Good afternoon everyone.  First off, thank you for all the kind messages and encouragement you shared with me in my previous post about the birth of my daughter: Attention Passengers: Madison has Joined the Travel with Grant Family.  I’m glad to share the exciting news with TWG readers and I promised I would have some good blog posts in the works.  Here is the first one…

Back in December, I signed up for the waitlist for the new premium Alaska Airlines credit card (now called the Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Credit Card).  A few weeks ago, I received a targeted email to apply for the credit card and receive 5,000 bonus Atmos Rewards Points, bringing the total sign up bonus to 105,000 points, but I only had 2 weeks to apply for this offer.

Unfortunately, Bank of America has their “3/12 Rule” (Doctor of Credit post) where BofA will only approve you for a credit card if you have 3 or fewer inquiries from all issuers in the last 12 months.  But… if you have a BofA checking or savings account, the rule changes to the “7/12 Rule” where BofA will only approve you for a credit card if you have 7 or fewer inquiries from all issuers in the last 12 months.  I was slightly over the 3/12 cutoff, but as luck would have it, BofA is currently offering a new checking account bonus up to $500 (Doctor of Credit post), depending on your total direct deposits within the first 90 days.

I applied for the BofA checking account on Sunday evening and was instantly approved at 9:45pm PT.  I wanted to give BofA some time to update my account from the “3/12 Rule” to the “7/12 Rule” so I waited until Monday morning to apply for the Atmos Rewards Summit credit card.

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On Monday morning, I pulled up the targeted email from Alaska Airlines and scrolled down to the Apply Now button.

I completed the application and was instantly approved at 8:59am PT.  Less than 12 hours after applying for the BofA checking account, my “3/12 Rule” had changed to the “7/12 Rule”.  I really wanted this credit card, so I was glad that I was instantly approved.

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Up next, I wanted to get the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Credit Card for a second time before Barclays stops issuing American Airlines credit cards.  Looking at my records, I opened my first Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Credit Card in October 2023 and closed it in November 2024.  The sign up bonus at the time was 75,000 American Airlines Miles.  Unfortunately, the current bonus when I applied was only 50,000 American Airlines Miles, but I decided to go for it anyway.

I applied a few minutes after my Atmos Rewards Summit application, but got a pending decision at 9:08am PT.

6 days later, I received another email that there was an update to my application.

Unfortunately, the update from Barclays was that I had sufficient credit available on my existing Barclays credit cards and that they did not want to give me more credit.  Strangely, I had also received 2 calls and 2 voicemails from Barclays telling me to call in about my application.  I thought it was strange that they would call me if they had already decided to deny me for the credit card, but I called Barclays back to inquire about my application.

I was surprised that Barclays reconsideration reps were working on the weekend, but I told them that I was not looking for more credit and I would be happy to move $10,000 from my Barclays Hawaiian Airlines credit limit to get approved for this credit card.  That seemed to be the trick and they quickly processed my request and I was approved.  I received the approval email the next day.

9-10 days after approval, I received the credit card in the mail and activated the card online.  The next day, I received this email confirming the 50,000 American Airlines Miles sign up bonus.  I made a small Amazon purchase on my card and am waiting for the $99 annual fee and sign up bonus to post to my account.

I was happy to get approved for all 3 accounts, even though Barclays never makes it easy on me!  When all is said and done, I should have a $500 checking account bonus, 105,000 Atmos Rewards Points, and 50,000 American Airlines Miles.  Not a bad score from 3 accounts.  If you have any questions about these accounts or the application process, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone.