topic Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried.... in Credit Card Approvals

Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 18:27:25 GMT

First post - long time reader. Before proceeding I would like to say that this forum has been invaluable to my credit rebuild. It has been a long and arduous road but through hard work and with the knowledge gained from this forum, I have managed to go from the 560's to the 730's in roughly 2 years. I want to thank all of you guys for your generosity in sharing your time and knowledge. That said, I am now concerned that I may have gotten a little ahead of myself and may have opened a door to a future problem.

After my score broke the 730 barrier I read a forum post (last week) that said, "the sky is the limit on Lowes with a score over 725". Realizing that I was now within this category, I decided to give Synchrony a call. At the time my Lowes card had an $18,000 dollar limit. I figured I would ask for a total of $35,000 and that they would counter. I asked for $35 and bam!! Approved for the entire $35,000!! - my highest limit card by far.

This brings me to my concern and the purpose of my post. I was casually reading this forum last night and ran across posts where some people have been getting the dreaded "blue envelope". I have not been able to rest since I read those posts. I am concerned that I have now made myself a target because of my high credit limit.

Data points:

731 (TU)

4% overall Utilization

3 Synchrony Cards:

1) Lowes - 0% Utilization - $35,000 cl

2) CareCredit - 0% Utilization - $14,000 cl

3) Amazon - 3% Utilization - $10,000 cl

Total exposure with Synchrony = $59,000

Income $63,000 a year

Here is what I have been thinking of doing: 1) call to get my cl reduced down to $24,000 dollars - read a post last night that said something about being over $25,000 will be a trigger point with Synchrony, or 2) just rolling the dice and seeing what happens - keep my fingers crossed that I am still below radar -- this is probably the option I least prefer... but it is the option I would rather have if I could somehow be assured (or at least fairly confident) that I will not be on radar (if that makes any sense).

Any advice that you can offer.... any feedback or assistance at all.... will be greatly appreciated. If I am going to reduce my credit limit down, I need to do it fairly quickly to avoid the blue envelope. And keep in mind, I have had no indications that I am on their radar. I just want to be proactive and prevent any problems before they occur.

Last thing: are there other people out there that have this much credit with Lowes? Any people out there that have this much credit on a single card... any card... with Synchrony? And, if so, what has that experience been like?

Once again, thank you'all for everything you guys do.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Gmood1 — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 18:56:48 GMT

Congrats on you CLI.
Relax, there's a bunch of us here with a $35k Lowe's card. I love Lowes and use it regularly when I need household stuff.
I've had zero issues with Synchrony or Lowe's. My exposure with them is in the same ballpark as yours $80,000.

I've done the opposite of flying under the radar. I've added over $150k in credit after apping the Lowe's card with in the last year. I'm only telling you this. So you understand, some of us fly into the radar. Ha ha...and don't have issues.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Time2letgo — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 19:01:59 GMT

I have read that Synchrony max exposure per person based on your credit worthiness is $100K. Your scores look great and you are still way below max exposure so I think it should be fine, just my personal opinion. I have seen many people on this forum with 35K Lowes limit. I personally have 5 Synch cards @ $44,600 total.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 19:06:45 GMT

Totally agree with Gmood1. I personally think you'd raise more flags by calling back than by just letting it sit. You've already got the cli. If something happens, it happens. Not really something any of us can control anyway.

Just my two cents.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 19:14:36 GMT

Thank you... whew! What a relief. I know that you'all obviously can't guarantee anything but the advice you'all have provided (of just being patient - it should be ok) and knowing others are out there with the same general exposure (or more) is a huge weight off my shoulders. Thank you again.... you guys are awesome!

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

pipeguy — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 23:48:48 GMT

I have $35k with Lowes and my wife has $25k with Lowes - we rotate cards a bit just to keep them active and I did put a $9500 "roof" project on Lowes with an 84 month project loan at 3.95% (+/- it was under 4%) - I did pay that loan off in less than 30 months (I think it was 28) AND we expect to do a lot of home refurbing in 2019 ($50k +/-).

Lowes has never been an issue and I have closed most of my Sync backed cards over the last 2-3 years because I didn't need them. I currently have Amazon Prime $8k, Sams Club MC $10k and Lowes $35k - I use them all, almost always pay in full or use 0% promotions. Never had a problem.

Note that Sync = $53k in exposure, I have $390k in total available revolving credit - including sync cards - which might be a factor. The only "store" cards I have are Amazon Prime, Lowes and Home Depot, the rest are all bankcards.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 00:19:54 GMT

I personally think youll be ok. You dont have alot of Sync cards. I would just continue to use your cards responsibly and try not adding more Sync cards at the moment. Anyone who has 35k on one card could technically be a target for review just based on the exposure you present but i think alot more goes into the blue envelope than what we know.

My best advice would be use your cards, enjoy achieving those limits but always be prepared to close your accounts if you get the blue and dont want to comply. I keep my Sync cards at 0, if i can , with a pif mentality and though it would stink to lose them, ive diversified enough that i can survive without.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 00:22:30 GMT

Lol, see duplicate post

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Meanmchine — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 00:31:08 GMT

If you told the truth on your apps, you should have no worries

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 02:50:31 GMT

Sorry Joe... first time poster mistake. Thank you for your reply. I am not sure if you know this or not but you (and others like Gmood, Brutalbodyshots, Peghege, Pizza1, K-in-Boston, etc.- I could go on and on... too many people to mention) have helped longtime lurkers like me for years while we have struggled though our credit rebuilds. Thank you for that Joe. You are a great poster!

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 00:48:53 GMT

I definitely told the truth on the apps (was actually very conservative) but just don't want to go through the hassle and invasion of privacy of the blue envelope. I will do it if I have to but prefer to avoid it if possible. Thanks

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

peghede — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 01:07:27 GMT

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 01:40:02 GMT

My Lowes story is different. I applied in Feb 2015, got an intial approval and 3K starting limit. I reconned and got it up to 25K. Used it for a washer dryer set, paid it off in 4 months and sock drawered it. Went to lowes and bought a steam cleaner. Logged into pay my bill, and was asked to verify my account contact and address. My CL went from 25k to 10k when I was taked to my dashboard.

I could probably call and get it back, but my total synchrony is at 89K something tells me I was over the 100K personal limit and they noticed.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 02:04:26 GMT

No problems Op, im glad to encourage anybody i can to better their credit. Its not easy even as we get good scores but we learn from each other and keep pushing on

I hate to say it, lol, but WarEagles profile seems to lean more toward blue, than most, only in that in many earlier threads on the blue envelope, we did seem to notice high income and high exposure seemed to play a factor at times.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 02:41:26 GMT

Thanks Pipeguy.... I want to be like you one day. Lol. Your overall CL is outstanding and you have some pretty amazing CL's on your bank cards. My total CL (including the bump up in Lowes) is just $126,000. But considering where I came from.... I will gladly take it.... for now that is

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 02:44:44 GMT

Thanks WarrEagle.... if I may ask, up until the time you purchased the steam cleaner, how long had the card been in the SD?

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 03:05:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks WarrEagle.... if I may ask, up until the time you purchased the steam cleaner, how long had the card been in the SD?

Probably 2 years. I also had a couple of synchrony cards close due to inactivity during that time (NewEgg, Musicians friend, American Eagle, TJX) and also HH gregg went out of business. At one time my spread sheet showed 106K with Syncrony, probably triggering some closures and the reduction on Lowes.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 03:15:18 GMT

Major congrats to you!! Keep it up

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

SirCredit — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 03:45:49 GMT

Can someone elaborate on this blue envelope? First time hearing about it. Doesn't sound like something I want to receive.

Re: Lowes CLI approved for $17,000 -- now I am worried....

JamP — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 04:16:40 GMT

Congratz, you have 3 great cards there.

Heck if I could get them without HPs and affecting my AAOA, I would add Lowes, Marvel and probably CareCredit to my Synchrony collection.

I try to fly under the Synchrony line of sight but as some have said we both are probably far from the theoretical max that's probably based on income and many other factors.