App-O-Rama Update: 4 Approvals, 2 Recon Calls, 1 Pending Application, and a Barclays Denial

Advice: you do not need to apply for 6 credit cards at one time.  You should only attempt this if your credit score is high and you have the ability to Manufacture Spend $5,000-$10,000 per month.  Please proceed at your own risk/skill level.

In a nutshell, this is what happened yesterday morning when I applied for 6 cards.

1. Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card – automatically denied :(
2. Citi American Airlines Executive World MasterCard – recon call approved, $5,000 credit line + $4,500 moved from Citi Dividend Credit Card.
3. AMEX Premier Rewards Gold Charge Card – automatically approved (charge card, no preset credit limit).
4. Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card – recon call approved, $2,000 credit line.
5. US Bank Club Carlson Business Credit Card – pending, must wait 24-48 hours for results.
6. Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card – automatically approved, but for a Platinum Plus credit card with a $2,000 credit line.

Here are more details about each application and approval/denial process…  Continue reading →

What’s on My Mind: US Bank FlexPerks FlexPoints, Experian Credit Score, Using Square for Restaurant Bills, Screening Exchange, and my Upcoming App-O-Rama

I know, I know, we are all devastated by the United Airlines revenue-based frequent flyer mile announcement, but hopefully some of these random credit card and news stories will take your mind off of that for a few minutes…

I did a little experiment last month with my US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card and Target (link).  Since my credit card is a Visa and since my local Target is classified as a grocery store by Visa, I wanted to see if I could load $1,000 onto my Target AMEX with my US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card and see if it counted as a “grocery store” purchase, therefore earning 2x FlexPerks.  You can use the Visa Merchant tool by reading this post.

After a “few” grocery store purchases, that sounds like I bought grocery stores.  Let me rephrase that.  After a “few” purchases at grocery stores, I racked up $5,000+ in charges.  I have mostly Ralphs and Pavillions grocery store purchases and 1 large purchase from Target (in the middle).   Continue reading →