My Recent 7/7 Card Approvals: Learning From Credit Card Denials #4

As you might have noticed I have not written “learning from denials” in a while and that is mostly because I actually learned from my previous round of applications. Some of you may recall that in my previous round of application (see learning from denials #3), I was denied 8/8 credit cards I had applied for. Now to be fair to myself I had picked conservative banks to apply for in my last round of applications.

Before I dig into this round of credit cards, let me remind you folks that I don’t believe in app-o-rama. Most of the applications here were made over a course of weeks and some were spread across months.

 

#0 Hilton Ascend Upgrade (75k)

Once again I upgraded my no fee Hilton card but unlike last time I got the the promised bonus.

75k for at most $75 in annual fee (remember downgrade gives pro-rated refund) was a no brainier especially because I wasn’t applying for a new account. This was during a period when I was attempting to take a self-imposed break from opening new credit cards so a 75k bonus by upgrading an existing account was most welcomed.

Keep or Nah? I don’t know. It was generally easier to get referral bonuses for Hilton Surpass (now Ascend) than no-annual fee Hilton card. That coupled with the fact that I may attempt to put 15k spend on this card might just make me keep it for the entire year long period.

1. Amex Hilton Business 100k

I regrettably applied for Hilton Business at launch when it had a mere 100k bonus (it later got bumped to 125k). The reason for getting this card was similar to the reason I previously game – I wanted to keep my credit report cleanish. At worst a Hilton business app was going to get an inquiry in my credit report and obviously the best part is getting signup bonus without having a new account reported to my credit report.

Keep or Nah? There was a time when I didn’t think highly of this card but because referrals seems easier on this card and perhaps more importantly because I’m expecting to hit 15k threshold, I’m inclined to renew this card.

2. Amex Hilton Aspire 100k

It is no secret that I think Hilton Aspire is amazing! I may have been one of the early bloggers to rave about this card. Ideally, I would have wanted to apply for it in late 2018 but some things came up and I decided to apply for it sooner than expected.

Keeper or Nah? At it’s current state this is too good to be true card. I will keep it until it gets changed.

3. US Bank Altitude Reserve 50k

I had somewhat held off applying for new cards since my Chase shutdown because I wanted keep my report clean for a bit and also because doing so was likely the only way to get the Altitude Reserve card. Remember that at this point, I had already memed 5 failed application for Altitude Reserve.

Cancel or Nah? I think Altitude Reserve is a really good card so this one is definitely a keeper.

4. Citi Premier 50k

Citi Premier is one of those cards that I’ve always wanted but couldn’t because I was under 1/24 family rule (see anti-churning rules) due to Prestige. This card should fit really well in my Citi portfolio and will allow me to get that “1.66 cpp” at hotels (see my public love letter to Citi and Thank You program).

Cancel/Keep? Another keeper. It fits well with my other three Thank You cards, namely Prestige, AT&T Access More, and Thank You Business. Also, because Citi has generous retention offers, the card should pay for itself.

5. Wells Fargo Propel World 40k

Part of the reason I applied for this card is because I was about to close my Wells Fargo checking account. I had moved in $2k prior to app and moved it out after approval. I don’t know if that helped but

I chose to go with Propel World over 30k no annual fee Propel because…well it’s 40k and this one has $100 annual credit which I can obviously double dip. 30k vs 40k + $200? The choice was obvious.

I thought about attempting to double dip both Propel card on the same day to potentially bypass 1/15 anti-churning Well Fargo rule but I eventually decided against it.

Keep or Nah? Nah. No long term benefits that I don’t get from other cards.

6. Barclay Wyndham 45k

To my surprise this was an instant approval as well. There was some rumor that this was falling under Barclay’s vague 6/24 rule but this just shows that poking at rumors is fun…and often useful.

If there is another card from the same bank that I’m interested in then I tend to apply for those as well because why not? Most banks combine inquires (obviously check DPs before you do this yourself). Having said that, just to test denial reasons I applied for Arrival+ and AA.The reason for denial on both cards was simply the system telling me that I’ve had this card <insert exact language>. Anyway, I’ve excluded these apps from the overall count because I only applied for those cards because I already had applied for Wyndham.

7. Bank of America Alaska Visa Signature

Believe it or not I have never had Alaska card and this seemed as good as any time to apply for one. Bank of America instant approve me for regular Alaksa Visa card with a mere credit limit of $1k. I don’t mind the low initial credit limit since BoA does not bait and switch offers anymore.

I also applied for another Premier Rewards card. I was 99.9% sure it was going to be denied, after-all my previous app had only received $1k credit limit. And indeed it was denied, not because I already held the card, but because inquires and new accounts. Maybe I should have frozen my Experian before applying for BoA card (that is how my first Premier Rewards became 50th/24 card) but I didn’t want to pay to do so. Like before, I’m not going to count Premier Rewards denial against me that app was simply me poking at things.

Keeper or Nah? Nah. I don’t have much use for Alaska card yet.

Closing Thoughts

It felt good being able to grab some keeper cards like Aspire, Altitude, and Premier. It felt almost just as good getting some cards for the first time like Alaska and Fargo card.

Having all my Hilton cards look similar is annoying.