Credit Cards

[ctb89]

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cabronsaim wrote:

Some people have suggested a charge card is best for increasing limits fast.

Why dont you try one?

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What? I've never heard this. That doesn't make sense at all.

[HoldingOntoHope]

To the original poster. At the level you are using your Citi card you should have no trouble getting a CLI from them at the 6 month mark. Just call in to the number on your card or even do it online if you prefer not to talk to them. The call in will probably give you a better chance to ask for what you want and explain your case.

Discover can be a little erratic. I have seen everything from auto CLI's at 3 months to no movement in years from various posters. My personal experience was that I got nothing for 2 years and then a 1K bump from 4500 to 5500. If you try their phone system or on line it will either tell you they need to transfer you to a CSR or online there is nothing available if you are not eligible. If you are eligible it will give you a form to fill out online. It is a soft based on whatever they offer. If you want more it is a hard pull.

As previous posters have said it is hard to get someone to be the first to give you a reasonable 5K+ CL. Most of us have had better luck with credit unions offering a CL over the average. There are several national CU's that you should be eligible to join that are talked about on the forums. Your credit profile does not appear to be the problem.

[FrugalRican]

At this point, your truest strategy is to garden. Time will give you a better score and with it, you can apply for an AMEX revolver, even if you have to go through a charge card first.

But why AMEX? Because they seem to be one of the best cards at increasing CL's. But as of right now, it seems like you've opened at least 3 cards in the last year. I'd just work with that first before trying to get anything now with a higher credit limit. Chase and Discover tend to be stingy on CLI's and love to hard pull as well.

If Citi does an auto-CLI, perfect, but for now, I'd be a lot more worried about using those cards responsibly and in your favor so that you can get a card (Like AMEX) that'll be much more generous in the future about giving you better limits.

[remarc]

I'm not looking to get another card for a year or so! My plan with these cards was so I could get rid of my credit building cards such as bestbuy & capitol one & let these new cards grow??
I thought by using them & paying them in full each month would show my spending & ability to pay them & fingers cross help with my credit & higher cl???

[FrugalRican]

Using them and PIF is pretty much what got you the Chase and Discover. Unfortunately, the way it usually used to work was that over time, lenders would see this and give you more credit and with time, your lines increased and whatever you applied for next, would see those lines and throw similar lines at you.

Nowadays, everyone is afraid to be the first one to toss out that line.

Even when I had my BoA card at 15,900... the fact that I had a negative account and high utilization, Chase only gave me $1,400. Fortunately, Discover took a chance on me and gave me $6,000 because of a 4.8K balance transfer I was doing. After that, AMEX gave me $9,500. I'm sure AMEX would have given me much lower had I not had Discover's CL and that Discover wouldn't have given me such high a limit had it not been for the balance transfer. The dominoes fell for me that way. Just give it some time. Then definitely go after an AMEX.

[remarc]

Question for u. I have a balance on another card. My bestbuy card holds a $800 balance , I want to transfer it to chase seeing I have a 0% transfer option. However that would max out my chase card. Do u think if I call them and ask for the transfer & explain the situation they may increase my cl with them so my ratio is much better ?? I've only had my chase card for two months?
If they increase it to $2500 and I put $800 on it , that makes me feel much better. What's you'r thoughts??

[FrugalRican]

If you do this with Chase, understand that more than likely they are going to do a hard pull on your credit if you wanted to increase the line. So that's something to think about.

[modernsurrender]

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FrugalRican wrote:

If you do this with Chase, understand that more than likely they are going to do a hard pull on your credit if you wanted to increase the line. So that's something to think about.

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But it's also not like your report is clear of all inquiries since you've been applying for credit (and approved for cards) recently, so it's not like one more inquiry would break you.

[remarc]

Im goign to call them and ask once my balance in PIF for this month might ask citi too while im at it