UPDATE 10/1/2015: Please note that the 30K SPG offers described in this post have expired.
Yesterday, my wife applied for 8 new credit cards and was instantly approved for 5 of them. At the time of this writing, the other 3 are pending. Here’s the story…
I realized yesterday that my wife had never signed up for SPG cards (yes, major lapse on my part!). So, with the current 30K SPG offers, it was time. And, I figured that she might as well throw in a few other applications as well. Here are the cards she applied for:
- Bank of America Virgin Atlantic: 75K bonus after $12K spend
- Bank of America Virgin Atlantic: 75K bonus after $12K spend (2nd application)
- Bank of America Alaska Business: 25K bonus upon approval
- Citi ThankYou Premier: 50K after $3K spend
- CitiBusiness AA: 50K after $3K spend
- Amex Business Gold: 75K after $10K spend
- Amex SPG Business: 30K after $5K spend
- Amex SPG Personal: 30K after $3K spend
Caution
I do not recommend signing up for this many cards at once. Only sign up for cards if you know that you’ll be able to pay off the balances in full each month, and that you can meet the minimum spend requirements.
Bank of America
Soon after I successfully signed up for 4 Virgin Atlantic cards in one day, I started hearing that BOA had changed their approval process. I experienced the new process myself when I tried again in July (see: New BOA approval process and a stumble on my way to Necker Island). My wife, though, hasn’t applied for any cards in a while so I knew she could easily get at least one card, and hopefully two. My theory was that she could get one personal card and one business card in one day. Not wanting to leave any points on the table, though, I thought it made sense for my wife to at least try to get two of the same cards as well.
She applied first for a Virgin Atlantic card and was instantly approved. An hour later she applied again for the same card. As expected, the application went to pending status. Finally, she applied for the Alaska business card. Since many banks handle their personal and business cards separately, I thought she had a chance of an automatic approval. No luck. That application is now pending as well.
If I was applying for cards for myself, I would call to see if I could encourage approval of the pending applications. My wife hates to make calls like that, though, so we’ll just wait and see how it turns out.
Result: 1 card approved; 2 pending (and likely to be denied)
Citi
People will tell you that Citibank has the following credit card application rules:
- After applying for a card, you must wait at least 8 days before applying for another
- You can apply for no more than two cards within a 65 day period
As far as I know, those rules are true, but the 8 day rule does not apply when mixing personal and business cards.
My wife signed up for the Citi Premier card first and was instantly approved. A few hours later she applied for the CitiBusiness AA card and was instantly approved. Awesome.
Result: 2 cards approved
American Express
My son keeps getting offers in the mail from American Express, thanks to having setup a web domain (see: How to (maybe) receive targeted Amex business card offers). Previously, the offers were unexciting, but he finally got a decent one: 75,000 points after $10K spend for the Amex Business Gold card. The offer came with a single-use offer code. I (on behalf of my wife) entered the code online and changed the business name on the application from our son’s domain name to her business name (which happens to also be her own name). After filling out the application, the web page said that the application was pending, but in reality she received a congratulations email immediately. Let’s call that an instant approval.
Next, she signed up for the SPG Business card which may actually come in handy not just for the points but for Sheraton lounge access as well (see: New SPG card benefits: Do they work for award stays? Authorized users?). She was instantly approved (no need to look for an email this time).
Finally, she signed up for the personal SPG card. This one went to pending. The web page suggested that she call, but I decided we would just wait it out to see what happens. After a few hours, she got this via email:
We are excited that you’ve decided to apply for the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card, and we’re reviewing your application now. We promise to let you know when we’re finished, or if we need more information.
While we’re reviewing your application, please don’t apply for another Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card. Thank you for your interest in American Express.
I’m pretty sure this application will be be approved.
Result: 2 approved, 1 pending (but likely to be approved)
Totals: 319,000 points after $33K spend
Without considering the 3 pending applications, here are the approved cards and the expected rewards from each:
- Bank of America Virgin Atlantic: 75K bonus after $12K spend (at 1.5 miles per dollar) results in 93K miles
- Citi ThankYou Premier: 50K after $3K spend (at 1 point per dollar) results in 53K points
- CitiBusiness AA: 50K after $3K spend (at 1 mile per dollar) results in 53K miles
- Amex Business Gold: 75K after $10K spend (at 1 point per dollar) results in 85K
- Amex SPG Business 30K after $5K spend (at 1 point per dollar) results in 35K
Total points/miles: 319,000
Total spend required: $33K
How we’ll meet the minimum spend requirements
For most people, $33,000 in spend would be a huge challenge. However, I’m used to manufacturing more spend than that every month. Some of the spend may be accomplished by paying bills (see: How to increase credit card spend from your couch, (almost) fee-free). The rest will likely be accomplished by buying gift cards and loading them to REDbird (see: Managing multiples: Bluebird, REDbird, Serve).
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[…] and business card on the same day or the same week and don’t have to wait 8 days in between (Frequentmiler and others). This can be the case even when applying for both with your SSN. Being the 8-day rule […]
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I am interested in doing 2 apps with citi for the AA Business and Citi Premier I have read that you cant do two apps in one day and you can do two apps in one day. Should I take the chance I really want both and it seems it went well for your wife? Should I do them back to back or wait a few hours?
You CAN do two apps in one day if one is a business card and one is a personal card.
I know that this is an old post, but I think it is the last post you did on AOR’s.
Since I trust your advice, I am wondering whether you can do a post (or a series) specifically on different churning strategies, i.e. 1 app every 30 days vs opportunistically whenever there is a good bonus vs multiple apps every 91 days (or even longer).
I had been following a 3-5 month churn schedule (started off with 2-3 cards and then went up to 9 with great results. However, I just did a 6 card AOR (4 months after the last AOR) and I was flat out denied for the TY Premier due to (i) too many inquiries AND (ii) I failed an internal algorithm (according to the CSR). My 800+ credit score and perfect history meant nothing, apparently. So now I’m wondering whether I am overdoing it or whether there is a better strategy out there.
Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
I’m not sure that I have a perfect answer for you. People have been successful with all sorts of strategies. In your case, it sounds like you may have hit a wall with Citi, but that doesn’t mean that other banks will reject your apps. At the point you’re at, you might want to try strategies that will keep you going but lead to fewer hard inquiries going forward. For example, apply for multiple BOA cards in one day since the inquiries will get combined, but don’t add in any other banks.
Not looking for perfect answers, just the current theories or strategies employed by the industry leaders. Thanks for your help – minimizing inquiries is something that I hadn’t tried to do before.
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Dear FM:
You’ve been an invaluable resource and I hope you can provide me with some sage advice.
I attempted something similar for my wife and was put in pending status for all 8 applications despite an 800+ score. My wife has an exotic sounding name, so I am always able to call on her behalf and have never had a problem. I got 7 of the 8 cards immediately approved, but ran into problems with the Chase BA card.
I submitted the application and it said that it was being reviewed, but it didn’t give me an application number. I called the Chase personal reconsideration line and instead of seeing the BA app, they only saw another Chase business card app, which was one of the other 7 applications that she did that day. That application was immediately approved, but they did not see the BA app at all, so I did it again. This app was the only personal app she did that day that asked for an occupation. I put homemaker, even though I should have put the occupation that she applied for under the business card. I’m not sure why I did that – perhaps fatigue.
When I called the personal line back, they asked to confirm the occupation. I said homemaker, which is a pretty unusual occupation for a male sounding voice. I was told that they were going to provisionally approve it, but that they needed to run it by the supervisor and to call back later.
I called back later and it was denied because Chase wanted to confirm my wife’s identity. Fine, no problem. I waited for my denial letter and further instructions.
I got the denial letter from Chase Fraud Operations and there were 2 funny things with it:
1) It wasn’t addressed to my wife, it was addressed to me (the AU); and
2) The address was spelled wrong.
I called up the phone number on the letter and asked why the letter was addressed to the AU and notified them that the address was wrong. They interrogated me and over and over asked me to confirm my name. They finally asked me whether this is really MR. XYZ? This was the first time they asked me about my gender and I said yes, this is Mr. XYZ, because I know that gender isn’t part of a credit report. Frankly, with gender apparently being something that you can change nowadays, I’m not sure how they can really ask you this question.
I guess that it is possible that I accidentally put my name on the application with my wife’s SSN, but that doesn’t really make sense since when I called to check the app status the first time, they confirmed my identity and provided me information over the phone.
Chase is now asking for a photocopy of the social security card, proof of current physical address, and something showing a date of birth. If I send a birth certificate or a drivers license, they will be able to match up gender. I feel as though I pushed this far enough and I’m not sure what else I can submit that shows a date of birth without giving gender away, so I’m inclined to just let this expire and try again later.
What do you think? MUCH appreciated!
There are times when its best to walk away. I think this is one of those times. My recommendation is to let this one go.
Thanks. Do you think this will have any effect on her or my relationship with Chase? Is there any period of time you would wait before applying for a Chase card again (for either of us) or do you think that this inquiry will die with this application?
For the life of me, I don’t know how this happened. I can’t even say with any certainty whether I applied for a AU, although I must have based on this letter.
1 more comment/question issue on this issue, I promise, although the perils of applying for your spouse is sorta on-topic:
I confirmed with Chase that there were no AU on this application and that my wife’s name and SSN were the only ones on this application. They could not explain why my name was on the letter. I pulled my credit report and Chase pulled MY credit!
My upcoming AOR is now in danger due to this unauthorized inquiry. Any idea how something like this can happen and what my recourse is? I’m thinking of contacting the credit agency to find out more information.
Also, I realized that I could send in my social security card and social security benefits statement (available online) and that this will have my wife’s name, address, social security number, and birthdate on it.
Thanks so much again and your website has quickly become my favorite!
Call chase and demand that they withdraw the hard inquiry
Do you know if any of the pulls from the same bank were merged? BOA, Amex, or Citi?
You know, despite my own advice, I don’t think I ever setup my wife with any kind of credit report monitoring. I’ll have to get around to that!
Haha, not even Credit Karma? I think they’re the best since they update more frequently, have a better site, and show two bureaus of info/reports/scores.
Sometimes phone calls are really needed. Two calls later: all cards approved. Full story next week.
As predicted by a couple of readers, the BOA Alaska business card was approved without notice: card appeared in the mail today.
So that makes 1 BOA personal and 1 BOA Biz AS card approved so far?
Correct. And second personal was closed as duplicate so we won’t know from this whether one can do more. My wife won’t call to reopen it.
Ok, thanks.
Was it 1 credit pull for the 2 Citi cards or 2? Wanna know if they pull separate for personal and business like chase. Or they don’t like Amex. Thanks
Updates regarding pending apps:
Amex SPG personal: Amex website still shows status of app as “In Progress”
.
BOA Virgin Atlantic (2nd app): Received letter saying they closed the application as a duplicate. Online still shows app is pending.
.
BOA Alaska Business: No word yet. Online app checker doesn’t show this application at all.
Thanks. Are you going to get your wife to call? Usually my wife refuses to call, but it’s funny because she never refuses international premium travel.
Any update on the pending apps?
HI there
Couple of quick questions regarding some apps I might do. 1) on the SPG cards can you combine the nights given from owning the card into the same account i.e. we know you get 5 nights and 2 stays each year toward SPG Elite status, if I have a card and wife has card can we combine those to the same SPG membership so that the account reflects 10 nights, 4 stays just for holding the cards ?
2) Chase ink bold on their website show 5% cash back but assume this can also be 5 UR points if sending moving them to a Ultimate Reward account like Sapphire Preferred similar to what you can do with Freedom ?
Thanks
Sorry in my previous comment I meant to say the Ink Cash, can that also be transferred to UR point i.e. the 5% they list can be 5x UR instead ?
1) You can certainly double the elite nights by getting both a personal and a business SPG card. To get your wife’s card to count for you, you would have had to have used your own SPG number on her card application. Will that work? I don’t yet know for sure.
2) Yes, that’s correct. The Chase Ink Cash card earns Ultimate Rewards points the same way the Chase Freedom card does. So, points can be moved to your Sapphire Preferred account or Ink Plus account then transferred to airline and hotel programs