@RM21 wrote:UPDATE: Well, I went off to church then came back and still felt the same about applying, and chose the Amex BCE over BCP after reading up on the approvals for both.Amex BCE Approved!!!! $10,000 Limit!! I went to the preapprovals again and the BCP was on there but not the BCE. I stayed with my thought process and went for the BCE anyway. It just seemed like too many approvals I read on the BCP had posts where they were given low limits, even with scores way higher than mine. Just my hunch.So now, the garden. The only things I am watching is what to do about Cap1 and Citi. I'm not too thrilled with either at the moment, and still don't know what I'll do with them yet.
Congratulations on all your successes RM21! Your portfolio of cards is impressive. Also your decision to garden is so wise. See you there!
@Anonymous wrote:I suppose it depends on who you ask and how you look at it. I just figured with your oldest account being 3 years old, even if you've added a ton of accounts during that time the overall history of your profile is still relatively small. I have 5 accounts that are 15+ years old and a AAoA of 7 years and someone the other day suggested that my file was relatively thin which I found surprising... but I guess from a different perspective something different can be seen.
Agree. I would have thought your file was thick for the most part. I'm sure there is a wide range on how it is looked at from one person to another.
@Anonymous wrote:Congrats on getting the BCE! I am sure you could have gotten the the BCP if you wanted it.
Just to give a data point on SL with that card, I have what I would call a thick file. I have a mortgage that is over 20 years old, two paid car loans that are 9years and 8 years, one current car loan 2 years old, two credit cards that are over 10 years old, student loans that are 10 years old, two credit cards that are in the 7-9 year range, and three credit cards that I have added since Nov. 2015. I have zero derogs, and zero late payments. My Fico 8 scores are all above 800 and when I applied for the BCP in April my SL was $2000. My util was < 10% when I applied. I am a PIF on auto pay with all of my cards so my util varies month to month depending on how much I have spent. Would my file be considered thick?
I was a little miffed about the low SL because I don't like to pay more then once a month and I knew I would put $900 a month on that card easy. I just let it ride and I got my 3x CLI and I will ask for one more to get to $18k and then I will be set.
I personally think it is thick. But even more, your example is the reason why I went for the BCE instead, or at least one of the reasons. I'm also single and don't know that I would spend as much for the rewards on the BCP. But doing my research, I found a lot of nice profiles getting lower limits on the BCP. I can certainly understand not being happy about that in your case.
Thanks!! I don't know so much about being wise as much as it is a must now lol!!! And I thought the cards I had were somewhat weak compared to others.
@smnares wrote:
Wow congrats OP! You've done quite an amazing job, while managing to raise your credit score instead of dropping it. I hope to go on a spree similar to yours either at the end of this year of beginning of next. Also your discover card stats make me optimistic about asking for a CLI next month after my 1 year anniversary with them 😊
Thanks! On discover, I have to fess up lol. I got the card in 2013 and as much as I was reading the threads on this forum, I somehow never started hitting the luv button until February of this year. Actually, this was the case on all of my cards lol. I started with $1K in 2013, then auto luv to $1.4K, then auto to $2K, then auto to $2.8K. Finally my first liv button attempt in February got me to $4.4K.
On the spree itself, I kind of set myself up for it, and everything was spread out perfectly with good timing and a mix of HP's from various bureaus, combined with the timing of any SP's for increases. Everyone is different though, but you'll know when the timing is right, and how far is too far.
You have made some real progress, congrats on all your hard work.
