250k in CL's

Mark LA, I kept this post from another board from about 6 months ago for stategy and goal striving reasons. I know that the CC world changes daily, but it may help some people on the board. Needless to say, I was impressed! Charlie

Experian and Transunion Scores Not Provided because of their worthlessness. Only Equifax scores listed.

Equifax:
Starting profile:

Open credit cards: 4
Open charge cards: 2
Open installment : None
Mortgage info : None
Oldest account : 12 yr
Average age of open acts : 3.5yr
Highest credit card : 20,000
Balance / limit ratio : Less than 1%
# of accounts with a balance : 2
Inquiries last 12 mo. : 2

Equifax:

Bank/ Approved Limit/ New Score:

StartingScore ...... 775
First Usa / 22,000 / 766
Juniper / 15,000 / 766
Advanta Business/ 10,000 / 766
American Express /20,000 / 751 (Total 6 inquiries here)
Nextcard /15,000 / 751
First Usa /16,000/ 751
Discover / 10,000 / 751 (Score is Stuck at 751)
Peopleâ??s Bank /10,000/ 751
Capital One / 1,000 / 751 (Stingy Bastards!)
Household Bank / 5,000 / 751

A new card appears on c/r with 20k balance/693(Game Over)


Experian:
Starting profile:
Open charge cards:2
Open credit cards:2
Open installment: None
Mortgage info : None
Oldest account : 10 yr
Average age of open acts : 3.5yr
Highest credit card : 20,000
Balance / limit ratio : Less than 1%
# of accounts with a balance : 2
Inquiries last 12 mo. : 4

Bank / Approved Limit:
Chase / 25,000
Fleet / 25,000
MBNA / 10,000
Capital 1 Business/ 1,000 (Stingy bastards again!)
Fleet Business / 15,000
Providian / 2,000 (Subprime banks suck!)
Amex Business / 20,000
Bank One / 22,000 ( inquiries ainâ??t everthing!) 22k at#12

Transunion:
Starting profile:

Open credit cards: 4
Open charge cards: 2
Open installment: None
Mortgage info: None
Oldest account : 12 yr
Average age of open acts : 3.5yr
Highest credit card : 20,000
Balance / limit ratio : Less than 1%
# of accounts with a balance : 2
Inquiries last 12 mo. : 0

Bank / Approved Limit :
Bank of America / 11,300

Chase, Providian, Cap One, Mbna, Nextcard also pulled Transunion as a Duplicate. Bank of America was the only one that used them Exclusively.


Summary:

Total Credit Line New Cards:$254,300


Scoring:

1. Equifax seems to have windows on inquiries. 1-2 is window one, 3-6 is window two, 7-? is window three. This was disapointing. I expected to see more interesting scoring activity from inquiries. The biggest point drop seems to be at #6. If you get past 6 youâ??re in there!

2. The optimal balance to limit ratio is $1. and number of accounts with a balance should be about one out of four. The score was originally 763 with a zero balance on everything (reason 2: no recent revolving balance information). I then put a $100 balance on a 20 k card. The score went up 4 points to 767 ( reason 2: balance to limit ratio on revolving accounts.) I paid it down to a dollar and the score went to 775 ( reason 2: last account opening too recent. )

At 775, the reasons were as follows:
1. Length of time accounts have been established.
2. Last account opening too recent.
3. Too many recent inquiries
4. Lack of installment loan accounts.

Since reason #2,3, and 4 were preceded by (balance to limit ratio on revolving accounts.) until the balance was paid to a dollar, and considering the score went up 8 points after it was paid down. That means that reason # 2,3 and 4 are worth less than 8 points each if they could be eliminated. Length of time is always #1 on high scoring profiles. I have seen that reason bumped from #1 to #2 when the score simultaneously dropped 33 points due to a new balance reporting. That would mean that in that particular profile, it would be worth just less than 33 points to have the optimal average length of credit history. (probably 30 yrs.)

The project took about 90 days. It took several balance disputes with the cra to speed up the updating of balances. All the applications were done within a 14 day period. There were no lates on any of the reports.

Limits:

The limits on new cards are set looking heavily at existing limits. (This is why some banks choose not to report a limit, to curb the competition.) All the 20k+ cards were applied for with a large balance transfer. This seems to boost your new limit significantly. Even though I had no balances on my cards, I applied for balance transfers for them anyway. I then had a credit balance on the old card, ordered a refund check and paid the new card off with it, costing me little or nothing and resulting in higher credit lines. Eventually I will consolidate my 5 first USA cards for a total limit of 78,000 on the first USA card, then apply for new cards with that 78k line on my report. It will be interesting to see what kind of limits come about then. Maybe weâ??ll do an AU experiment.

Household Income:

Take advantage of the word â??Householdâ? if you want larger credit lines. Although limits are set based on existing lines, history, etc, your new line will be discounted if you donâ??t make enough. Household means Mom, Dad, Sis, Grandpa, anyone that lives in your house and has an income.

Looking forward to doing this again soon.

No, Iâ??m not going to go out and blow the quarter mil. It sure is nice though not worry about â??balance to limit ratioâ? ever again. They donâ??t have a code for â??too much available creditâ?. By the way, my #1 reason now is â??too many bank / revolving accountsâ? but with over 250k in cards, who cares!

Hell, with Chaseâ??s 0% for 12 months, I think Iâ??ll put the house on the Visa and worry about the mortgage next year !!!!

 

GEORGE, How about the guy who had 1.65 million and 1200+ cards. I wonder what his reasons were? If you look at that guys CL ratio, it's not that good. Under 1400 per card. His CR's are probably like a small town's phone book. Should've been strategy not stategy. Sorry! Charlie