A-O-R 3

AOR 3 made a grand appearance this earlier this month. This is my first AOR this year and my 3^rd so far. The last AOR was 6 months earlier. I started with a quick check of my credit score on CreditKarma (both Transunion and Vantage Score), CreditSesame and my FICO score from my Discover card and was happy to see that all of them were higher than when I started out last year. So, now that I was in the green, it was time to get cracking.

I finalized 11 cards that I wanted. But this was too high for my taste, so I finally came down to 6 card and decided to play the other 5 based on the success on the first 6. These were my choices:

Final Haul

6 Must apply cards (Green = approved):

1.       Barclays US Airways

2.       Chase UA Business

3.       Citi AA Business

4.       Amex SPG Business

5.       Chase Sapphire Preferred

6.       Amex Everyday Card

And the 5 “may be apply” card:

A.      Barclays Arrival Card

B.      US Bank FlexPerk – Travel Card

C.      Chase IHG

D.      US Bank Aviana Airlines

E.       Capital One Venture

Here’s how it ended.

I started with the Barclays US Airways card. I am expecting this card to vanish in near future and I din mind 30,000 US Airways points for absolutely no spend requirement. If I can use this, great. If not, and they get converted to AA miles, that’s cool too. I was pretty sure I am going to get a pending status and then I will have to call the reco line and I will get rejected. It’s Barclays after all. I was ready for that, but I did not want to not try it. I tried and contrary to expectation – I got approved IMMEDIATELY! I was on cloud 9. That was a great start.

Now that this was done, I got greedy and decided to go for the Barclays Arrival Card. I thought maybe I will get really lucky. It didn’t happen. I got a pending review and the call to the reco line, did not do anything to change it. So I was on 1/6 and 0/5.

Moving on, I decided to first go for the Business cards on my list. There was the Amex SPG Business, Citi AA Business and the United Explorer Business. I had no doubt in my mind I will get approved for all 3 of them; though I was sure Citi will ask for additional documents. All 3 applications gave me a pending status. I called Citi first and just as expected, they asked for an address proof, which I promptly emailed them. A phone call 24 hours later ended in a request for another document and another 24 hours later, I was approved for the card. Next I called Chase and after I lengthy discussion I was denied. I was fairly surprised and disappointed to say the least. This card was on the top of my list and I was sure I will get it. Chase has never denied any of my application. 50,000 UA points would have really helped my currently meagre balance. But a denial was a denial and I moved on. I was unhappy with Chase, but it’s ok. Last was Amex SPG Business Card. Before I called reco, I decided to check my status online once and voila – I was approved. Score 3/6 and 0/5.

Next up was the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Amex Everyday card. I knew for a fact that my Chase profile had me pre-approved for the CSP (my Chase Banker told me that). Funnily enough I got a pending status and a call to recon told me I need to walk in to the nearest branch and provide an address proof. I was fairly surprised considering I have 3 credit cards and 3 bank accounts with them. All the same, I did as told. And later in the day I was approved for the card. For Amex Everyday card I had to call in again. The agent informed me that for security reason, they do not approve more than one CC in one day on the same social and I can expect this card to be approved 5 days later. 5 days later, I was declined. No reasons given. Was asked to wait for the letter in the mail and if I disagree, I could ask for reconsideration, but that would mean another credit pull. I wanted this card for 2 reasons- 1) I am going to soon cancel my Amex PRG card and I needed to transfer my MR points somewhere and, 2) I try and apply for one no fee card every time I do an AoR, thus ensuring that I can keep them forever and add to my account age. I can’t describe how disappointed I was at this. Score 4/6 and 0/5.

At this point I had to decide to what to do with my other 4 applications. I was already rejected for 2 cards and so far only 2 cards were approved and 3 were technically still pending (remember – at that point I did not know the decision about my Amex Everyday, Citi AA and Chase SP). I decided to play them one at a time.

I started with US Bank FlexPerk Travel Reward card. I got a pending msg and a call to recon did not yield any result. They simply asked me to wait for a few days for the decision. 48 hours later a status check revealed I was approved for the card. But unfortunately when I received the card, it turned out to be the Flex Perk Select Card and not the Travel Reward card I had applied for. Was quite bummed. The only good thing was this is a no fee card, so it takes the sting out of not getting the Amex Everyday card, for improving the age of my credit account. Score 4/6 and 1/5.

I was still quite bummed about the overall scene. But having learnt my lessons from my First AOR and Second AOR, I decided to move along. I applied for the CHASE IHG Card and after a quick call to the recon line I was approved for this card. Score 4/6 and 2/5. At this point I decided that it’s enough for one AOR. Considering the recent debacle in the MS world, I am not sure how I would meet the hefty spend requirements and so I was not going to apply for a card that I wouldn’t be able to meet the spend requirement on. The two cards I let go were the US Bank Avianca Airlines card and the Capital One Venture Travel rewards card. Final Score was 4/6 for the primary cards and 2/3 for the optional cards.

Overall, I was not very satisfied with my day. If I meet all the spend requirements on these 6 cards, I would be richer by 252,500 points/miles. But somehow, missing on 50,000 UA points, not getting a fee free Amex card plus 10,000 MR and being stuck with a 10,000 Bonus Flex Perk card was not what I had envisioned at the start of the day.

How are your points and miles balance shaping up? Did you do your AOR for this year yet ? Tell us in the comments.

2013 in Points and Miles

2013 is over and it was a year different than the rest of the 29 years of my life. For more reasons than one. I turned 30 and my wife gave me the best present I have received so far in my life. I did my first AoR and then another one and then one for my wife and it was fun!! I flew more this year that I have done in any year – that’s 26 flights spanning 45,203 miles. Unfortunately none of them were with miles. Fortunately, I did not pay for any of them, but oneJ. My company did the rest. My wife on the other hand did 17 flights spanning 40,218 miles. I know people who do more than that in a month, but then, such is life..!!

I started my first ever AoR in June of 2013. A few days before my 30^th Birthday. At that point, between me and my wife we had no United account, no AAdvantage account, no SPG account, no Hilton Honors account, no Marriott Rewards account, no IHG account, no Amex MR points or account and some paltry 20-25k in our BA account. So, how did my Miles and Points Balance stack up this year after that. Let’s find out:

1.       American Airlines – My First AoR yielded me 50,000 Points. That’s points that I did not pay for and can use for flying to other cities.  Great start. Thank you Citi Bank.

2.       United Miles – Chase gave me this one. 50,000 miles for the spend challenge and another 5,000 for authorized user. No need to tell you how valuable United miles are, right?

3.       Marriott – 70,000 Marriott Points and one free night in category 1-4 property. That is just great. Already used it on my trip to Niagara Falls for the 4^th of July weekend.

4.       SPG – 25,000 points for the challenge. Coupled with the actual 5,000 spend, that’s 30,000 SPG points. And when transferred to my choice of airline in multiples of 20,000, that would yield another 5,000 miles. Sweet!

5.       My last card on the AoR list, which I think in hindsight was a mistake – Amex Gold – earned me 25,000 MR points. They have a decent list of Airlines and Hotels I can convert these points to.

So for a few hours of effort, then a little bit of planned expenses and some support from the manufactured expenses technique, I earned a cool 225,000 miles and points, not including the actual spend miles, which is another 12,000 miles. Once I was done with this, I was hooked. I made a few mistakes along the way, but learnt a few lessons as well.

Before long, September was on us and it was time for my second AoR, 91 days later. But I decided to give it a few more days and do Round One for my wife first, who had a decent credit score by now. And here’s what she came good on:

1.       American Airlines- Scored 50,000. Simple and straightforward.

2.       United – Another 55,000 in the family. Real points.

3.       British Airways – 50,000 points to add to her small flying miles balance. And then there’s the additional 50,000 points she is yet to complete the challenge for. Already used all of these miles earned for a spur of the moment weekend travel to San Francisco. More on that, in the next post.

4.       Hilton Honors-Her first hotel points. A cool 50,000 points

5.       SPG – Same drill. 25,000 valuable SPG Points.

So by the end of 3-4 months, my wife is richer by 230,000 miles and points. The actual spends of 11,750 points. And not to mention, she will soon have the additional 25,000 and 25,000 from British Airways. That will take 3-4 months, but it will happen, no doubt.

That brings me to my AoR 2. More mistakes this time than I was planning to make. But more lessons to be learnt on the way:

6.       Hilton Honors- 50,000 points, to add to my wife’s balance. 100,000 in the family are good enough for some of the best places after all.

7.       British Airways – Not the most valuable miles out there (compared to United and AAdvantage) but still, with our regular flying US-UK-India on BA, a hefty  50,000 Avios Miles goes a long way. And additional 25,000 and 25,000 coming up in the next 3-4 months. That’s a lot of Avios.

So my small stint made me richer by 100,000 points & miles and more are expected.

So, in a little over 6 months, my wife and I have collected almost 600,000 points through 12 different credit cards and are expecting some 145,000 points more and these are just through our AoR’s. Our individual credit scores are better now than what they were 6 months ago (though it did take some plunges and flights in between) and our out of pocket cost was limited to some VR cards purchases.

There were a LOOOTTT of lessons learnt the past year. Mostly good. There would be more Points and Miles that will be earned and more lessons that will be learnt. And some won’t be as nice as the other ones, but that’s a part of this game and life, so bring it on.

So, how was your 2013 in Points and Miles.. how many did you collect and how many did you burn ? and most importantly, how much did you fly.. leave a comment and tell me about it..

How Am I Meeting Those Spend Requirements

2 months ago I plunged head first into my first A-O-R. Before I knew it, I was approved for 5 credit cards and was looking at meeting hefty spend requirements to get those mouthwatering bonuses. It was scary. $12,000 to be spent in 6 months. That was a lot of money to be spent really fast. But once the enormity of it had dawned and then passed away, I sat down to devise a plan to meet this requirement.

The first and foremost thing I did was lay my cards out in the order in which I would meet the spend requirements. Amex SPG had the heaviest amount but also the longest tenure - $5000 in 6 months. So it went right to the bottom of the pile. But it also had a first spend bonus. So I made a mental note to make one small charge on the card. The other 4 cards each had 3 months to meet the various spend requirement. So I laid them in order of amount. Net result

1.      First expense on Amex SPG

2.       Chase Marriott ($ 1000)

3.       Chase United ($1000)

4.       Amex Gold ($2000)

5.       Citi AA ($3000)

6.       Amex SPG ($5000)

And now the game began in earnest.

The first thing to do was put the cash in my wallet - away. Every dime from this point onwards was to be spent through credit card. $2.13 for grocery - credit card; $0.99 in Dunkin donut – credit card. This approach made sure that every cent helped me reach my sign up bonus. In the last one month, I have spent just about $27 in cash. The rest all went to my credit card sign up bonus fund. I also got add on card for all the credit cards and gave it to my wife. Since she is not down on the Credit Card game yet, all her expenses were also going towards my purpose.

Once I had this sorted, the next thing to do was find out big expenses that I could channel to my credit card. This is where friends are really helpful. Having lunch with friends? Offered to pay for it with my credit card and collected cash from everyone. Friend needed to borrow cash? Paid through Bluebird cheque and Amazon payments. Friend needed to make some expense online but didn’t have a credit card – offered mine! My friends who knew what I was doing were supportive. The ones, who didn’t know, couldn’t care less. So it was a win-win. Overall I made more than $3000 in payments to friends and group lunches and only $60 of it was actual expense. The rest was just expense on my credit card that my friends paid for.

Next up, pre-paid expenses. I looked for store and accounts on which I made regular expenses to see if I could pre pay something. Telephone bills, grocery store, online stores, anything that we knew we would be spending at any which way. There was just one for us – Movie. My wife and I love watching movies, so I purchased $100 worth of fangando gift cards. They also had an offer on, so I paid just $80 to buy $100 worth of cards. That is what I knew I would easily spend in 4-6 weeks.

But this was still not going to cut it out and I needed to pull out the big guns – enter Amazon Payments and Amex Bluebird.

Amazon payment is an online payment system introduced by Amazon to pay for goods and services to others, specifically for purchases that are not through Amazon website. So if I needed to pay my house help her payment and she has an Amazon payment account, I could pay her through Amazon payment. The beauty of it lies in the fact that you can make the payment through a credit card. Upto $1000 every month, without incurring any charge. This was really helpful in channeling a lot of payments that I would have otherwise made in cash. Any purchase, from a second hand TV to a payment for household help, all could be channeled through Amazon payment. The other person can withdraw the cash to their bank account at no charge.

And the biggest weapon in the arsenal – Amex Bluebird. It’s a checking account alternative by Amex that was the most important to meeting those spend requirements. Bluebird allows loading cash on the account through Vanilla Reload card, which in turn can be purchased through a Credit Card. The VR cards do cost $3.95 for each card, upto a maximum of $ 500 per card. Once I had the money in the bluebird account, I could pay bills online, pay rent, taxes or any other such amount that required a check payment. How ? - Bluebird gives you a check book for payments. And the check books were free till 8/13. So now my rent, which was being paid through check from my checking account, without earning me any points, was now paid through my BB account, helping me get my spend bonus. There is ofcourse the additional 0.79% cost for loading the VR cards, but that’s an expense I chose to bear. Whether I would do it after I have met the spend requirements, is something I haven’t thought about yet. This is the single biggest expense method through the credit card that could be the difference between meeting all the spend requirements and not being able to meet the spend requirements. However, being able to load BB through VR is highly dependent on finding the VR cards at a store that accepts CC as a payment method. And you also run the risk that your credit card company MIGHT classify the transaction as a cash advance. So one needs to be careful.

How I am tracking my expense !!

I made some big mistakes in the process and I would be careful next time around. I was afraid I will not be able to meet the spend requirements and so I went all out in the first month itself. Amazon payments, Bluebird, prepaid expense, group lunches, loaning money, paying for others – everything in one month. My BB could have been locked for excessive transactions. Same for my Amazon payments, thereby locking me out of my money. I could get pulled for financial review. There could also be a fraud alert on my account. Thankfully nothing happened, but it doesn’t mean it couldn’t have happened. I needed to pace myself. If my average requirement was $ 7000 in first 3 months and $ 5000 in next 3 months, then that is what I should have done. Spending $ 5000 in first month, $ 4000 in second month and $ 3000 in third month, got my work done quicker, but also gave me a constant headache. So I would need to be better behaved next time. I also ignored the percentage of my total credit limit that I am using and was way above my personal 20% mark. Infact at one point I was 30% which is too high for me.

Last word of caution to anyone planning to use BB or AP for spending – Please be mindful of what you are doing. There are a lot of blogs out there which give a details risk and reward analysis of these payment methods. There are a lot of grey areas of what is legal and/or allowed in the terms and conditions and what is not. Make sure you read as much as possible and are aware of the risks and the terms and conditions before you make your move. This entire activity for me is one big game. I wouldn’t like to risk a dime of my money or my security, credit report or legal file for this game. I have acquired the knowledge out there to determine what I think is right and wrong and made my choices accordingly. You need to make yours an informed choice.

Next up – What am I doing with those sign up bonuses.

MY VERY FIRST APP-O-RAMA

I did it! I finally did it!!

I read, researched, understood and retained some information, din understand and couldn't retain a lot more, but after all the bed time reading and day time reading and work time reading and then researching my life away, I took the leap of faith and entered the field  for my first unsupervised-by-any-expert, not-sure-how-it-will-end App-O-Rama.

I won’t make you read all the way to the end to figure out how it ended – from my perspective it went well. Applied for 7 credit cards on the same day, got rejected by one, approved from another five and application declined for the last one (that is not a reject).

So net score of 5/7. I would say that’s not bad for a first app-o-rama.

Let’s go through my card choices, the reason I chose them, the process as it unfolded and some mistakes I made.

First thing first, I researched all cards that were presently available in the market. I found 16 credit cards that offered fairly decent number of miles with various airlines, hotels or with their own reward program. Here’s my list:

By Airlines (Bank-Airlines- Points Program):

1.       Chase – United – Mileage Plus*

2.       Chase – British Airways - Avios

3.       Citi – American Airlines – AAdvantage*

4.       Barclays – US  Airways – Dividend Miles*

5.       Amex- Delta Airlines – Sky Miles*

6.       Bank of America – Virgin Atlantic – VA Miles

7.       Barclays – Lufthansa – Miles and More

By Hotel (Bank – Hotel / Points Program):

1.       Chase – Hyatt – Hyatt Gold Passport Points

2.       Chase – Priority Club*

3.       Chase – Fairmount

4.       Chase – Marriott Rewards

5.       Amex – Starwood Preferred Guest*

6.       Citi – Hilton Honors*

7.       US Bank – Club Carlson

By Bank Reward Program:

1.       Chase – Ultimate Reward Points*

2.       American Express – Membership Reward Points*

My first and foremost criterion was that I will not select any card that doesn’t waive the first year fee. No exception. I don’t have a lot of cash this month and also, since this is my first foray into CC App world, I did not want to put any money on the line. So that left me with about 9 choices (refer to the ones marked with * above)

Second criteria was choice of type of points – my ranking list was- Airline miles, Hotel Points, Credit Card points. And last but not the least, the spend requirement or challenge total at any point shouldn't cross an average of $2000 per month. As my first app-o-rama, I wanted to play it safe.

And so I set out to apply for cards.

I started with Barclays US Airways. I found the 35000 after 1^st spend link with first year fee waived. And considering it would soon disappear given the merger, I liked it even more.  I need AA miles – I have a travel coming up on their flight. The application was not approved instantly. But I was armed with the information and I knew this was to be expected. I called their re-consideration line and spoke with a specialist. He reviewed my case and responded that I already have a Barclay card and the limit on that card is the max they can give me. Plus my small length of credit history doesn’t appeal to them. I discussed about my need to keep my office expenses separate and so the need for two cards and my upcoming travels. I also offered to move my credit from my current Barclays card to this one, but it did not work. So I got rejected. I was disappointed but I didn’t give in just yet. I hung up and called back a little later. Same conversation was repeated and I offered to reduce the limit on my current card, but the specialist said it won’t help. I decided to pursue this further and called Barclays credit card help line and got my credit limit reduced by $ 1000. After a little wait, I called the reconsideration line again and started the conversation as if I have called the first time. The specialist immediately started off with – You have already spoken with two of my colleagues. This was my clue to stop acting smart and get straight to the point. I told her that I did speak and they pointed out the limit issue and so I got my limit on my credit card reduced. She wasn’t impressed and said all the same stuff and said due to the length of my history, she can’t approve me. My recent reduction in credit line for this purpose did not appeal to her one bit. So after a many months of strategizing and reading and finally applying the end result of my first application of my app-o-rama was this – A credit pull from my account, a reduction in the current credit card limit and no new credit card. Score 0/1

I was really upset. I was on the all-these-bloggers-are-liars mode. I was ready to write a scathing note to ‘Just another points traveler’ and ‘mommypoints’ and ‘milevalue’ (I love their blogs the most..!!!). After a coffee I calmed down and thought to myself – I already have one credit pull on my account. If I apply for any more cards, there won’t be any pull. What’s there to lose? So let’s go ahead with this and let’s see how it ends.

Next up, Citi AAdvantage card. Applied for the card and was not approved immediately. Called reco line and after the initial discussion, they said they are unable to verify my details with my SSN (I just moved to a new address). So was asked to fax or mail a utility bill. I asked if I could email and they answered in affirmative. So I emailed a CC bill immediately. The rep said it will take sometime for them to track it and evaluate my application. So need to call after 10 days. – Update here – I called regularly every 2 days, to see an update, but none was given. After 5 days I gave up and just waited for the rejection letter. In the meantime I received other confusing mails for sending more documents, which I ignored. After about a week of waiting and giving up, I received an email saying my application has been approved. Note though, this is one week after my application, so on the day, I am still thinking that I have 2 applications and 2 rejects, probably. Score 0/2

Took a deep breath and moved on to Chase United. Application wasn’t approved immediately, so I called the reconsideration. After the Citi fiasco, I decided to use the address that was there on my SSN file, for this application. This rep also asked for address proof, and I came to the realization that I don’t have a current utility bill that would serve my purpose. Requested the rep to change my address on my application, but they refused to do that. So after a lot of discussion, I came to the realization that I won’t be getting approved for this one either. I left this application hang, and said I will try to get some sort of address proof. Score 0/3

At this point, I was really sad. The day just wasn’t going as per plan. 3 applications, not a single approval. I was very very sad.

It was time to move to the hotel’s point category. I started with the world’s favourite Amex SPG. Applied, using my new address and were instantly approved. This raised my spirits real-real high. No need to call the reco line or anything, just gave me the card. Score 1/4

Given how well Amex application went, I decided to sneak in Amex Gold Premier Reward, ahead of the other hotel card. Applied and got my second approval in a few seconds. Now I was on a roll and really happy. Score 2/5

Moved on to Citi Hilton. Free for life card. Seemed like a great option. Application was rejected immediately. Called reco line and was told I can’t apply for more than 1 Citi card in a day. So application was rejected right away without any consideration. I wasn’t sure if this was correct or not, but I decided not to pursue this any further. Score 2/6

Last card on my list was Chase Marriott. Applied and not approved immediately. Called the reco line and after the standard why I need the card and some talk about checking account and saving account with Chase for one year, I was approved. I asked the rep if he could also change the delivery address on my application, as I had used the old address. He gladly did that. Day was still going good. Score 3/7

At this point, I pushed my luck and spoke to the rep about my other Chase application, and how it has got stuck because of the address issue. He pulled it up, reviewed it and approved it. I couldn’t believe it..!! in a few seconds I had an approval on an application that I was sure will get rejected. The hang up and call back mantra seemed pretty good right now. Score 4/7

At this point I was pretty pleased with myself. I had got myself 4 new credit cards with just one credit pull. The spend requirement was $ 9000, which was below my threshold but I still decided not to apply for any more cards this day. In case Citi AA came through, it would touch exactly $12,000 and I din want to cross that line. As luck would have it, that got approved a week later. FINAL SCORE 5/7

A few days later, the cards started pouring in. Though I realized later Amex credit pull came on my account a day later. So I effectively have 2 pulls. But at this point I wasn’t bothered. I couldn’t change it, so what was the point of getting bothered.

Next post – How am I meeting those spend requirements on small monthly budget..