Multiple Credit Card Credit Line increase requests

[Anonymous]

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@tketch wrote:

And I thought there would be a simple answer!  Thanks all -- This is educational indeed.

I am going to help this situation by applying for the increase  and reporting back on how well it worked.   

The reason I think that greater credit limits will increase FICO score is this:

1. I saw someplace that most of “FICO high achievers have credit limits at $50,000 or higher”,  probably  in association with one or another credit report.  This implies that a higher credit limit would  increase my score. I suppose that causality comes into question: Are high achievers  offered higher  credit limits,  or  do higher credit limits breed better scores as I’m speculating here?        This is what I read also but it wasn't from a poster on the forums, it was in print from a Fico CEO I just sat here reading the thread and digging in my files trying to find it, cause I know I've seen it and from that point of reading it, I worked to get my existing limits to combine to that or more and my ulitization down, cause one part I did read was 9% or less across all lines and then per card that has a balance, and not letting all cards report a balance (no majic number on how many though in all of my research only speculations which each credit profile will have totally different results) Also I do know I've seen it referenced a lot of Vantage Scores, $50k+ in available credit (anyone with creditwise with Cap One go look) The only place I seen a positive effect once my limits went up and it ignored my AU accounts otherwise I would have been hit it, so far is my Experian, that's my only CRA where my indivual account limits are reporting over $50k because it's the only one reporting my Blispay limit.
   

1.  MYFico account dashboard has a ‘highlighted action” section that recommends   “get a credit card with a 2,500 credit limit.   Simulated credit scores show that  the score would go up by 15.                                Play with the simulator but IMO it's only good if you're using a fresh report otherwise it's going by the last 3B or 1B you pulled. Not in real time.
2. When I got a new Credit Card in January of this year with a 5,500 limit my FICO score went up by 8 points.   However, I was carrying about  45% usage at the time,  and the new card knocked it down to 36%. So I can’t say whether the improved  score was due to CLI or Usage.   Slight drops in utilization will give you points back, IMO on that one, you start to see less points back when you get  your ulitzation under 9% across the board combined and per reporting card that has a balance.

I don’t have much to lose either way right now but want the best credit for possible refi next year.  My last inquiry is over a year old, so I don’t think I’ll be damaged much if one shows up.  This is what I like to hear. But on Chase, call to see if you have a SP first or if it's a card without a 0% promo, see if you can do an APR reduction and then ask about a SP CLI. Discover and Cap One are SP, Cap One personally from me and what others have reported only does a CLI every 6 months if it's not a new card in credit steps.

 I plan to test SouthJamaica’s  theory of soft0 pull v hard pull  CCs and  lend fodder for the current kerfuffle with voices in support of no action, forcefully argued by CreditGuyInDixie .  Next month   I’ll  ask Discover and Capital one for increased limits.    When it all registers with CRAs I’ll let you all  know what happened .

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Honestly though I'm done tagging my CRAs trying to pull out the max points lol they are so far a part I'm trying to figure out what the deal is, I know lags in reporting play a hand. Look at it:

[tketch]

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@Anonymous wrote:
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You mention that you have two mortgages.  Are they open loans?  I.e. you are still making payments on them?  If so, as the guidance explains, you already have open installment loans and the Technique is unlikely to help you.  You still might be able to help those of us who are following the technique, so if you'd be willing to let me send you a PM I will explain how.

Great idea to use SJ's approach of soft pulls ONLY for CLIs.

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If mortgages are installment loans and  considered the same way in FICO scoring models,  then it suggests nothing like a car loan or other installment device is needed.   If installment is useful then the SS loan you suggest seems reasnable.   HELOC mentioned as my only 'installment 'is closed so I no longer have any so-called  installment loan, only the mortgages.  I  I think its OK for you to send me a 'PM'.  But please excuse my ignorance,  I don't know what one of those is..

[SouthJamaica]

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@tketch wrote:

And I thought there would be a simple answer!  Thanks all -- This is educational indeed.

I am going to help this situation by applying for the increase  and reporting back on how well it worked.   

The reason I think that greater credit limits will increase FICO score is this:

1. I saw someplace that most of “FICO high achievers have credit limits at $50,000 or higher”,  probably  in association with one or another credit report.  This implies that a higher credit limit would  increase my score. I suppose that causality comes into question: Are high achievers  offered higher  credit limits,  or  do higher credit limits breed better scores as I’m speculating here?  
2.  MYFico account dashboard has a ‘highlighted action” section that recommends   “get a credit card with a 2,500 credit limit.   Simulated credit scores show that  the score would go up by 15.
3. When I got a new Credit Card in January of this year with a 5,500 limit my FICO score went up by 8 points.   However, I was carrying about  45% usage at the time,  and the new card knocked it down to 36%. So I can’t say whether the improved  score was due to CLI or Usage.

I don’t have much to lose either way right now but want the best credit for possible refi next year.  My last inquiry is over a year old, so I don’t think I’ll be damaged much if one shows up.

 I plan to test SouthJamaica’s  theory of soft0 pull v hard pull  CCs and  lend fodder for the current kerfuffle with voices in support of no action, forcefully argued by CreditGuyInDixie .  Next month   I’ll  ask Discover and Capital one for increased limits.    When it all registers with CRAs I’ll let you all  know what happened .

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It's not a theory, it's a fact. Capital One and Discover "luv button" CLI requests are soft pull.  On rare occasions (it has never happened to me despite scores of Discover CLI requests) Discover will ask you if it's ok to do a hard pull, in which case you just say no.

[SouthJamaica]

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@tketch wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
...

You mention that you have two mortgages.  Are they open loans?  I.e. you are still making payments on them?  If so, as the guidance explains, you already have open installment loans and the Technique is unlikely to help you.  You still might be able to help those of us who are following the technique, so if you'd be willing to let me send you a PM I will explain how.

Great idea to use SJ's approach of soft pulls ONLY for CLIs.

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If mortgages are installment loans and  considered the same way in FICO scoring models,  then it suggests nothing like a car loan or other installment device is needed.   If installment is useful then the SS loan you suggest seems reasnable.   HELOC mentioned as my only 'installment 'is closed so I no longer have any so-called  installment loan, only the mortgages.  I  I think its OK for you to send me a 'PM'.  But please excuse my ignorance,  I don't know what one of those is..

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There's actually a raging debate going on, with some of MyFICO Forum's most notable participants on either side of the debate, over whether mortgages are the same as other installment loans, or different.

[tketch]

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BTW, theMOrtages are still open and active.....

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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Once again.....

"all other things being equal".

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I understand that, and I disagree with your viewpoint.  I had overall credit limits of $4k and raised them to $90k+ within 3 cycles.  My scores did not change at all as a result of 20x+ of additional credit.  That is, "all other things being equal" my scores didn't budge from going from pretty low to relatively high credit limits.

[Thomas_Thumb]

It's all about utilization %, not actual $$$ credit for "standard" Fico credit scores.

However, as has been mentioned many times, credit based insurance scores (CBIS) from LexisNexis and TransUnion DO look at average CL per card as a scoring factor.

So - BBS you may want to have your insurance carrier take another look at your rates with updated CBIS. Unfortunately, new credit hurts CBIS more than it does standard credit scores.

Side note: Someone asked in another thread how insurance companies factor in CBIS for married couples on car and property insurance premiums. I was told be State Farm that the default is to use CBIS based on the oldest person on the policy - there is no averaging. Now, if you are the younger person and have a much higher score, you can request a re-quote based on your CBIS (just make sure your name is listed 1st on the policy)

FYI - For those interested, I was able to navigate into CK through the below link and get trends of both AUTO and HOME credit based insurance scores as provided by TransUnion.

https://www.creditkarma.com/myfinances/scores/insurance#home

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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Once again.....

"all other things being equal".

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I understand that, and I disagree with your viewpoint.  I had overall credit limits of $4k and raised them to $90k+ within 3 cycles.  My scores did not change at all as a result of 20x+ of additional credit.  That is, "all other things being equal" my scores didn't budge from going from pretty low to relatively high credit limits.

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Was that increase attributable (a) just to credit limit increases, or (b) credit limit increases + new accounts?

[Anonymous]

Hello tKetch!  Fun conversation you have started, huh?

A "PM" is a "Private Message."  It's a good way for to members of the Forum to talk if they want to go back and forth about an idea without taking up room on a public thread to do that.

Here's how to check your PMs.  (You'll need to be signed in with your username and password first.)  Scroll up to the very top of this screen, Now scroll down a tiny bit.  On the far left you will see a hyperlink to your username (tKetch).  As your eye moves to the right you will see links that say SIGN OUT, MY SETTINGS, and HELP.  Now let your eye go all the way to the far right.  You will see a little icon of an envelope (directly under the words GO TO).  Click on the envelope and it will take you to your Private Messages.  I just sent you one.

I was going to chat with you about the whole Installment vs. Mortgage thing offline, because I didn't want to derail your thread by opening a discussion point that was semi-controversial.  Also because I was going to ask you to consider doing me a favor.  But SJ has changed my mind.  As long as we don't dive down a big rabit hole with it, I think it is worth bringing up in your thread itself, especially since it already HAS been brought up.

My next post will be about that (hopefully in about 30 minutes from now).

[Anonymous]

First thing to get out of the way is the one sense that mortgages are indeed installment loans.  This is just the "semantic" sense, e.g. what does the phrase "installment loan" mean.  A lender makes an installment loans to you when he gives you a chunk of money, and then you agree to pay it off in a series of evenly divided installments.  Thus, if you were to take out an auto loan for $36,000 to be repaid over 3 years, each payment would be a bit more than $1000 (since there would be some interest involved).  Mortgages are like car loans in that sense.  So purely in that semantic sense, mortgages are certainly installment loans.

The question that you and SJ and many others are raising is whether FICO scores mortgages in some way differently than auto loans, student loans, personal loans.  The reason to think that they might is that there are loads of FICO "reason codes", the verbiage of which specifically distinguishes between mortgage and non-mortgage installment loans.

There are also reasons to believe that, despite the existence of these codes, FICO does not in anyway distinguish between mortgage and non-mortgage I-loans.  I won't explain these reasons here, but they are real.

The wonderful thing about your situation is that you may be in a situation to help us answer this question.  The reason is that you have two mortgage loans and no other installment loans of any kind on your reports, closed or open.  Am I right about this?  (No auto loans, student loans, personal loans, etc.)

If so, then a person like you could indeed follow the Share Secure Loan technique and report back the results to us.  If you saw a big increase, then this would be a strong piece of evidence that FICO is scoring mortgage vs. non-mortgage loans differently.  If you saw no increase at all, then this would be a strong piece of evidence the other way.

If it is something you are interested in doing, please let me know!  I will help you prepare your profile so that it is in great shape for testing.  (In order to provide meaningful test results, a person needs to get his profile and scores stable, both before and after the test, so that the one new event we are trying to test can be isolated.)  Read through the guidance on the Technique and let me know.