My Wife’s Latest Application Spree Results
Over the last 3-4 weeks or so I have been on somewhat of an application spree for myself and for my wife. The results weren’t so pretty for me but they worked out pretty well for my wife. That is one of the perks of being married I guess…you get two shots at all of the best offers! Most of these were done before I started my applications last week.
My Wife’s Applications:
These are the cards “my wife” applied for:
Fifth Third Trio –
This is not a very compelling card, although it does earn 3% at restaurants, but she got a targeted offer so I went for it. The normal bonus is $100 after $500 in spend – blah – but she got an offer for $250 after $500 in spend via the snail mail. 50% return on $500 in spend – sign me up!
Fifth Third is weird in the fact that they don’t notify you if you have been approved or not. They don’t even email you a confirmation of application. This happened to me in the past too. The card showed up a week later and I smashed that $500 in about 30 seconds.
This also paired nicely with the $300 checking account bonus they are running!
RESULTS: Instant Approval – I guess?
Wyndham Card –
With the new increased offer I really wanted to get this card for my wife and myself. That would be 6 nights in a hotel if we both got 45,000 points for $150, a pretty great deal. Plus the tie in with Total Rewards really intrigued me. Barclaycard is hit or miss on applications but I took a stab at it and she was instantly approved.
RESULTS: Instant Approval
Going Forward
As you can see my wife’s applications went a lot better than mine did. In the future I plan on getting her a couple of cards that I can use my referrals for, my Delta Gold business card and my newly minted Marriott business card. That should bring us both some points. The perks of marriage again :). After that I will probably have her lay low for a while like I plan on doing.
Conclusion
A decent little round of apps that brought us $750 in cash and 3 nights in a hotel for less than $200 out of pocket. I would call that a success!
She definitely had a better go of it than I did. Is it sexism at work? I kid I kid. Most of our spend is put on my cards so her credit score is a little bit higher which may have played a part. She hasn’t hit the applications quite as hard over the last 12 months either but there have been enough that it shouldn’t have been substantially different.
Let me know what cards you have you eye on going forward or if you are taking a break.
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[…] mini application spree for my wife since we have pretty much wrapped up the spend on her last application spree. I have been trying to hoard Delta miles, hub captive here, for an upcoming trip to Amsterdam and […]
Ok I have the tally for the people who were asking.
Before these 3 apps she had – 3 in the previous 6 months and 13 in the previous 12 months.
Before my apps I had 4 approvals in the last 6 months and 12 in the previous 12 months…so very similar approvals.
She had 2-3 denials on top of that and I probably had around 5 on top of that. So not a huge difference really.
Thanks for letting us know. Its weird that having very similar hard pulls you got so different results.
Is your stated income similar at the time of application or do you state combined household income while applying for credit cards ?
I always combine the incomes so they are the same. I think hers were more diversified by the amount of banks over the last 12 months (like 8 different banks) so maybe that made a difference.
Did the $100 American Airlines gift card purchase trigger the incidental statement credit?
Yes the credit posted a few days later.
I agree with the comments above ^^
I’ll check out my tracking when I get home and update you guys
I agree. It would help a lot to know where you’re both at in the last 6/12/24 months… I would guess she’s applied for way fewer cards.
how many hard pulls did you and your wife have over the last 6/12/24 months ? This would help us put your outcomes in context.