Reinstatement of Previous CL

[CreditUnionFan]

Prior to 2009, I had good credit, usually got any credit card I wanted, but in 2009 card issuers pulled in their reins, and credit lines were slashed.

I was in this situation with Discover, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and American Express.  I was very fortunate that credit union accounts didn't slash credit lines.

Discover - was slashed from $9200 down to $500, went up to $2500 and then a year later requested the original $9200. All SPs.

Chase - was slashed on multiple cards. I waited until after Discover reinstated the $9200, spoke with them one month, cleaned up a few small (like <$50) balances, and a month later had old credit lines reinstated, $20,000+, with a soft pull.

Bank of America - sadly, these folks want a HP. But after Discover and Chase, BoA approved a reinstatement of an old CL on one account. In a couple of months I will call about other cards in their family I still have.

Citibank - I've only gotten a $1k CLI so far, but it was a SP, and I plan to call as time progresses. I plan to keep asking for "reinstatement" to keep the SP versus HP.

American Express, sadly, is a SP, but keeps refusing to budge from $500 limits. One of their reason is that I'm not spending enough - well, duh, with a $500 limit there's not a lot of spending one can do. I am figuring these cards might go in the sock drawer for a few years until AmEx forgives.

Citi Retail cards seem to hold hard and fast to the HP rule.

The point is that if your card limits were cut, some lenders have programs you can ask about that are not "increases" but "reinstatements" that can be favorable in terms of a SP (since it was a SP that resulted in decrease) and/or phrasing that speeds up the process - going from $500 to $5000 in a single CLI.

[enharu]

I think it all depends on why they CLD you in the first place.

If the banks took adverse actions against you simply because of economic factors and/or factors on their end that are absolutely not due to your fault, then restatement is likely when the banks are back in better shape. Same thing for adverse action taken against you due to fraudulent info on your credit files.

However if they took adverse action against you simply because of something they didn't like about your credit report / history and their assessment of your risk profile, then chances are reinstatement aren't that likely, unless your financial and credit situation had changed drastically since then. However, even in these scenarios, it's still a pretty long shot.

[navigatethis12]

I would look at the reports to see if these were indeed soft inquiries. Even if you ask for reinstatement, they still need to check if the credit reports are in order and Chase isn't known to do a soft for a credit limit increase, which this basically is.

[CreditUnionFan]

Chase will reinstate the most recent CL if a change in situation warrants, as a SP.

Anything above the most recent CL is still a HP.

So on one card the CL was about $21k, but it was cut a few times, and the most recent CL was only $5k.  So for a SP, I got the $5k back again, much better than the $1,000 that they later cut it down.

Yeah, it was a long shot, but I used the backdoor number, asked how I could get some of the older lines increased, and it was one of the CSRs that disclosed that they can do "reinstatements".

[CreditUnionFan]

Some of the issuers acted first...  no change in my own profile...  specifically Amex.

Later in the year, yes, I ended up in foreclosure, and had to reach a settlement on a HELOC before the bank would even think of offering any assistance (modification) when I was unable to sell and unemployed at the same time.

The credit card bills were always paid on time, but as the situation drug on, credit lines were cut across the board several times.

The situation has changed drastically in that I've paid most of the HELOC settlement (on a credit card) and am two years post HAMP.