I feel like they all know.......

[delaney1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey,

I 100% with all of you, the util is shot. Once the CRs are updated, I'll be at less than 45%!

The reason for this thread though was not to talk about why I don't qualify, but why I literally know 10 people in worse (sometimes much worse) situations than mine. Even with lower scores and higher or same Util they are always getting the best CLs/rates/offers etc. 

I even have a friend that has a repo and 2 charge offs, and he still gets more credit at better rates with a higher score than me! DIRTY

I guess UTIL is really destroying me.

I still can't help but think there is a secret file at the CRAs that shows my old accounts that I did PFDs on! MAYBE I'M JUST LOSING MY MIND.

Thanks for the kind words all!

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OP, I have read in the past, where sometimes we are put into a diiferent credit "bucket", if you will, because of credit mishaps. I wonder if that happened to you. Do a search for fico credit buckets. Here's one old thread http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Buckets/td-p/783757

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey,

I 100% with all of you, the util is shot. Once the CRs are updated, I'll be at less than 45%!

The reason for this thread though was not to talk about why I don't qualify, but why I literally know 10 people in worse (sometimes much worse) situations than mine. Even with lower scores and higher or same Util they are always getting the best CLs/rates/offers etc. 

I even have a friend that has a repo and 2 charge offs, and he still gets more credit at better rates with a higher score than me! DIRTY

I guess UTIL is really destroying me.

I still can't help but think there is a secret file at the CRAs that shows my old accounts that I did PFDs on! MAYBE I'M JUST LOSING MY MIND.

Thanks for the kind words all!

---

While there is not a secret handshake file, many major banks will SP their customer (and potential customers) to look for marketing opportunities, looking for profiles they want to send credit offers too. In that historical sweep of various SP information, if your baddies were listed earlier, the bank may be keeping that history of SP trends, and that factor might be used in current algorithms. AMEX certainly does a lot of SP, even of non-customers, and depending on how long you have been with NFCU, it is possible the older SP include the information you have moved beyond on your file.

What is the age of the current cards you have listed? How many were added in the last year? For DW and DMIL, how many cards did they add? What is DW total CC revolving debt in dollars? There is a term here YMMV, and Each File Is Different. We do some guessing about what goes into a credit decision, but only the bank or CU really knows what they are considering when making a denial or approval of credit.

As a rebuilder (and for all of us) building a relationship with any given creditor takes time. Eventually you will be able to show your good credit habits, and the NFCU credit limits should increase, so I would not get discouraged with the starting credit line.

[Anonymous]

The advice you have gotten thus far is spot on.

The hypothesis that CC issuers have secret files on you is not necessary to explain why CC iisuers would be worried about extending you yet more credit.  The fact that you already had fifteen credit cards with a utilization of 79% -- and still were trying to get yet one more credit card is more than sufficient to explain their reluctance.  The puzzle (as people say) is why they'd be willing to give you a new card at all.

I notice that you say that you have an AAoA of 10+ years.  That seems unlikely given the huge number of (I am guessing fairly new) accounts on your report.  More likely is that you have an Age of Oldest Account that is 10+ years.  That's different from an Average Age of Accounts (AAoA).  If you are using Karma as the tool to compute your "age" factors, I'd use something else.  Karma's summary software gives incorrect values since it ignores closed accounts.

Moving ahead, let me suggest that you do two things before you apply for any more credit:

(1) Pay almost all your cards, to $0 with small balances on the remaining 1-3 cards. Then monitor your reports and make sure the new balances are appearing at all three CRAs.

(2) Ask yourself why you are applying for more credit cards when you have 16 now.

#1 will help your score a huge amount.  #2 is worth doing since you have described yourself as rebuilding.  You may be under the impression that having more credit cards (or higher limits) will help your credit profile or score.  It won't.

Best of luck....