Credit Cards

[therealBigSmooth]

I was raised in an FICO free environment and paid for everything with cash or debit until my mid 30's. Last week I closed on my first house. After reading on this forum for a for months I decided to apply for a Discover Card, Chase Freedom, Lowes(GE Money) and Jeromes Furniture(Tidewater). My EQ 682 TU 655. My credit history is solid but limited, having only 2 accounts, 1 Cap1 auto and CU revolving account and with no CC's and 1 late pay 3 years ago.  Initially all gave the we need more info or a straight denied due to 8 INQ's while shopping for a mortgage lender. Today I made the backdoor calls. Now along with my new house I have Discover 4K, Chase Freedom 2K, Lowes 500 and Jeromes Tidewater 2K. I was initially disappointed with the lower CL from Lowes, as they were my 1st call. But after all 4 were approved I could not be happier. My scores are going to skyrocket over the next year! Thanks to all who provided the information on this forum.

[MsLadyRover]

Congrats on the new home and new cards!

[pizzadude]

+1, big congrats !!  And Lowe's is pretty good with CLIs, so I would expect that your $500CL will grow quickly.

[boomhower]

Did you ask Lowes for a higher limit?  Call them back, tell them what you are planning to purchase and how much you need.  They may just surprise you.  Lowes is really good about raising initial CL's.

[Smug]

Congrats my lowes went from 1150.00 to 8k this month had it less then a year.

[therealBigSmooth]

I did try to get a CLI immediately on backdoor approval. They said no. I have $1500 worth of purchases to make at Lowes in the next week or so. I'm going to use my CL on every purchase, pay off same day and repeat until I have what I need. Then I am going to recon a CLI again. What do you think of this plan?

[therealBigSmooth]

Smug, that is excellent. Did you ask for the CLI or did they just  give it to you? That may be a dumb question. What CLI did you ask for?

[tinuviel]

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@therealBigSmooth wrote:

I was raised in an FICO free environment and paid for everything with cash or debit until my mid 30's. Last week I closed on my first house. After reading on this forum for a for months I decided to apply for a Discover Card, Chase Freedom, Lowes(GE Money) and Jeromes Furniture(Tidewater). My EQ 682 TU 655. My credit history is solid but limited, having only 2 accounts, 1 Cap1 auto and CU revolving account and with no CC's and 1 late pay 3 years ago.  Initially all gave the we need more info or a straight denied due to 8 INQ's while shopping for a mortgage lender. Today I made the backdoor calls. Now along with my new house I have Discover 4K, Chase Freedom 2K, Lowes 500 and Jeromes Tidewater 2K. I was initially disappointed with the lower CL from Lowes, as they were my 1st call. But after all 4 were approved I could not be happier. My scores are going to skyrocket over the next year! Thanks to all who provided the information on this forum.

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Congratulations, and welcome to the forums!

You're off to a great start; those are some nice cards. And don't worry too much about the Lowe's card. My DH started out with a $300 CL a year ago. They bumped him up to $600, then $4600, and then this month they raised him to $6500. So, with usage and good payment history, it can grow quickly. Enjoy your new house and your new cards!

[tinuviel]

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@therealBigSmooth wrote:

I did try to get a CLI immediately on backdoor approval. They said no. I have $1500 worth of purchases to make at Lowes in the next week or so. I'm going to use my CL on every purchase, pay off same day and repeat until I have what I need. Then I am going to recon a CLI again. What do you think of this plan?

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If they don't recon when you call, then simply wait four months, as that's their usual schedule for CLIs. When the time for an increase comes, you'll probably get a good one.

[therealBigSmooth]

41 days after opening my Lowes account I called and recieved my 1st cli. Now the cl is $1000 up from $500. I simply put $1270 through the card and PIF every time I went to Lowes for the next purcahse. I plan on the same spending habits and PIF going forward and will keep posting as the card grows with me.