Re: HP vs SP CLI Cards: Preference? Best Value? Wh... - Page 2 - myFICO® Forums

NRB525 · ‎04-09-2016

@RM21 wrote:
@kdm31091 wrote:
Discover, Amex, Capital One, and Citi do SP CLIs fairly routinely. Some of them, like Discover and Citi, do also do HP so you have to be careful. Check the wording before you finish the request. It will usually make it clear if a HP will be done.

Chase is certainly not known for SP CLIs, though they do happen -- it's just more rare. Same with BOA. Happens, but not often.

SP CLIs make us feel good and do no damage to your score, but if you really want the increase for actual spending purposes, a HP is going to be more effective because you can ask for the amount you want and potentially get it in one shot, vs slowly creeping the limit upward with SPs.
Can't argue with the Amex 3x Sp increases!! I don't have one of their cards yet, but I've read about that a ton on here. Certainly, I'm aware of Chase and BofA rarely doing soft pulls. I have cards with each of them, as well as Barclay, who is in the same boat.

So for me, those 3 cards plus Best Buy and another chase of the 10 I have drive me crazy because I know I have to hard pull for them. BofA just auto increased me an extra 4K after nothing for almost 3 years. The others I had to HP with no auto luv from them. Who gives the most frequent and highest Auto CLI plays a factor in this too.

What are the cards and limits you are trying to work from / increase? That BofA Auto CLI is interesting to see.

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765

Anonymous · ‎04-09-2016

Soft Pulls are awesome and I LUV them!!! Why???? because I have nothing to loose! You get too many HP on your reports and creditors start backing away.

In my experience soft pulls give smaller bumps while HP tend to be go big or go home.

Soft Pulls:

Amazon....aweseome between their auto CLI went from 800 to 4,000

Wal-mart same as amazon...awesome

Discover...very generious with their CLI

Capital One.....You can suck it...small increases finally got an auto CLI after 3 years to 2,600 but man they are stingy

Hard Pulls:

BOA- Totally been worth it..I have done this twice and tripled my initial CL

Chase- Very firm I reconned for a higher intial CL and they did another HP...they said NO. I did get a nice auto CLI after 6 months.

Barclay- I dont know have not asked yet

Just some of my experiences.

Ghoshida · ‎04-09-2016

@RM21 wrote:
I guess this is more of a data point convo starter, but I have a mix of cards that offer SP CLI's and some only HP CLI's. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought this out loud, but I wondered what it'd be like to have only cards that I can soft pull request often, limiting hard pull inquiries. Then again, some cards only offer HP but you might get a bigger bang each time vs some SP cards, or may be more worth it in the long run, or even thought of to be better just for the name to not care.

I'm interested in thoughts and experiences on this, your reasons why some may be better, who you prefer/don't like, etc. Varied opinions I'm sure, but this is more informal than anything, as we keep learning from one another. Thanks!

If you ask those who got a flat denial or $500 increase from Chase after a precious EX HP, they'll disagree with you.

The reason some banks won't give a CLI when you ask for it, without an HP, is not because they don't have the info on you. They know everything about you already via their account reviews. They want the world to know that you came begging to them for a CLI. Then they'll give you exactly whatever they'd decided before they did the HP.

Unless you declared a bankruptcy between the last time they did an AR (which was probably 3 weeks ago) and now. And that the AR reading was excellent, so they'd have given you the CLI, but hey, the most recent reading shows you're going down from 849 to 550.

The probability of that happening is very close to zero.

I find the policy of some banks to do a second HP the moment you ask for a CLI, during card activation, especially sketchy. I mean, you're seriously saying that the HP you did about 3 days ago wasn't good enough for you, or you didn't get a good enough understanding of my profile from that? Fire your underwriter or the guy that wrote the POS code that went through the first HP.

So yes, banks have all the right to do another HP, but if someone claims that it's for a better reading of the customer's profile, I'd say it's total BS.

Ghoshida · ‎04-09-2016

@kdm31091 wrote:
Discover, Amex, Capital One, and Citi do SP CLIs fairly routinely. Some of them, like Discover and Citi, do also do HP so you have to be careful. Check the wording before you finish the request. It will usually make it clear if a HP will be done.

Chase is certainly not known for SP CLIs, though they do happen -- it's just more rare. Same with BOA. Happens, but not often.

SP CLIs make us feel good and do no damage to your score, but if you really want the increase for actual spending purposes, a HP is going to be more effective because you can ask for the amount you want and potentially get it in one shot, vs slowly creeping the limit upward with SPs.

As someone who's burned HPs before for increases with only one mildly positive result, I'd rather stick to increasing my CL 2k-3k every 3-6 months at zero HP cost than take a HP hit that also potentially gives a big finger.

Chris679 · ‎04-10-2016

Took a HP last time for a CLI because Citi won't go any higher with SP. Bumped me all the way up from $9600 to $10400. Plead my case to the Presidential Office but they would not budge. FICOs were around 750-760 at that time.

Platinum25 · ‎04-14-2016

When a creditor performs a SP on you is the report that they are getting the information from up to date? My scores just leap frogged because I paid off all my high balances and want to start with some SP's to get my CL's higher but if the SP report they are using is dated that's not going to help me. If, when they pull an SP, it's real time then I'm in good shape.

I ask because I tried a CLI with Amazon and was denied for too high util. When I got the letter in the mail the bureau was dated from weeks prior. I'm looking for anyone else who has experience with this. Is it worth trying for the SP now or waiting a month so whatever SP report they pull is updated and reflects my "today" balances, not "yesterdays".

Thx.

takeshi74 · ‎04-14-2016

@RM21 wrote:
I'm interested in thoughts and experiences on this, your reasons why some may be better, who you prefer/don't like, etc.

It really doesn't matter to me. The other aspects of the card are much more important -- especially rewards and how they suit my spend. Some of my cards can get CLI's with just an SP. Some can only get a CLI with an HP. Some just depend on the specifics of the given situation.

Despite the tendency of people on credit sites to obsess over HP's, HP's are typically a small factor. Of course, impact can vary by credit profile. Those with thin and/or profiles with issues can see a bigger impact. Since sites like this tend to have a lot of builders and rebuilders it's understandable that people in such a position would worry over HP's. However HP's aren't really the issue. They're more effect than cause. If HP's have a significant impact then there are bigger issues with one's credit profile.

I've reached a point since I started to really focus on rebuilding in 2013 where they don't have much impact for me. YMMV depending on your credit profile. Within the past year or two I've requested multiple CLI's that required hard pulls.

@RM21 wrote:
Then again, some cards only offer HP but you might get a bigger bang each time vs some SP cards

Limits and CLI's are determined based on what one's credit profile and income qualify for. SP versus HP isn't going to determine that. I've received denials and small (a few hundred maybe) CLI's with an SP or with an HP. I've received large (5 digit) CLI's with an SP or HP. It's not really the type of pull that matters unless the creditor happens to have a policy on the matter.

@ChiTownTimmay wrote:
When a creditor performs a SP on you is the report that they are getting the information from up to date?

The only difference between an SP and an HP is whether or not people other than you can view the pull on your report. Whenever a report is pulled the current information in the report is provided. That said, there are some creditors that perform CLI's based on SP's that will not perform a new SP but use the latest SP that they have for you. AmEx would be one example.

@ChiTownTimmay wrote:
Is it worth trying for the SP now or waiting a month so whatever SP report they pull is updated and reflects my "today" balances, not "yesterdays".

I'd suggest pulling your own report to verify when they SP'd you unless you know for certain that they SP on the same date every month.