Approved for BofA Premium Rewards Card!

[Schmoopy]

So I needed a good travel rewards card.

On 2/2018 I applied to BofA Travel Rewards card and was denied. Ever since then I've been trying to improve my credit (secured card, AU user accounts etc). Also maintained BofA business account as my main business account.

My Fico scores as of today are: EX  797, TU 709 and EQ 709.

I applied at a BofA branch. I wasn't too confident about my odds to get the Premium Rewards card since it has a minmum credit limit for approval. I think around $5K (speculation?). And I have below 750 scores on both TU and EQ. My banker emphasized that even if everything looks good but I don't meet the CL threshold, the application could be denied.

My CL is overall $7900 for 4 cards (plus 1 Amex Gold charge card) so I wasn't too sure I'll meet the Premium Rewards minimum threshold for CL. I also have 3 BofA credit cards as an AU with an overall limit of $60K. But since under my name I only have $3K, $2.6K, $1.5K and $800 cards, I wasn't too sure.

I applied first for the travel rewards card and got instantly approved for $18K CL. I was kind of surprised so applied for the Premium and got apporved instantly for $18K as well. My credit history is pretty new so 2 new cards would def lower my AAofA, plus another two hard inquires.. but I figured it's worth taking the hit for the rewards of the premium card.

Opened BofA checkings and savings account right after that to get the X1.5*1.1=1.65 rewards point per $1 spent on regular purchases.

The credit limit for cards under my name increased from $7900 to $43,900. 

I assume that big part of the approval means BofA takes into account BofA AU accounts pretty seriously...

I think that I'll get the Travel Rewards card, use it for $1000 to get the 25,000 bonus points, then call BofA and ask them to transfer the CL to the premium card and use only the Premium card, does that make sense?

[Anonymous]

BAM! That's how you do it. Mega-congrats on the awesome haul.

Are you going to come visit us in the Garden for a while or do you have big plans for the future?

[Schmoopy]

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@Anonymous wrote:
BAM! That's how you do it. Mega-congrats on the awesome haul.

Are you going to come visit us in the Garden for a while or do you have big plans for the future?

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Well, those were my only HP during 2018 and I'm def joining you in the garden! Have too many inquiries (mortgage last year haha) and really low AAoA so not applying for anything in the forseeable future!

[kdm31091]

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@Schmoopy wrote:

I think that I'll get the Travel Rewards card, use it for $1000 to get the 25,000 bonus points, then call BofA and ask them to transfer the CL to the premium card and use only the Premium card, does that make sense?

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It may not matter, but honestly I don't think that type of behavior makes you look so great to the bank. I'd hang on to the Travel card and just SD it after the bonus, putting occasional spend on it, and close it after a year. Not like it costs you anything, and you can transfer any points over to your Premium account anyway.

Another option is to convert the Travel to a Cash Rewards, since there's really no reason after the bonus for you to use the Travel card -- the Premium bests it in every way (assuming you can justify the AF).

[Anonymous]

Noice. Congrats 🥓🍾🎊🎈🎉

[Cred4All]

Congrats on the great SL and approvals!

[Anonymous]

Great Job, S. Congrats! on two excellent approvals. 

[Anonymous]

Congrats on the approval.  Enjoy your card.

[Anonymous]

Wow that's a huge increase in credit in a very short period of time! Congrats!

[Bees18]

@schmoopy

congrats! How old was your credit history the first time they denied you vs. how old it was with the AU cards and approved you?