Been hanging out in the garden for the last few months, aiming to break into the 700 club and get some decent cards. Only have two actual major branded CC lines open, both with quite low limits ($400 secured / $320 unsecured). The rest of my credit mix is some store cards, a Prosper loan (4 months old) and a new auto loan (only 2 weeks old). Current scores: EQ 647 (myfico) --- EX 631 (CS FAKO) --- TU 639 (CK FAKO) / 659 (Walmart)
So last night, I made a run through a bunch of different Comenity sites trying the shopping cart trick to see how the preapproved limits change when my credit changes. Came across Sportsman's Guide and have never been able to get it to pop up for me before. Threw something in the cart, clicked my way through the checkout process expecting nothing and then..... it happened. The rare spectacle made itself visible to me with all its grandeur!
I debated back and forth for a few minutes about accepting it, but managed to summon the willpower to close the tab. I kept telling myself that the Discover and Freedom cards I had been pining for so long for were only a few weeks away.
Well, this morning, driven to the brink of madness by the app itch that had been festering in the back of my mind, I caved in. Figured worse comes to worse, it's a soft denial and no INQ to worry about. Best case scenario, I'd get an actual CC branded tradeline with maybe a $1-2k limit.
Filled in the required SP info, clicked the button whilst holding my breath and cursing my mental weakness, and waited. The page reloaded and I saw those beautiful letters arranged in the ever-so-pleasing manner: APPROVED.
Once I had reclaimed my temporarily displaced sanity, I signed up for the online account management and logged in to check the limit. Scanned the page quickly and saw $1600 pop out at me. I immediately burst into the best Baby Groot dance rendition I could muster, much to the amusement of my coworkers. Being an slightly overweight 30yr old computer geek, I'm surprised noone thought I was having a seizure/heart attack.
I sat back down, about to logout and close the page when I realized I had been looking the wrong field. That was the cash advance limit. I look farther up on the page and my jaw hit the floor. Holy crap.... $8000.
Still in shock from it hours later. I haven't received an email or phone call saying it was a mistake, so sounds like it is going to stick. So happy to be making progress on the road to recovery after screwing my credit up as a fresh college student venturing into the real world.
Sorry for the long winded post. I'm just flat out amazed I was this lucky. Big thanks to everyone who has helped by providing info on this site about PFD processes and credit repair.