Should I Request a CLI after a short sale? If not, how long to wait?

[kromix]

Long story short, I just ran my credit info here now with MFSW and got some info, my Fico Score is 680 (not bad right after a short sale not too long ago?)

Short Sale on my property in Dec 09.

30 Day Late - March '08

60 Day Late - April '08

90 Day Late - May '08

120 Day Late - June '08 -> Nov '09

Stopped reporting on Nov '09, Short sale occurred in Dec 09 so the Nov '09 was the last 120 Day Late report. Remark: Settled.

That is the single ONLY thing negative on my account, everything else is and always was perfect with no late payments as seen below: 

Amex Gold Card

Balance: $1,200 (obviously paid in full each month)

High Balance: $5,853

Opened: 02/2004

Merrill+ Card (Merril Lynch)

Balance: $746

High Balance: $5,705

Credit Limit: $5,300

Date Opened: 09/2007

Bank of America World MasterCard

Balance $64

High Balance; $1,468

Credit Limit: $500

Date Opened: 10/2006

Macy's Store Card

Balance $0

Date Opened: 09/1998

Like an Idiot before I researched all this a few months (about 5) after the Short sale when my credit was at the lowest I requested a CLI on my BoA Card, and the dropped that card to $500 from $10,000 (ouch) and dropped my Merrill Lynch+ card from $16,000 to the balance of $5,300.

That hurt alot, so I paid it down as you can see above. I am sending a $350 now to Merril+ Card to have it at $350 of $5,300 credit limit to lower util more....

My question is , do you think its safe now to request a CLI for the World MasterCard to get it atleast to $1,000 from the $500 its at? or wait even more?? Last thing I want, is to request a CLI and get it lowered yet again. Has enough time past or should I wait more???

Combined income for my wife and I is around $90k, $1,000/mo rent, no car payments. Would they raise my limit or hit me down again??

Also, any other suggestions you all may have to raise my overall score, hit me with it!

[scrubs]

odds are if you pay down your cc your limit will cont to go down, because of your short sell and your lates, too many red flags. imo if you asked for cli they might close your account all togather.

i would try to clean up your cr and then ask for cli.

[jefftca925]

My brother had the same thing happen to him on his 2 BofA cards during his short sale on a house.  He had a $34k limit on one card knocked down to $4k and another high limit card down to $1k.  They might be lower now or closed for that matter.  If you have baddies on your report the banks get scared and will balance chase you or close the account altogether.  It's usually a few years after when your score has recovered some that you might be able to get the limit raised again.

Don't let it get you down though... rebuilding is a process that takes a lot of patience.  Get your debts paid and always pay on time.  You'll get there.  

[rbh]

I would NOT ask for CLI on that Merrill card as BoA may chase to your current balance.

[kromix]

Do you guys know how credit line shifts work?

Like I if I wanted to make the World Mastercard $2000 and bring the Merril+ to $3,800 , could I easily do that with a rep other than a credit analyst who will run and look at my credit, etc??

Or should I avoid that the same as requesting a CLI?