I opened a discover last january (actual discover, not a merchant-issued card). My score were in low to mid 600s (experian was 590), a few old bad collections and late payments, 1 CO from 5 years ago for $125. My first mortgage (from July 2011) had JUST started reporting. I think mine is a discover more, but they told me all the underwriting is the same whether more, motiva, open road, etc.
I was given a $1,000 CL, spending over $3,000 per month on the car (which led to payments about every 4-5 days, I was using this card for all my regular puchases: gas, groceries, utility bills, shopping, etc).
After 6 months of that they upped me to $4,000. Between now and then my scores are in mid - high 600s, and about 30 minutes ago they upped my credit limit (at my request) to $7,500 (my monthly spend last 2 months has been in excess of $5,000).
My advice would be that if you spend, payoff, spend, payoff, spend, payoff multiple times in a month they will be much more accomodating to offer you a CLI in 6-9 months.
My scores today:
EQ Fico: 695
TU Fico: 654
EX Plus: 680
And I had 2 sears cards I used to purchase appliances earlier this year for my house, $5,500 at 90% utilization and $2,950 at 75% utilization, and currently have a balance of $3,500 on the discover.
But with my scores and payment history they upped my CL by 88% based on my monthly spend and payments per month.
I'm guessing they are more driven by transaction fees than interest, so if you put your focus there it should help you.
