Introduction
My AOR’s these days are very limited due to being banned from most banks, so the pool to choose from is pretty small. I can’t do USB, Chase, Cap1, or Barclays, so I’m mainly left with AMEX, Citi, and BoA as the major ones to choose from. I skipped on AMEX since I got the Blue + last month. Citi didn’t have any compelling cards, so I didn’t bother with them. So, all that was left was BoA…
First off, let me say that I had cancelled all of my BoA cards over a month ago except for a ML card. I did NOT reduce any CL’s before cancelling the cards.
Merrill Plus card – Approved and then denied
Like i said, this was the only BoA card when I applied. I applied for this card because of this. I phoned in this application since that’s the only way to get it today. After a tedious 10-15 minutes, my application went to PENDING. I waited a week and eventually received an email saying I was approved. Then shortly after that, I got a letter saying I was denied
Alaska Personal – Rejected in letter
Applied on same day after ML+ card. Got pending when I submitted. Waited a week and got the letter saying something to the effect of, “You already have enough sufficient credit with us.” I have not bothered to call in to recon. Has anyone tried?
Alaska Business – Approved after phone call
Went to pending when I submitted. After 2-3 days, a BoA rep called me asking me about my business (it was similar to the old Chase Ink grilling – how long have you been in business, what type of business, what was gross and net revenue, etc.) After the phone call, the rep told me I was APPROVED.
Lessons Learned
For sure, BoA is cracking down on churning these days.
Oh Vinh, yikes! You’re like the Charlie Sheen of churning. All you have left are the waaaay desperate slut on the corner you hope doesn’t finally give you VD (AMEX), the senile old lady fan who isn’t quite sure who you are (CITI), and maybe the fan girl whose friends keep telling her to stay away and might finally be comprehending who you really are down deep (BoA). Good for the fan girl for finally waking up. LOL
Congrats you win comment of the year.
Love it Vinh! Almost as much as strip clubs that code as “Steakhouses” this quarter on CF & Discover (Dublin!!!) [Natural spend that Reddit /Churning newbies describe as MS!]
With BOA you need to lower limits as much as possible before canceling cards. The limits will go back into your pool after a few months. But if you don’t lower them before canceling it takes over a year to go back into your available pool, hence the sufficient credit denial. With Citi I lower limits as much as possible after I receive the bonus and then sock drawer.
Not sure Ken. Some others have only had to wait 1 month for it to ‘reset.’ See Too’s comment below.
I’ve been following the FT thread and everyone has reported what I wrote.
Too’s case seems odd since adding up the 3 cards that were closed is nowhere near the new 20k line he received.
When is the “I was shutdown from BofA” article? Would be funny (not really) if you had it up tomorrow.
I had similar issues when my cards were all open (having 2 Alaska and 1 Spirit) with very low credit limits ($1-$5,000 each all from splitting a big limit on an Alaska card). I wouldn’t get approved for anything.
But when I closed them all, I applied for an Alaska card a month later and got a monster $20k out the gate (no call, nothing). Now if I can get approved for ANY Alaska card from here, I can use that $20k limit to share with other new Alaska cards.
If not I’m not too worried, I can cancel/re-apply for the Alaska card every few months and bank 120k miles/yr using a similar churn cycle as the Barclay Aviator.
See, I’m surprised your CL reset that fast. Thanks for DP though.
Apparently the credit lines from cancelled cards will stay on you profile for a while. I am testing how long. My guess is 90 days, but if someone else has an ides please let us know.
See Too’s comment above. His only took 1 month to reset.
Had the same Merril Plus experience. Moved credit around on recon and got approved. Got a call a few days later (after the your card has shipped email already went out) and was told I was approved in error. BOA seems to have a divide in their departments and they don’t know what is going on right now!
Also recently (2 months back) applied for ML, was approved a few days later (no phone call), and then two more days later the approval was reversed. Still received some welcome materials, but no card.
FYI, later the same day that I applied for the ML, I applied for an Alaska personal online and was approved immediately. I had two BA cards open at the time of these applications (one an Alaska personal, one an Alaska business).
Dang. I’m surprised they let you have another AS when you one already open. Congrats.