Possible Bank of America Churning Change
Well one constant lately is that things keep changing. For many, getting Alaska Airlines miles through Bank of America cards has been a fairly lucrative application strategy. It is openly discussed on Flyertalk and over time it has previously been possible to amass more than one Bank of America credit card at a time.
It seems that the rules may now be changing. Several data points on Flyertalk from the past few days seem to indicate that Bank of America may be going to a 1 personal card per person rule. Let’s look at some data points.
Applied October 5th, got instant rejection.
Received letter in the mail: “we were unable to approve the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card you requested because you already have an account endorsed by this organization”
Currently have another Alaska personal card from six months ago.
I called and recon said the reason I was denied was because I already have a personal card.
and another..
Wife and I each applied for personal AS card on Oct. 2 or 3 online and got “decision pending”, with same being reported for multiple days by the BOFA web site for checking status. When identical letters came in mail, I was shocked to see they were “unable to approve the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card you requested because you already have an account endorsed by this organization.”
Thoughts & More Data Points
Now it is still too early to tell whether BofA is limiting people to 1 card total as the language would indicate or 1 card per product line. We also don’t know how widespread this new rule is being enforced, but it seems to be somewhat uniform.
Before anyone freaks out though, we should look for even more data points. Have you been approved for an Alaska Airlines or other BofA card in the past few days? If so do you have another personal card and/or card of the same type?
I’ll make sure to keep an eye on this and let you know if/when anything is concrete.
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I received pre-approved 35K offer for Alaska Visa, after them chasing me monthly with lower bonus offers. I finally accepted and was instantly approved. The day before the card arrived, I was surprised when a letter appeared saying they had closed my Cash Rewards cards to approve the Alaska card – nothing like this was ever disclosed during the online application process. The letter did not match reality – when I logged into my account, the Cash Rewards and Alaska both showed as active. I called customer service and they also confirmed the card was active and they had no intention of closing it (I even asked the rep to check with a supervisor). I’m not sure what to believe, but I will put some charges on the Cash Rewards just to make sure it is still working OK – it is somewhat valuable now that they added Warehouse Clubs as a 2% cashback category. I also know another person who just got a 2nd BoA card recently, so maybe it is a YMMV thing.
They did a similar thing to me with my Cash Rewards card this past June when I applied for a new Travel Rewards card. https://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/bank-of-america-card-shutdown-with-no-notice/
Instantly approved last night for my 3rd Alaska card. First card was opened in 11/15, second card in 4/16.
[…] BofA Implementing New 1 Personal Card Per Person Rule? […]
[…] is that changing? Shawn at Miles To Memories wrote about his recent BofA denial and that he is surmising Bank of America may be making changes to their approval rules. I […]
Wife got denied with same letter you got back in August or September. She only had an Alaska Visa, and she was applying for a Virgin Atlantic card. Instant denial. I assumed it was for lack of banking history, but it did make it sound like it was because she already had a card product with them, albeit not the same product.
I am in the US.
Perhaps those rejected were applying from Canada? I thought I read somewhere this one card rule is being enforced in Canada, but nothing about in the US yet.
My dad just got instantly approved for a second Alaska card on 10/14. I think this might be only happening if your application goes into pending.
I am curious when they give that as the reason for declining if they’re doing a hard pull?
Was approved Friday for 2nd personal card but app was in review for 10 business days
I have two cards and I applied yesterday and was approved for another.
Looks like what the Illuminati call mixed signals. But it’s good to know there are folks with no reason to care about 4/24. I like the Alaska routing rules, such as they are, and I get pre-approved stamped mail offers regularly. They seem to top out at 30K sign-up, though, and the way I travel, that isn’t enough unless you know you can do two of them lickety-split.
I just got the letter mentioned above on my Alaska card. I applied on 10/8 after getting one previously on 6/13.
Was instantly approved just the other day and have one open.
I applied on 8/23. I was denied for already having the card. I asked if I could move credit, etc. He told me that the only way to possibly approve me was to cancel the other cards. I decided to not do that and accepted the rejection.
Do you think I should telephone them in 2-3 days or just let it ride out?
Ride it out. Wait for a letter.
Thanks Man…will do
Currently have one BofA card and today applied (online) for another with good cash promo bonus and was instantly approved. Then in the mail today I received a pre-approved BofA application with a different cash promo bonus (different backing organization as well) so I called to apply quickly to avoid 2 credit pulls rather than just 1 and went to “referred status.” ….”need additional information.” I was told I would receive a response in mail next 30 days, but I could call in 2-3 days to check on approval. I should mention on the 2nd application on the telephone I was asked my NET WORTH which I refused to disclose. Now, I’ve been asked my salary, which is usual, but never “amount in all of my bank accounts!” Will see what happens. In the past I’ve always been approved immediately.
Strong data point against this theory: My wife has 4 BofA cards, including 1 Alaska Signature card from May. Two days ago she was instantly approved for another Alaska Signature card and an NEA card.
Maybe I should add that my wife and I both have long-standing BofA checking accounts. Not sure if that data is considered in the app decision.