The pre-approval tool for Smartly came back, so I did it. I'm in New England; I had TU unfrozen based on data points, but they asked for Exp. So I unfroze Exp and went for it—preapproved. No limits though, and I had heard that they can be super stingy. Also I had a recent experience with a preapproval gone wrong with Nasa FCU, so I was a bit weary.
I called, and they told me the CL ($2,000), which isn't great, but at least it wasn't the dreaded and difficult to manage $500. Interestingly the agents kept saying things like, "your application is already approved, we're just waiting for you to accept the offer." So it seems like the preapproval for me was well and truly a preapproval. I'm like 9/24 on new cards, and 4/12 on inquiries, so all of the 2/12 datapoints are definitely report-specific. This might explain the low limit however. One other thing that might have worked in my favor—I had the REI card when US Bank serviced it, so I had a pretty long history with them in a certain sense. No open accounts beside that one. But they should know that we go way back!
I'm going to do the savings account and consider asset transfer in the future but I'm really in no rush. I don't know about others but I favor a travel rewards strategy in anticipation of upcoming (6-12 months out) trips, but once those are all booked, switching to cash back is a nice change. TVM and all of that. Also I guess I'm officially gardening now, or at least that's what I should be doing!
@NoMoreE46 wrote:ps, the white gold in your siggy is the first one I have noticed here.
It's entirely possible I'm just in the minority of people who are willing to admit to liking the white gold! 
@quickstep_knoll wrote:
@NoMoreE46 wrote:ps, the white gold in your siggy is the first one I have noticed here.
It's entirely possible I'm just in the minority of people who are willing to admit to liking the white gold!
I got all three versions.
I think the color scheme for the white could have been a bit better.
