Orchard mistake?

[atarvuzdar]

Hi all, Back in February I was approved for an Orchard card with a $300 limit. My credit wasn't pristine so the low limit was expected. A little while later, after the Orchard card was reporting, I applied for another card and was declined. When i received the letter explaining the reason for the denial, the #1 reason listed was due to the low limit on an HSBC account (ie. Orchard), followed by the #2 reason which was a recent collection account. I had only used the Orchard card once and PIF two days later before the statement was cut to ensure it only ever reported with a $0 balance. I suppose there's no way to prove that I would've gotten approved for the other card if I didn't have the low-limit Orchard card (particularly given the fact that I had a collection), but since that was listed as the #1 reason for denial even ahead of the collection I think it's safe to say that it certainly didn't help. I'm surprised by this and wondering if I should close the card. I have 2 CapOne's which aren't stellar ($750 and $500 limits) but not as low as the Orchard card, and I've never seen this particular reason for a denial before. Fast-forward to today, and the collection account has been deleted from my reports (28 point gain on EQ, thank you very much). I would think this makes me more attractive to lenders and am considering app'ing for a card or two, but I'm not sure if I should close the Orchard card first? Next month will be 6 months with the card so I guess I could ask for a CLI so the limit wouldn't be so low but I don't know if that's even possible with Orchard anymore. I'm just a little surprised that having a credit card could be a negative due to a low limit! Any thoughts/insight/help would be greatly appreciated!

[p-]

---

@atarvuzdar wrote:
Hi all, Back in February I was approved for an Orchard card with a $300 limit. My credit wasn't pristine so the low limit was expected. A little while later, after the Orchard card was reporting, I applied for another card and was declined. When i received the letter explaining the reason for the denial, the #1 reason listed was due to the low limit on an HSBC account (ie. Orchard), followed by the #2 reason which was a recent collection account. I had only used the Orchard card once and PIF two days later before the statement was cut to ensure it only ever reported with a $0 balance. I suppose there's no way to prove that I would've gotten approved for the other card if I didn't have the low-limit Orchard card (particularly given the fact that I had a collection), but since that was listed as the #1 reason for denial even ahead of the collection I think it's safe to say that it certainly didn't help. I'm surprised by this and wondering if I should close the card. I have 2 CapOne's which aren't stellar ($750 and $500 limits) but not as low as the Orchard card, and I've never seen this particular reason for a denial before. Fast-forward to today, and the collection account has been deleted from my reports (28 point gain on EQ, thank you very much). I would think this makes me more attractive to lenders and am considering app'ing for a card or two, but I'm not sure if I should close the Orchard card first? Next month will be 6 months with the card so I guess I could ask for a CLI so the limit wouldn't be so low but I don't know if that's even possible with Orchard anymore. I'm just a little surprised that having a credit card could be a negative due to a low limit! Any thoughts/insight/help would be greatly appreciated!

---

Trust me, your decline had a lot more to do with the collection.  Stick with Orchard for now.  If you show good history you can get a soft pull CLI every six months, just for asking.

It worked out great for me.

[LS2982]

Technically the decline was not a mistake, you do have a low limit with orchard and thats what the reason was.

I agree with p- that the orchard card was the least of your worries, I would wait for at least 6 months before apping for anything else.

[atarvuzdar]

First, I apologize for the run-on paragraph. It was formatted nicely when I wrote it, not sure what happened!

Second, and most important, thank you all for the responses. It's eased my mind a little. I'll go for the CLI request in a few weeks at the 6 mo. mark. Who knows, that may give me the higher overall available credit I'm looking for!

Very much obliged,

atarvuzdar