Getting in with Citi

[Anonymous]

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@fused wrote:

CITI PremierPass, be sure you don't have a recent baddies or unpaid collections or COs

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I thought ANY collections or charge offs are automatic denials for Citi. I thought they were extremely picky.

I believe the Diamond Preferred Rewards cards from Citi are also easier to get.

I got approved for PP with a clean 678 EQ for $6000.

[haulingthescoreup]

cheddar, what's your plan on how this card will report, as it won't show the actual CL? Were you mulling over this when you started the other thread about not worrying about cards reporting balances?

I can see how, once you are done applying for a while, you wouldn't worry about reported util. Well, other than wondering if You-Know-Who will notice.

Are you thinking of doing one of those cash advances, repaid quick-as-a-bunny to establish a high limit? Or will it just be a que sera, sera?

[Anonymous]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
cheddar, what's your plan on how this card will report, as it won't show the actual CL? Were you mulling over this when you started the other thread about not worrying about cards reporting balances?

I can see how, once you are done applying for a while, you wouldn't worry about reported util. Well, other than wondering if You-Know-Who will notice.

Are you thinking of doing one of those cash advances, repaid quick-as-a-bunny to establish a high limit? Or will it just be a que sera, sera?

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Well, I'm going to let a small balance report the first statement, just to see if I'll luck out and it will report the way it's supposed to.  You know, as an "Other" type account with one-month terms.

If it does, then I should be golden.  If it doesn't, though, then I guess I'm going to have to pay it off before the statement.  I'm not brave enough to attempt the one-time advance on a card with an $11K access line that I'm not sure how I qualified for in the first place.

I'm having second thoughts about what I planned to do on that other thread.  As much as I'd love to have a laissez-faire attitude about utilization and number of cards reporting a balance, I'm almost positive I'm going to chicken out once the time comes to actually do it.

It wouldn't be much of an experiment at this point anyway since a new card has been thrown into the mix.  I know my July scores, but my August scores will obviously be influenced by the new Citi account, so I wouldn't know how much of the hit to come in August would be due to that and how much would be due to letting my balances report.

Also, the score estimator scared me when it predicted high 600s across the board.  I've worked too hard to get where I am to backslide that much!

[haulingthescoreup]

FWIW, now that I have this ridiculous number of accounts, I've gotten away with as many as four cards reporting balances without penalty.

Always with balances:
mortgage
car loan
HELOC
BT card

Available to counter-balance:
10 other CC's, plus the American Express card

With DH using several of these cards, plus PenFed's fuzziness about posting charges right before the statement date, there has only been one time when only the BT card posted. There's a lot to be said for wiggle room.

[Anonymous]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
FWIW, now that I have this ridiculous number of accounts, I've gotten away with as many as four cards reporting balances without penalty.

Always with balances:
mortgage
car loan
HELOC
BT card

Available to counter-balance:
10 other CC's, plus the American Express card

With DH using several of these cards, plus PenFed's fuzziness about posting charges right before the statement date, there has only been one time when only the BT card posted. There's a lot to be said for wiggle room.

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Heck yes, I love playing this game.

14 CC = Twelve plus two AU cards

1 SL

1 Mtg

1 Car (soon to show PIF)

Last month I had 5/17 -- Next month it should show 5/16 (or 6/17 with 2nd mtg).

I'm cancelling my DMB/HSBC Disc after the Mtg closes.  I'll end up with 13CCs (3 reporting), 1 SL and 2 Mtgs.  Of course, this is until I apply (and hopefully get) a new shiny card -- exact card TBD.

[Anonymous]

Update:  Got a SW alert for the INQ on EQ today.  Going from zero to one cost me zero points.

[Anonymous]

I'm waltzing in here kinda late, but just apply for the cards; you don't have to wait for a pre-app offer.  I got my 3 Citi cards by applying for them "cold"--I love Citi!

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cheddar wrote:

I currently don't have any Citi cards in my own name.  I am AU on DF's Sears MC, which has a perfect history.

Citi used to send me preapprovals for all kinds of products.  For a time, I was getting about one a day from them.  Citi Flex LOC, Diamond Preferred, Plat Select, Sunoco, Exxon, Home Depot, etc etc.  I never took them up on any of them, and one day the offers stopped showing up.

There are two Citi cards I would like to have.  Unfortunately, I've never gotten an offer for either of them, since they're not exactly their entry level cards.  They are:

Citi Professional (Cash or TYN)

Citi Platinum Amex

For the Citi veterans out there, what's the best way for me to go about getting these two cards?  Should I apply for one of them directly?  Should I wait for the preapproved offers to start showing up again and use one of them as a foot in the door, just so I can product change to one of the cards I really want?  (Is it even possible to PC to Plat Amex?  I kind of wouldn't think so.)

Would it be better for me to get my foot in the door with a different card (one I don't really want), just so I can have a history with them before I apply for one of these higher-end cards?

Scores in my siggy.  10 accounts less than 12 months.  Three accounts less than six months.  TU and EQ have 0 INQs.  EX has 8 INQs.  Clean reports other than 3 lates on EQ from 2003.

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[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm waltzing in here kinda late, but just apply for the cards; you don't have to wait for a pre-app offer. I got my 3 Citi cards by applying for them "cold"--I love Citi!

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If you have a chance to catch up on this thread, you'll see that somewhere back around page 2 on this thread, you'll see that cheddar killed the mighty beast and drove back home to Brooklyn with it tied on his car roof, dripping blood along the Taconic State Parkway.

The rest of us periodically break to wipe up our drool.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I noticed.  That's what I get for waltzing in here 3 days late!!

Congrats Cheddar, on that SWEET cl.

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm waltzing in here kinda late, but just apply for the cards; you don't have to wait for a pre-app offer. I got my 3 Citi cards by applying for them "cold"--I love Citi!

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If you have a chance to catch up on this thread, you'll see that somewhere back around page 2 on this thread, you'll see that cheddar killed the mighty beast and drove back home to Brooklyn with it tied on his car roof, dripping blood along the Taconic State Parkway.

The rest of us periodically break to wipe up our drool.

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[Anonymous]

First good job with the Citi Amex platinum. I wasn't even aware of this card or it's benefits before today. To Cheddar. If you call the concierge # for this card. Who does i connect you with? Do they say concierge or personal assistant? I think Citi is a great bank that goes above and beyond in customer service and doesn't havea problem granting good credit limits and increases. Wherever AMEX or Discover are not accepted I reach for one of my cards from Citibank.