So this actually went down earlier this month, on 12/14, but I just haven't had time to post anything about it due to the holidays. You know how it goes.
The last card I was approved for was the Barclay NFL card back in October, with a $1,900 limit. Not great, but with my TU FICO at 672 and 4 collections on my report from 2007, I was just happy to be in with Barclay, and with my highest limit yet! Took advantage of the sign-up bonus, and then did a 0% BT with them. Hope to get an auto-CLI at 4-6 months.
Since then, I had received 2 offers for BOA and Citi, both of which I applied for, and both of which were denied, due to the collections.
So at this point I had decided to garden. I was going to garden until August of next year - at that point, all of the baddies would be off of all of my reports, and I'd have a clean record, with <10% utilization, and around 6 years AAOA. I was going to go after the prime lenders (with the exception of Chase, which is where my worst collection was from.)
But I just couldn't fight that itch. You know which one. The one where you just can't get that desire to apply, whether approved or denied, out of your head. That itch where you kinda hope you get denied, so you don't take the hit to your AAOA, and you don't have to explain ANOTHER card coming in the mail to DW/DH. Where you hope you get approved, to help out your utilization, so you can BT from a higher APR card, so you can have another prime lender in your wallet/purse/sockdrawer. The kind of thoughts you use to justify applying in the first place. That risk-reward feeling.
I couldn't get Discover out of my head. I just wanted one. I was attracted to the 5% categories. I had Capital One and Barclays, but I wanted a Discover. I know I had no business applying. My score was >700, I had collections on my reports, I had just recently been denied credit lines by 2 other lenders. I knew I had to let my baddies and my recent inquiries age a little bit more.
But I just couldn't help myself. I really think I need help, and DW wasn't available to talk me out of it.
So I bit the bullet and went to the Discover website. My heart was racing, my palms sweaty. Why was I so nervous?
Filled out the info. Double checked that everything was correct. Clicked submit.
Waited.
Waited.
Waited.
Waited for that 7-10 days message, or that outright denial, you'll get a letter in the mail message.
And then...
Congratulations!
My jaw nearly hit the floor. How the...
I was shocked, but somehow in my shock I was able to set up my online account. I guess Discover doesn't tell you your limit right away, but in setting up my e-mail alerts, one of the options was "alert me when my balances reach <$6800>"
Holy cannoli, my largest limit was a $2800 Care Credit, how in the world did I get what I assumed to be $7000?! From Discover?
I registered everything online, and then broke the news to my wife. She was just as shocked as me, and a little upset that I didn't consult her first. But when I told her my limit, she forgot all about it.
I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wondered about my limit. Could it really be so high for someone like me? I knew that I could just call Discover and ask what my limit was, but I was afraid that I would call and they would say that they've made some kind of mistake, that I don't qualify for such a line of credit, or at all, and here, let me take everything back, and you'll get your denial letter in the mail explaining why you suck so much. Silly, I know, but I still didn't call.
Every time I tried to log into my account, or the Discover app, I got the message that they were "still setting up" my page. When I was finally able to log in, several days later, I saw that I had a limit of $7,500! Sweet!
A few days later, I got my letter, no, package, in the mail. Very nice packaging, by the way, made me feel special. Activated the card with a quick phone call, must be a special activation line, because the rep asked me if I was calling to activate my card. Saw the accompanying letter. They pulled Equifax (seriously, who pulls EQ?) and I had a FICO of 688.
Summary/TL;DR: I applied for a Discover whilst having 4 collections on my account, around 20% utilization, and a EQ FICO of 688, and I was approved with a $7,500 credit line!
Epilogue: I saw that I could get a $50 statement credit if I referred a friend and they were approved. So I convinced DW to apply so that we could both get the $50 statement credit. She applied and was approved. The funny thing is that she has 0 baddies, perfect payment history, same income, a higher EQ FICO at around 730, higher existing credit limits, yet she "only" got a $6,500 credit line. Maybe it was the utilization.
Anyway, happy hunting!
All I have for this forum is bubblegum and anecdotal evidence, and I'm all out of bubblegum.
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k
