So my Discover It card met the shredder today. (A story, and a warning)

[Cdnewmanpac]

So how about just a little sympathy for op: reading these boards and seeing all these stories about auto CLIs and preapprovals can definitely lead to frustration when it doesn't happen to you. I have never received an auto CLI from any card. I got a discover in June because I got a preapproved offer for 12 mos no interest and was about to add a bathroom to our house. Got an initial limit of 3k, lower than expected and too low to use for the big project. Used it for about 1500 in stuff, paid off steadily over 6 months. Read all about auto CLI at 3months, 4 months, 6 months, etc. nothing. Called, told to wait until December, then until 6 months from first purchase, then until 6th statement cut. Still nothing. Called for increase, declined. Escalated to underwriting. they offered to manually review, but needed hard pull. Unlike everyone else I read about here, I said sure. After all, I'm asking for credit. Turns out that even though they approved me with a paid collection, the computer is NEVER going to give me an auto CLI or CLI approval as long as it shows on my report. Their computer uses stricter standards for those than for initial approval. She actually bumped me to 8k, but my point is that those of us with blemishes may get these cards, but the auto growth many report here isn't likely to happen to us. 

Lets face it. Those of us rebuilding are always going to have to work harder than those just building. Maybe op shot himself in the foot, maybe he didn't. Either way, lets at least acknowledge how frustrating it can be when our own experiences differ from most of what gets posted on this board.

[navigatethis12]

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@Cdnewmanpac wrote:

So how about just a little sympathy for op: reading these boards and seeing all these stories about auto CLIs and preapprovals can definitely lead to frustration when it doesn't happen to you. I have never received an auto CLI from any card. I got a discover in June because I got a preapproved offer for 12 mos no interest and was about to add a bathroom to our house. Got an initial limit of 3k, lower than expected and too low to use for the big project. Used it for about 1500 in stuff, paid off steadily over 6 months. Read all about auto CLI at 3months, 4 months, 6 months, etc. nothing. Called, told to wait until December, then until 6 months from first purchase, then until 6th statement cut. Still nothing. Called for increase, declined. Escalated to underwriting. they offered to manually review, but needed hard pull. Unlike everyone else I read about here, I said sure. After all, I'm asking for credit. Turns out that even though they approved me with a paid collection, the computer is NEVER going to give me an auto CLI or CLI approval as long as it shows on my report. Their computer uses stricter standards for those than for initial approval. She actually bumped me to 8k, but my point is that those of us with blemishes may get these cards, but the auto growth many report here isn't likely to happen to us. 

Lets face it. Those of us rebuilding are always going to have to work harder than those just building. Maybe op shot himself in the foot, maybe he didn't. Either way, lets at least acknowledge how frustrating it can be when our own experiences differ from most of what gets posted on this board.

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I have never had any negatives and have a very short history of almost three years. Last year I was applying for many cards and got low limits or declined. I admit it was frustrating seeing people on here get approved for 10000 with a bankruptcy a few years ago, charge offs, or late payments, yet someone like me with no negatives at all couldn't get approved or only got a low limit. I also admit I may have been a little upset, but just accepted it and left it alone. Now many of the limits are appove 5000 and some up 10000 after just one year.

I never received an automated increase on Discover, FIA, American Express,Mavys or others that people say they get. It didn't/doesn't bother me at all. I really do not mind a hard inquiry being done for a limit increase if I need it to use the card. If ReVeLaTeD actually needed the increase to make the card useable, I don't see what their damage is about receiving a hard inquiry for it. You let them do one and received a 5000 increase, which is worth it to me.

I just don't see a reason to close a card just because the limit is low. As I mentioned before, Discover didn't give them that much a limit lower than their highest card anyway.

[ReVeLaTeD]

So, I felt the need to answer the "attackers" who are head over heels over Discover like they're god.

1. There is NO BK showing on my credit report.  It fell off.  7 years from FILING date, not DISCHARGE date.  Fell off in early 2011 before I got the Discover card, thus the credit score ramp up that year.
2. If a credit card company has no intention of ever giving me an increase, that's fine...but I want to know why so I can (hopefully) fix it.  If not even their executive office can tell me why, guess what?  I'm closing the card, prime or no prime.
3. It's just under 2 years history.  It's not going to harm me since HSBC is 5 years strong.
4. If a credit card company has no intention of allowing me to self-serve and request an increase myself without talking to a rep that's fine...but I want to know why so I can (hopefully) fix it.  If not even their executive office can give me a reason, guess what?  I'm closing the card.
5. Merrick Bank used to, at least for my Hooters Card, credit the account whenever I paid through them.  My apartment credits the account when I pay through them.  The ATM example I gave is a prime example as well, even when depositing against a credit line, it will be applied to the account right away even if the money is not immediately available pending verification.  "Credited the same day" means you will reflect it credited the moment I hit Submit.  "Credited effective the day you submit payment" is a totally different scenario.  "Credited same day except for Fridays" is an exception scenario.  I'm fine with the different scenarios, but that's not what the website says.  It says CREDITED the SAME DAY as long as you do it before midnight.
6. The payment I made was a PIF payoff.  Even granting that they still wouldn't do it.
7. The "New Business" department who apparently is responsible for recon (doubt it) said my account has an "excellent history" but he still couldn't "really do anything" and couldn't give me a reason, without hard pull.  Well, if soft pull tells you balances are the problem, hard pull isn't going to help you any and just wastes an inquiry. As a side note, I have a total of 5 inquiries at this point and worked hard to get it that low, and I won't waste them.  If you can't do it with a soft pull like everyone else, I won't do it.  Not for a current card.
8. Closing the account helps my score, because at this point the Discover card was the second newest of the bunch, right behind my credit union card, which I have absolutely no intentions of closing.

I'm not reopening the card.  Now, if Corporate calls me back and says " you know, we screwed you on the credit limit, we'll offer you a higher limit and ensure you're able to request online AT LEAST, just understand you may get denied if the soft pull sees something weird, if you're willing to accept it", then I'd accept, and just never use their web to make payments.  They're not going to do that.  All I ask is that I can self serve when I choose like GE Retail lets me do and like Discover lets their other customers do.  I don't want a hand out, I want equal treatment assuming it's the same card.  If that means I leave my business with GE Retail and the credit union (eventually), then so be it.

[CreditSnob]

You've never heard of the sockdrawer before?

[bs6054]

Yes, I agree that you have been preached to by people who don't have a full understanding of your situation. OTOH, this is the internet so that's to be expected!

I just wanted to point out that your last part is actually wrong.

Closing the account helps my score, because at this point the Discover card was the second newest of the bunch, right behind my credit union card, which I have absolutely no intentions of closing.

Closing an account has no immediate impact on AAoA, which is calculated on all accounts, opened and closed, that appear on your report.   As a rule of thumb, closed accounts disappear 10 years after closure, so this isn't impacting that part of your score at all for now.  The major impact is to utilization, as the CL does disappear when the card is closed, so any balances count towards a smaller CL.

[ReVeLaTeD]

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@bs6054 wrote:

Yes, I agree that you have been preached to by people who don't have a full understanding of your situation. OTOH, this is the internet so that's to be expected!

I just wanted to point out that your last part is actually wrong.

Closing the account helps my score, because at this point the Discover card was the second newest of the bunch, right behind my credit union card, which I have absolutely no intentions of closing.

Closing an account has no immediate impact on AAoA, which is calculated on all accounts, opened and closed, that appear on your report.   As a rule of thumb, closed accounts disappear 10 years after closure, so this isn't impacting that part of your score at all for now.  The major impact is to utilization, as the CL does disappear when the card is closed, so any balances count towards a smaller CL.

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A couple of years back I got a Chase Slate card after fighting with them similar to Discover.  They gave me a $500 credit limit, the lowest of any card at the time.  The problem is that the initial denied application and the reconned application were clearly evaluated against different credit reports.  The denied app came from a report that had one negative that hadn't been cleared, the recon came from a report that was pristine, and they refused to take this into consideration when reconning.  Never activated it, I just closed it out right.   I got a letter from Chase agreeing to remove the account completely from the report.  The score bumped up slightly.  Same will happen with Discover.  In any event that balance is essentially gone effective tomorrow, so even discounting age, the balance is no longer impacting.

[bs6054]

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@ReVeLaTeD wrote:

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@bs6054 wrote:

Yes, I agree that you have been preached to by people who don't have a full understanding of your situation. OTOH, this is the internet so that's to be expected!

I just wanted to point out that your last part is actually wrong.

Closing the account helps my score, because at this point the Discover card was the second newest of the bunch, right behind my credit union card, which I have absolutely no intentions of closing.

Closing an account has no immediate impact on AAoA, which is calculated on all accounts, opened and closed, that appear on your report.   As a rule of thumb, closed accounts disappear 10 years after closure, so this isn't impacting that part of your score at all for now.  The major impact is to utilization, as the CL does disappear when the card is closed, so any balances count towards a smaller CL.

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A couple of years back I got a Chase Slate card after fighting with them similar to Discover.  They gave me a $500 credit limit, the lowest of any card at the time.  The problem is that the initial denied application and the reconned application were clearly evaluated against different credit reports.  The denied app came from a report that had one negative that hadn't been cleared, the recon came from a report that was pristine, and they refused to take this into consideration when reconning.  Never activated it, I just closed it out right.   I got a letter from Chase agreeing to remove the account completely from the report.  The score bumped up slightly.  Same will happen with Discover.  In any event that balance is essentially gone effective tomorrow, so even discounting age, the balance is no longer impacting.

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If Discover remove it totally from the report, then yes (although OTHER balances will be against a smaller CL, so utilization will increase unless all balances are 0).  In this case, though, you used this card, so I doubt if they will remove it from the report.  But worth a try.

[mxp114]

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@ReVeLaTeD wrote:

Meanwhile, plenty of others were able to do requests online, bumping themselves up as high as $40,000 with seemingly no effort whatsoever, some in worse credit situations than I. 

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I recently got $40k on my Discover More but it took a lot of effort, time, spending and the credit to justify that increase and was subject to scrutiny by DFS. Was there anyone else? Just wanted to clarify that point. Good luck with everything and I also think you should reconsider the decision to close.

[adavis425]

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@ReVeLaTeD wrote:

So, I felt the need to answer the "attackers" who are head over heels over Discover like they're god. How old are you?

1. There is NO BK showing on my credit report.  It fell off.  7 years from FILING date, not DISCHARGE date.  Fell off in early 2011 before I got the Discover card, thus the credit score ramp up that year. One would think that after BK the goal would be to build the best possible portfolio. There are several here (we don't really matter, but you opened the door) who know that it takes patience and a surprising bit of strategy to do that. The onus to get and keep good credit (and learn from your mistake) is on you. If you are looking to obtain credit only with lenders who let you tailor your account to your wants, then you'll always have what you have.
2. If a credit card company has no intention of ever giving me an increase, that's fine...but I want to know why so I can (hopefully) fix it.  If not even their executive office can tell me why, guess what?  I'm closing the card, prime or no prime. They owe you nothing.
3. It's just under 2 years history.  It's not going to harm me since HSBC is 5 years strong. Still reports for 10 years along with an opening date and a closing date.
4. If a credit card company has no intention of allowing me to self-serve and request an increase myself without talking to a rep that's fine...but I want to know why so I can (hopefully) fix it.  If not even their executive office can give me a reason, guess what?  I'm closing the card. See #2.
5. Merrick Bank used to, at least for my Hooters Card, credit the account whenever I paid through them.  My apartment credits the account when I pay through them.  The ATM example I gave is a prime example as well, even when depositing against a credit line, it will be applied to the account right away even if the money is not immediately available pending verification. "Credited the same day" means you will reflect it credited the moment I hit Submit.  "Credited effective the day you submit payment" is a totally different scenario.  "Credited same day except for Fridays" is an exception scenario.  I'm fine with the different scenarios, but that's not what the website says.  It says CREDITED the SAME DAY as long as you do it before midnight. Credited so that you are not late with your payment, not credited so that you may run the card back up to the limit.
6. The payment I made was a PIF payoff.  Even granting that they still wouldn't do it. They want to be sure they're actually being paid, not just paid on paper.
7. The "New Business" department who apparently is responsible for recon (doubt it) said my account has an "excellent history" but he still couldn't "really do anything" and couldn't give me a reason, without hard pull.  Well, if soft pull tells you balances are the problem, hard pull isn't going to help you any and just wastes an inquiry. As a side note, I have a total of 5 inquiries at this point and worked hard to get it that low, and I won't waste them.  If you can't do it with a soft pull like everyone else, I won't do it.  Not for a current card. It is, afterall, a request for credit. Lenders who grant cli with a SP are the exception, not the rule.
8. Closing the account helps my score, because at this point the Discover card was the second newest of the bunch, right behind my credit union card, which I have absolutely no intentions of closing. No, it doesn't. The fact that Chase agreed to delete an account (according to your subsequent post) does not mean that Discover will do the same. The fact that you have gone through this scenario before points out a pattern that may suggest you are not quite ready to handle credit responsibly.

I'm not reopening the card.  Now, if Corporate calls me back and says " you know, we screwed you on the credit limit, we'll offer you a higher limit and ensure you're able to request online AT LEAST, just understand you may get denied if the soft pull sees something weird, if you're willing to accept it", then I'd accept, and just never use their web to make payments.  They're not going to do that.  All I ask is that I can self serve when I choose like GE Retail lets me do and like Discover lets their other customers do.  I don't want a hand out, I want equal treatment assuming it's the same card.  If that means I leave my business with GE Retail and the credit union (eventually), then so be it.

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I wouldn't reopen either were I you, but not for the same reasons I'm sure.

Just sayin'.

[FrugalRican]

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@ReVeLaTeD wrote:

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@bs6054 wrote:

Yes, I agree that you have been preached to by people who don't have a full understanding of your situation. OTOH, this is the internet so that's to be expected!

I just wanted to point out that your last part is actually wrong.

Closing the account helps my score, because at this point the Discover card was the second newest of the bunch, right behind my credit union card, which I have absolutely no intentions of closing.

Closing an account has no immediate impact on AAoA, which is calculated on all accounts, opened and closed, that appear on your report.   As a rule of thumb, closed accounts disappear 10 years after closure, so this isn't impacting that part of your score at all for now.  The major impact is to utilization, as the CL does disappear when the card is closed, so any balances count towards a smaller CL.

---

A couple of years back I got a Chase Slate card after fighting with them similar to Discover.  They gave me a $500 credit limit, the lowest of any card at the time.  The problem is that the initial denied application and the reconned application were clearly evaluated against different credit reports.  The denied app came from a report that had one negative that hadn't been cleared, the recon came from a report that was pristine, and they refused to take this into consideration when reconning.  Never activated it, I just closed it out right.   I got a letter from Chase agreeing to remove the account completely from the report.  The score bumped up slightly.  Same will happen with Discover.  In any event that balance is essentially gone effective tomorrow, so even discounting age, the balance is no longer impacting.

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Somewhat confused as to the assumption that "Same will happen with Discover".

You are describing a situation with (1) Another lender (2) a card approved but never opened.

In your OP, you stated you were approved for the Discover More in 2011. Quite a difference in scenarios.

I might have missed something, but did Discover agree to taking it off of your credit report?

And WHY would you want it off your credit report? It could help you, maybe not short-term, but definitely long-term. You could have used that in the next ten years to pile on your AAOA, and if you had a zero balance, couldn't you just have SD'ed it and use that credit limit to help add onto your credit profile?

Trust me, I "get" why you shredded the card, but at the same time, I really don't.

I've had my Discover for a year now. They gave me a 6,000 CL. They won't even attempt to do a $500 CLI without a HP. Screw that.

And yet I see dozens of people getting CLI's just for breathing. Guess what, I just use Discover for the 5%. That's it. They could have had me using that card for so much, but I tell them, that it's just business, nothing personal.