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Hi Found a property and need to make an offer. Waited until now to get pre-approval because after reading this board for 6 years I have a sever allergy to INQs. I understand that FICO scoring groups together mortgage inquiries within XX days (30? can't remember). I also know that all three bureaus are generally pulled. How can I avoid having multiple INQs pulled on each bureau? Should I work with one broker? If so, does that broker pull the reports and farm them out? Or should I just pick one reputable bank? I got burned a few years ago by a car dealership. They pulled my credit and it got run by a dozen lenders and killed me. Thanks

My Priority Pass card got mailed to me USPS a week or so after receiving the JPM cards via UPS. I didn't have to request it. same here; and be sure to read the cover letter to see why the Pd PP membership is way better than the Amex Platinum PP membership... Hmmm. Interesting. I didn't even read it. Just tucked it away in the files since I already have a PP membership through Amex Plat. I'll have to dig it up. The main reason it is better: never a charge for guests whereas amex plat PP membership results in a $27 per guest per visit fee. Ah, makes sense. My wife has a PP card with her amex so I guess I never noticed that we were both signing in. Now we just need a little CO/UA lounge love, especially for those of us that travel out of EWR often.

My Priority Pass card got mailed to me USPS a week or so after receiving the JPM cards via UPS. I didn't have to request it. same here; and be sure to read the cover letter to see why the Pd PP membership is way better than the Amex Platinum PP membership... Hmmm. Interesting. I didn't even read it. Just tucked it away in the files since I already have a PP membership through Amex Plat. I'll have to dig it up.

I'm not sure about the hotel reservation, but for the priority pass you should get it in the mail in a few weeks. I had call the customer service people asking the same question when I got my card, and they said if I didn't get the priority pass card in a few weeks I should call back. Till then, if I traveled and needed lounge access, I could pay the day fee and I would get reimbursed for it. It's those little things that will set this product apart. I called and asked for plastic backups, and the best part was that all I had to say was my last name and last 4digits of the card. I wasn't subjected to the security BS that most card issuers put me through. On and off phone in probably 30 seconds.

My Priority Pass card got mailed to me USPS a week or so after receiving the JPM cards via UPS. I didn't have to request it.

Nope. But that was a different time a few years ago. By the feel of the posts on this board in the last 6 months Chase is not as stingy anymore.

Chase refused me for a card a few years back citing 'excessive inquiries'. I talked to a number of CSR's, and back then I kept hearing that 7 INQs was the magic limit. They couldn't care less if they were for cars, mortgages, employment, or other credit cards, and didn't care at all about FICO score if INQs were over that number. That prompted me to close my other cards and accounts with them and bid Chase goodbye. I've only recently dipped my toe back in the Chase water as I'm INQ free (well, except for my recent Chase app which dinged both EQ and TU due to a frozen EX, but I can live with 1 on each). My recommendation is get B*ing and try again in a few months if you exhaust all recon this time and hit that INQ brick wall with them. Although, with Chase things have changed in the credit game quite quickly over the last year, so who knows, maybe 7 isn't the number anymore. Certainly 15+ has flagged you.

Approved for 25k. Froze EX, pulled EQ/TU. 809/804 respectively day before pulls. Took a week to move through the app process, but I experienced incredible customer service in getting my cards. If this is indicative of the main CS line and how they handle customers then I will be very happy to move my primary spend to this card.

Is this a recent change? Last time I spoke with Amex they absolutely refused to do a product change. I converted an old gold card to zync days after it was released and at the time the rep said "if you don't like it we'll just switch it back". Well, that was a lie. I'm not taking an INQ with Amex just to convert the card, but it's a low AF and contributes to age, so it sits in a drawer.

Would love to but company is forced to operate in manhattan, so I am beholden to many taxes that others aren't.

If you understand the tax laws and structure a business properly to take advantage of the tax laws you will pay minimal taxes both in business and personal. Consult with an accountant if necessary. I pay many accountants, have multiple corporations in multiple states, and I still seem to be paying a ton of taxes. Perhaps you can shed light on how I can pay "minimal taxes" by restructuring a business? It's not like I can all of a sudden turn all corporate profits into dividends to lower my tax rate. Taxes I get to pay this month, not including ongoing payroll taxes, of which I pay both employee/employer's amounts for my W2 portion of income. - federal personal 35% bracket, including of course, a health dose of AMT - state personal ~6.6%, state corp ~$1k flat - city personal (~3.5%), city corp ~8.85% on net profit) Of course this doesn't include sales, property, and all the other BS taxes we pay day to day and rarely think of. I get the same federal, state, and city services as everyone else does. Well, no, less, because I take very little out of the social safety net as compared to those in lower incomes, many of whom pay zero federal tax. NYC area is extremely expensive. Nobody living within an hour's commute is even close to being considered 'rich' at a $250k income, especially with 2 kids and 2 incomes. Article could have been titled or written a little differently, but it's pretty spot on. -

Why is it that Citi hasn't started again to allow CL transfers between products? I've asked a couple reps as I have two cards that I'd love to combine, and I got differing answers. Of course I think one cited 'recent banking legislation' which is BS if Chase is doing it, and the other just wouldn't say. Called BofA last week and they said they'd do it no problem too. I think product transfers can be difficult with the cobrand cards (airline cards), or at least have been, but I haven't asked about that. Nice to see lenders opening up a little bit again.

Applying for a merchant account is exactly why I now have freezes on all three bureaus. 2 years ago I applied for AcceptPay (Amex branded through PaySimple). Speaking with the sales rep I made sure that it was non-PG, as going far as striking out that section and having HIM write "No Personal Guarantee" and striking out the section regarding pulling personal credit. I had multiple assurances from him and one other rep that my reports were not to be pulled. Low and behold, 3 INQs popped up next day. 1 from Amex, 1 ACHDirect, and 1 from another processor. Seems as though they 'forgot' to tell the back end processors to not pull. They fully admitted the mistake but took no responsibility in getting them removed. Anyway, it took my 8+ months of letters, emails, calls to the pullers to finally get all three removed. By the time they were it almost didn't matter anymore. (2 EX, 1 EQ I believe, so B* wasn't an option). Those applying for legitimate business credit know that one has to protect their personal CRs vigorously, and unfortunately that means freezing all three bureaus. No credit sesame for me! DC

We rent in the city, and own a home in the country that we use for weekends. Purchased in 2009; mortgage of $400k on value of approx $475k (5.25%, no PMI, ~1% tax rate). We are looking to move out of the city and buy in the suburbs. Ideally we'd sell the country place and combine living expenses into one home, but we might not be able to sell the house for some time due to market conditions. My question is - do the banks consider the existing mortgage as a 'mortgage' or as 'debt' when calculating what level of mortgage we'd be approved for? I'm vaguely familiar with the 28/36 guidelines. Does a lender consider our payment on that house as part of our total mortgage commitment, or is that viewed as debt servicing on it's own? I've done mortgage calculations online and they seem to indicate that we'd be able to service a considerable amount of debt each month, given income, but I'm not sure how an existing home is viewed. Other than a car payment and this mortgage, both of us are debt free. We have yet to get a mortgage broker/bank as we are waiting on accountants to finish up 2011 taxes. Thanks for the advice. I've waded through a number of posts here but couldn't get a handle on this exact issue.