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I recently received a 2.3k increase on my Carnival MC through Barclay's. I opened this account in May of I think 2009. For about a year, I used it regularly then ended up sock-drawering it. The initial limit was 2k. I think in 2010, just before I stopped using it, the balance had increased to 3.4k. There was another increase in 2010 or 2011, and another in 2012, which put it at 7.4k. The only use it has seen since then was a BT check I wrote in August of 2012 for about 3.5k (used for an investment). I have been paying this down since then (still 0% interest). Lo and behold, I get an increase this month for the 2.3k which puts me at 9.7k. All increases were automatic and never initiated by me.
Now what intrigues me is I also have an ITunes Visa. I opened this card in either late 2007 or early 2008. It also started with about 2k as an opening balance. In October of 2008 I took a HP to have the limit increased to 3.5k only to have it decreased due to "over activity" at Christmas time that winter. Since then that card has only seen two increases and is at 4.1k. I have always used this card regularly and it carries a much smaller balance than the Carnival MC.
Does anybody know why my Carnival gets so much love and the ITunes gets next to none? I use it more and its an older account. They have made way more money off of me in interest and purchases on the ITunes versus the Carnival. Both have perfect payment history and obviously my CR information is the same for both accounts.
Seriously. I've tried everything with that card. Using it regularly and paying in full didn't get me any where. When I started running through lots of purchases and making multiple payments the one year, that resulted in a decrease. For a while I paid it off and just let it sit. I even tried a balance transfer to see if that would do anything. Now I'm just trying to put a few regular purchases on each month and let it carry a small balance to see if that works. Even making large purchases in the apple store and using the free financing has gotten me nowhere.
@crunching_numbers wrote:
When dealing with co-branded cards, CL's and criteria are determined by both the issuer and the company they are working with. They will not always be the same. Barclays is a strange company anyways.
This is probably the best answer
Barclays is a tough nut to figure indeed and co-branded cards just make it more of a mystery