Author Topic: Selling Tradelines / Piggybacking Part II: $1000+/hr, 20-40k/yr. Side Gig  (Read 1906696 times)

monarda

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Those of you who are 'restricted' on US Bank, have you tried making small purchases since the letter arrived? I haven't yet, but am wondering exactly what 'restricted' means.

Car Jack

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Btw am i the only one who gets almost no sales with the "new" company? I got only one sale this year. I always registered AUs on time but refused to register one or two because they were too risky.

<raises hand>

Yah, I'm with new and old company now.  No AUs for as long as I can remember.  I gotta think there are so many Mustachians signed up that I'm being squeezed out.  I've already moved the payout down a level with the new company, thinking that would make my cards more attractive.  I guess not.

ditkanate

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Those of you who are 'restricted' on US Bank, have you tried making small purchases since the letter arrived? I haven't yet, but am wondering exactly what 'restricted' means.

I found out about my restriction before the letter arrived because my Netflix payment wouldn't go through.  When I log in to US Bank online my credit card doesn't show up under my accounts at all.  It's like the card doesn't exist. 

I'm wondering if the AU's that are one there will stay listed on there indefinitely... and if so will that continue to help them, or do restricted cards not get reported to the credit bureaus?

hay_otsuka

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My credit is available again and letter I received seems to be a warning rather than a closure so maybe I escaped but obviously will be resting this card for a while
Those of you who are 'restricted' on US Bank, have you tried making small purchases since the letter arrived? I haven't yet, but am wondering exactly what 'restricted' means.

I found out about my restriction before the letter arrived because my Netflix payment wouldn't go through.  When I log in to US Bank online my credit card doesn't show up under my accounts at all.  It's like the card doesn't exist. 

I'm wondering if the AU's that are one there will stay listed on there indefinitely... and if so will that continue to help them, or do restricted cards not get reported to the credit bureaus?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


frozen

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I received 2 identical  copies of the US Bank warning letter as well. I’m putting them on hold.

secondcor521

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I received 2 identical  copies of the US Bank warning letter as well. I’m putting them on hold.

They might be for different accounts.  Check the "Account ending in" line at the top above "Dear CARDHOLDER NAME".

I've been mulling over what to do and I think I may add one more AU to each one and then put them on hold.

Richie Poor

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Those of you who are 'restricted' on US Bank, have you tried making small purchases since the letter arrived? I haven't yet, but am wondering exactly what 'restricted' means.

I'm wondering if the AU's that are one there will stay listed on there indefinitely... and if so will that continue to help them, or do restricted cards not get reported to the credit bureaus?

If there is no balance on the card then it would not get reported to the bureaus. Since you can't add to the balance it would be tough to maintain a balance indefinitely.

I'm curious if the companies will stop accepting cards from the Discover, BofA, and US Bank since the card closures are ramping up or if they think it will be just a cyclical audit. I have a US Bank card that will mature next year and would like to enroll it eventually even if the card gets shut down.

solon

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True story.

Back in November 2017 I purchased a tradeline. I wanted to see how the process works, etc. It wasn't the new company or the old company. It's another company that I'll call BMS.

The tradeline is guaranteed to stay on the credit report for 60 days. When I checked my report today, it was still there - 6 months later. I called BMS to ask about their process. The cardholder has officially removed me from his/her card, it's just up to the bank how long the account stays on my report. The rep I spoke to actually bragged that they've seen accounts stay on reports 5 years after they are removed.

Moral: if you're selling tradelines, potentially LOTS of people have your account on their reports.

Fun fact: this cardholder has been charging $2/month, just like the advice given on this thread. Which one of you am I piggybacking on?!

hgjjgkj

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True story.

Back in November 2017 I purchased a tradeline. I wanted to see how the process works, etc. It wasn't the new company or the old company. It's another company that I'll call BMS.

The tradeline is guaranteed to stay on the credit report for 60 days. When I checked my report today, it was still there - 6 months later. I called BMS to ask about their process. The cardholder has officially removed me from his/her card, it's just up to the bank how long the account stays on my report. The rep I spoke to actually bragged that they've seen accounts stay on reports 5 years after they are removed.

Moral: if you're selling tradelines, potentially LOTS of people have your account on their reports.

Fun fact: this cardholder has been charging $2/month, just like the advice given on this thread. Which one of you am I piggybacking on?!

By "have your account on their reports" what does this mean? SSN? Full CC Numbers?

katsiki

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True story.

Back in November 2017 I purchased a tradeline. I wanted to see how the process works, etc. It wasn't the new company or the old company. It's another company that I'll call BMS.

The tradeline is guaranteed to stay on the credit report for 60 days. When I checked my report today, it was still there - 6 months later. I called BMS to ask about their process. The cardholder has officially removed me from his/her card, it's just up to the bank how long the account stays on my report. The rep I spoke to actually bragged that they've seen accounts stay on reports 5 years after they are removed.

Moral: if you're selling tradelines, potentially LOTS of people have your account on their reports.

Fun fact: this cardholder has been charging $2/month, just like the advice given on this thread. Which one of you am I piggybacking on?!

This matches my accidential AU story...  Mother put me on a store card unbeknownst to me.  When I noticed it, I asked her about it and she removed me from the account.  At least 2 years later, it is still reporting.  I could dispute it to have it removed but there is no reason in this case.

Next poster...  it just shows as an account on their report.  None of your personal info is there...  I forget the verbiage exactly.  It would appear similar to their own or a joint card.

boarder42

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Citi cards are dropping like flies - not a huge loss but sucks the income isnt there - it was a pain to call in each month to add users on those cards - guess i'll just churn them.

solon

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All of my credit cards (both mine and the tradeline I bought) show the first 6 digits of the CC number on my credit report. No other personally identifying information. In fact, since I have more than one card from a couple banks, sometimes it takes a minute to figure out which is which. (For example, I have several Citi cards, but they all just show up as "Citibank", and I have to look at the opening dates to figure out which is which.)

erutio

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Citi cards are dropping like flies - not a huge loss but sucks the income isnt there - it was a pain to call in each month to add users on those cards - guess i'll just churn them.

@boarder42 Which citi cards are you getting closed down?

boarder42

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Citi cards are dropping like flies - not a huge loss but sucks the income isnt there - it was a pain to call in each month to add users on those cards - guess i'll just churn them.

@boarder42 Which citi cards are you getting closed down?

friends have had all sorts closed down i personally had the AA platinum closed.

chuckster

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I had a Citi add today, and when I called it in I got sent to the Fraud Dept., but they only wanted to text me a verification code to my cell phone before completing the add.


A data point I've noticed with the new company is that on one of my cards, I mostly get AU requests from people who live within like 20 miles of me. I live in a major city with a significant immigrant population, I wonder if it is just coincidence, or, if they're keeping it to locals to make it seem like it's people I might reasonably know. 9 times out of 10, AUs on that card have been from addresses I might actually have driven past on my way to work. 

missundecided

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A data point I've noticed with the new company is that on one of my cards, I mostly get AU requests from people who live within like 20 miles of me. I live in a major city with a significant immigrant population, I wonder if it is just coincidence, or, if they're keeping it to locals to make it seem like it's people I might reasonably know. 9 times out of 10, AUs on that card have been from addresses I might actually have driven past on my way to work.

Same for me with new company when I got orders from them.

chuckster

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A data point I've noticed with the new company is that on one of my cards, I mostly get AU requests from people who live within like 20 miles of me. I live in a major city with a significant immigrant population, I wonder if it is just coincidence, or, if they're keeping it to locals to make it seem like it's people I might reasonably know. 9 times out of 10, AUs on that card have been from addresses I might actually have driven past on my way to work.

Same for me with new company when I got orders from them.

 
That may explain why some of us are getting more AU requests than others

ditkanate

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I'm in the Midwest and the majority of my adds are California, a few Arizona and Texas.

Car Jack

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A data point I've noticed with the new company is that on one of my cards, I mostly get AU requests from people who live within like 20 miles of me. I live in a major city with a significant immigrant population, I wonder if it is just coincidence, or, if they're keeping it to locals to make it seem like it's people I might reasonably know. 9 times out of 10, AUs on that card have been from addresses I might actually have driven past on my way to work.

You should stop on your way in, get out of the car and yell at the building "YOU'RE WELCOME!".

flashflooder

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I'm on the East coast and almost all of my adds are from CA.

ravevan

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How do you organize your cards and adds? Do you simply rely on the company to to send you the info on when to remove? Or do you keep an overall spreadsheet with all of your cards, remove dates, commission, etc? Or does anyone keep more detailed spreadsheets for each card with the names of those you added, dates, etc? Trying to be efficient.

secondcor521

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How do you organize your cards and adds? Do you simply rely on the company to to send you the info on when to remove? Or do you keep an overall spreadsheet with all of your cards, remove dates, commission, etc? Or does anyone keep more detailed spreadsheets for each card with the names of those you added, dates, etc? Trying to be efficient.

I keep an Excel spreadsheet.  One row per AU.  Columns are:  CL, expected commission, AU name, and then dates for:  AU added, purchase made, AU card received, AU card activated, received payment, removed AU, destroyed card.  Personally I also have ticklers in my todo folder for each of my piggybacking cards for two days after the closing dates to add a charge if I have active AUs.  That way there is a balance on the card the entire duration that an AU is on there.  @arebelspy doesn't do these subsequent purchases and he has reported that they're not necessary for piggybacking to work, but the companies recommend it and it's a small effort so I do it.

ravevan

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What is your experience with citi AU's? Is any more than 2 adds in danger of getting flagged? Or are they more like Barclays with 5?

DavidAnnArbor

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I recently had 5 authorized users on my Citi card at one time. I just recently removed 3, and now down to 2 left.

ravevan

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How do you organize your cards and adds? Do you simply rely on the company to to send you the info on when to remove? Or do you keep an overall spreadsheet with all of your cards, remove dates, commission, etc? Or does anyone keep more detailed spreadsheets for each card with the names of those you added, dates, etc? Trying to be efficient.

I keep an Excel spreadsheet.  One row per AU.  Columns are:  CL, expected commission, AU name, and then dates for:  AU added, purchase made, AU card received, AU card activated, received payment, removed AU, destroyed card.  Personally I also have ticklers in my todo folder for each of my piggybacking cards for two days after the closing dates to add a charge if I have active AUs.  That way there is a balance on the card the entire duration that an AU is on there.  @arebelspy doesn't do these subsequent purchases and he has reported that they're not necessary for piggybacking to work, but the companies recommend it and it's a small effort so I do it.

Thank you. This is great.

ravevan

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I recently had 5 authorized users on my Citi card at one time. I just recently removed 3, and now down to 2 left.

That's good to know. How long did you keep five users on at one time?

chuckster

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How do you organize your cards and adds? Do you simply rely on the company to to send you the info on when to remove? Or do you keep an overall spreadsheet with all of your cards, remove dates, commission, etc? Or does anyone keep more detailed spreadsheets for each card with the names of those you added, dates, etc? Trying to be efficient.

I have a spreadsheet tab that lists: which card, request to add date, AU name, Order # from the portal, date added, date removed, amount owed, and date paid.

Because I'm an Excel nerd, the "date paid" column has both estimated and actual dates (the estimated ones are followed by a question mark "?", when the payment comes in it formats differently so it's easy to see), and underneath it totals up how much I expect to get paid in the calendar year, and then calculates the self-employment taxes I should expect to have taken out.

Elsewhere in my personal budget tab, it takes both the anticipated income and tax liability into account, and on my taxes tab it calculates the appropriate SEP IRA maximum contribution & eligible deduction.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2018, 03:03:30 PM by chuckster »

DavidAnnArbor

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I recently had 5 authorized users on my Citi card at one time. I just recently removed 3, and now down to 2 left.

That's good to know. How long did you keep five users on at one time?


I think for about a month.

Padonak

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How do you organize your cards and adds? Do you simply rely on the company to to send you the info on when to remove? Or do you keep an overall spreadsheet with all of your cards, remove dates, commission, etc? Or does anyone keep more detailed spreadsheets for each card with the names of those you added, dates, etc? Trying to be efficient.

I have a spreadsheet tab that lists: which card, request to add date, AU name, Order # from the portal, date added, date removed, amount owed, and date paid.

Because I'm an Excel nerd, the "date paid" column has both estimated and actual dates (the estimated ones are followed by a question mark "?", when the payment comes in it formats differently so it's easy to see), and underneath it totals up how much I expect to get paid in the calendar year, and then calculates the self-employment taxes I should expect to have taken out.

Elsewhere in my personal budget tab, it takes both the anticipated income and tax liability into account, and on my taxes tab it calculates the appropriate SEP IRA maximum contribution & eligible deduction.

How do you calculate SEP IRA? Would you be able to share the formula? Is it applicable to a person with a full time job who already contributes to  401K and ROTH IRA and is ineligible for a tax-deductible IRA?

chuckster

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How do you calculate SEP IRA? Would you be able to share the formula? Is it applicable to a person with a full time job who already contributes to  401K and ROTH IRA and is ineligible for a tax-deductible IRA?

Turbo Tax should be able to calculate how much you are eligible to contribute. I think with a 401K and Roth IRA you can still have an SEP IRA, but, the exact effect of your primary employer 401k on the limit you can contribute I don't know... I'm not close enough to the maximums to worry about it myself, so I haven't looked it up.

IIRC: Take your total earnings for the year from your 1099 Misc, Box 7. (Starting in 2018, I think you can first subtract 20% as a new "pass-through deduction", but I haven't gotten clarity yet on whether that applies to tradeline earnings). Then I estimate federal taxes owed based on my marginal federal rate, and state taxes I'll owe from my marginal state tax rate. Then, take 92.35% of your total from your 1099 Misc Box 7, and multiply that by 15.3%, to get what you owe in FICA. Half of that FICA can be your deduction for an SEP IRA.

To calculate the total you can actually contribute to the SEP IRA, take your 1099 Misc Box 7, subtract half of the above FICA to get a net income, and then 20% of that can be contributed to an SEP IRA (all the way up to $55,000, if you made like $300k in tradeline sales :P ).

All that should be checked with a tax advisor, yada yada, but the numbers I got in Excel matched what Turbo Tax gave me for 2017 and the Vanguard calculator (https://personal.vanguard.com/us/SbsCalculatorController), so, I think I'm right for me. You mileage may vary and all of that.

kpd905

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Glad to see I am not the only one sheltering some of this income with a SEP IRA.  Maybe a CPA on the forum could chime in regarding the passthrough deduction aspect.

katsiki

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Glad to see I am not the only one sheltering some of this income with a SEP IRA.  Maybe a CPA on the forum could chime in regarding the passthrough deduction aspect.

Me too.  I think I learned about it from one of your posts too!

DavidAnnArbor

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You can do a SEP-IRA and it's not limited by your 401k deductions, it's entirely separate.

You can also do an individual 401k but if you're already maxing out your employee deduction at your main job, then it may not be worth all the extra work to get an individual 401k going - since you'll be just entitled to the employer deduction part and therefore would be the same as the SEP-IRA.

ravevan

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From what I understand, this has been true for at l ast 2 years but the industry is still going strong.

MasterStache

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Glad to see I am not the only one sheltering some of this income with a SEP IRA.  Maybe a CPA on the forum could chime in regarding the passthrough deduction aspect.

Short of not wanting to do all the math is it pretty safe to just throw 20% of whatever I earn in a SEP IRA? I did some part time work for my old company and earned quite a bit of non-taxed income on top of bank bonuses and selling tradelines.

katsiki

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Glad to see I am not the only one sheltering some of this income with a SEP IRA.  Maybe a CPA on the forum could chime in regarding the passthrough deduction aspect.

Short of not wanting to do all the math is it pretty safe to just throw 20% of whatever I earn in a SEP IRA? I did some part time work for my old company and earned quite a bit of non-taxed income on top of bank bonuses and selling tradelines.

Yes, in my opinion.

Vanguard and Fidelity both have calculators online as well to help.

lmf

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Has anyone gotten mail for their AUs from a different credit card company than the one you added them to?  I added an AU to my US Bank card last summer and just got mail from Discover for them marked 'Statement enclosed'.  Like they used my address to open an account at Discover or something.  What do I do with it?  I was thinking of marking it 'Not at this address. Return to sender'.

jdecandia

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Hey everyone!

I have PM'd Arebelspy, but if his travelogue/blog is anything to go by he is probably out and about adventuring and has had little time to get back to my message.

I am wondering if any of you could PM me with suggestions for a reputable company or the experiences that you have had with your companies.

Thank you!

secondcor521

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Hey everyone!

I have PM'd Arebelspy, but if his travelogue/blog is anything to go by he is probably out and about adventuring and has had little time to get back to my message.

I am wondering if any of you could PM me with suggestions for a reputable company or the experiences that you have had with your companies.

Thank you!

PM sent to you with all the info.

startbyservingothers

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From what I understand, this has been true for at l ast 2 years but the industry is still going strong.

I believe most banks use the "Mid Score"  (The second highest score.)  For mortgage approvals.  So if you boost at least 2 of their scores, then that is likely enough to get them approved.

MsFrugalista

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Has anyone gotten mail for their AUs from a different credit card company than the one you added them to?  I added an AU to my US Bank card last summer and just got mail from Discover for them marked 'Statement enclosed'.  Like they used my address to open an account at Discover or something.  What do I do with it?  I was thinking of marking it 'Not at this address. Return to sender'.

Not sure about mail since I use a virtual mailbox and any mail that is not addressed to the specified recipients gets shredded automatically. However, I have received phone calls for AUs from banks not associated with the card I had added them to. I think these are banks/debt collectors who are looking for these individuals. I just state that they have reached the wrong number and they apologize and let me know my number will be removed. I have yet to receive more than one call for the same individual.

I used to provide my phone number for the AU (some banks require this when adding them online), but now I have stopped doing that and instead provide another number so I don't get such phone calls.

katsiki

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Has anyone gotten mail for their AUs from a different credit card company than the one you added them to?  I added an AU to my US Bank card last summer and just got mail from Discover for them marked 'Statement enclosed'.  Like they used my address to open an account at Discover or something.  What do I do with it?  I was thinking of marking it 'Not at this address. Return to sender'.

No, sorry, no experience with that.  If it happens again, I might wonder more about it.  If you only see it once for 1 AU, I wouldn't worry about it.

Car Jack

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Finally got an ad with the old company.  Opened when Joe mentioned it here and the bonus money for the first sale was included.  Looking forward to getting some money off tradelines again.  It's been a loooooong time for me.

cnel85

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Hey everyone!

I have PM'd Arebelspy, but if his travelogue/blog is anything to go by he is probably out and about adventuring and has had little time to get back to my message.

I am wondering if any of you could PM me with suggestions for a reputable company or the experiences that you have had with your companies.

Thank you!

PM sent to you with all the info.

If it's not too much trouble, could you PM me with the info as well? Thanks :)

katsiki

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Finally got an ad with the old company.  Opened when Joe mentioned it here and the bonus money for the first sale was included.  Looking forward to getting some money off tradelines again.  It's been a loooooong time for me.

Wishing you lots of luck!  They are keeping me busy.

TheOnlyJustin

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If someone could PM me the information that would be greatly appreciated! I am assuming the OP gets tons of messages and hard to keep up with travel schedule. Thanks guys!

secondcor521

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PMs sent to @cnel85 and @TheOnlyJustin.

arebelspy

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Just PM me if you want a referral/more info/have questions.

While I am coincidentally traveling today (in an airport lounge at the moment), I respond to all PMs within 24 hours, and typically much shorter. Please don't clutter the thread with "PM me referral please!" :)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

dragoncar

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Just PM me if you want a referral/more info/have questions.

While I am coincidentally traveling today (in an airport lounge at the moment), I respond to all PMs within 24 hours, and typically much shorter. Please don't clutter the thread with "PM me referral please!" :)

They allow chatbots in the lounges now?

elysianfields

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Hi everyone,

As I mentioned upthread, my Barclays card was an LL Cool Bean Visa that was switched over to Shitibank and is now a MasterCard.

I'm looking for a new Barclays card because of the convenience (adding / deleting AUs online) and their seeming apathy WRT how many AUs I add to such cards.  I'd like to obtain it ASAP so that I can start seasoning it.

Any suggestions for a good Barclays card - or from another good Piggybacking option?