I've had this card for three years. It started out as a College Students Dividend MC and I just upgraded it to the Dividend World MC (card for the big boys even though it has reporting issues). I've been PIF fairly consistently and have put probably 27.5K through the card in this time. I got auto-approved for two cards for $1200 when I first started (pressed the submit button twice ... oops!) and combined them into one $2400 card. I got bumped up to $3200 last year and then to $3560 at which point I converted it to the World for a better. I have carried a balance for a few months but I am fully paid down now with the exception of the current statement balance which I will PIF when the bill comes due.
I've tried the LUV button and I get the form. Is complaining on the phone to Citi about my high PIF usage with little in the way of CLI (I mean really ... 27.5K PIF is much, much more than most college students spend on their cards...) an effective way of getting a CLI without a hard inq?
I need to wait for any new hard inqs until my big Amex starts to report ($7800) and until my util drops dramatically in the 1-9% range, which it will. These were the two reasons I was given for my Chase CLI decline - I had large statement balances reporting even though they were being PIF'd (which hurt my util), and I also only didn't have a large CL reporting (my Amex reported $3800, which was my biggest at the time).
I am currently using my cards much less for various reasons (this forum not being the least of them, thank you guys! I have to use credit responsibly and in small doses or else PIF before the statement cuts if I want to spend the money!).
Should I just wait until my big, old Amex shows up on the reports and then hit the LUV button? For me, with a credit history of just over 3 years, a $7800 credit line that is 2+ years old is really great for me and is a card I need to keep and treat VERY well. I also would like to apply for a new Citi card, the HHonors Visa Signature. I want to save my hard inq for that. I even meet the minimum income requirements on my own, so if my FICOs are in top form, I should qualify! I am also considering converting my Dividend World into the PremierPass, which I hear has wonderful benefits. a good idea, will they let me do that? I was also pre-approved for the CashReturns MC, but I don't think they'd let me convert that to a Visa if I qualified for that, would they?
Or should I just ask my mom to put me as an AU on a card or two that buoy her scores into the mid 800's, a 20 something year old Chase Visa and BoA MC. Well, she'll never do that, she wants me to build my credit all on my own *sigh*. my parents really do have wonderful credit. i think the interest must be genetic
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sorry for such a long-winded post! any advice would be much appreciated.
p.s. my other outstanding credit lines are a bank americard visa running a 3k limit with a tiny balance I allow to report (100$) and a chase freedom visa with the same limit, approximately same usage.