 statement credit, you get a $50 (yearly) statement credit for Alaska purchases. The annual fee is $50 (as opposed to $75 for the Signature). I had to find all this out on various blogs, after I saw in my BofA account that they had given me the "Platinum Plus." I'm a very unhappy customer now.

I was going to reply and have you check this. Typically you need a $5,000 credit limit to get the Signature otherwise you get the Platinum Plus. Somewhere in the application terms, it states that you will either get the Platinum or the Signature. I don't like the way they do that at all.

edit: Do they let you recon the higher credit limit?

Re: I Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

ratchada — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 19:27:38 GMT

@randomguy1 wrote:
@ratchada wrote:
Bastards!!! I got hosed!

They gave me the FAR inferior "Visa Platinum Plus" and not the "Visa Signature" that I applied for. They don't tell you this, nor do they explain the vastly inferior benefits of the "Platinum:" instead of a SUB of 40,000 miles for $2k MSR, you get a paltry 5,000 miles for $1k MSR, and instead of a $100 statement credit, you get a $50 (yearly) statement credit for Alaska purchases. The annual fee is $50 (as opposed to $75 for the Signature). I had to find all this out on various blogs, after I saw in my BofA account that they had given me the "Platinum Plus." I'm a very unhappy customer now.
I was going to reply and have you check this. Typically you need a $5,000 credit limit to get the Signature otherwise you get the Platinum Plus. Somewhere in the application terms, it states that you will either get the Platinum or the Signature. I don't like the way they do that at all.

edit: Do they let you recon the higher credit limit?

Read my newer post...turns out they now both have the same benefits, at least the ones that matter to me (mainly the SUB of 40k miles). So no, I didn't try to recon the CL.

Re: Approved for Bank of America Alaska Airlines card, $3,200 CL, no BofA CD required

M_Smart007 — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 14:24:40 GMT

Congrats!!!