topic Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase) in Credit Card Approvals

WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

LADave — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 22:54:19 GMT

Nearly 3 months ago I posted about my experience requesting a CLI for my WF Active Cash card, which I was declined for. The letter I got in the mail mentioned that one of the reasons they were denying the CLI was that I hadn't been keeping enough money in my WF accounts. (There was at least one other reason, which I think was that I didn't have enough credit history with the card, even though I've been banking with them for 14 years.) Unfortunately I don't know where that letter is and I didn't find it in my online account center, so I'm not sure exactly what it said.

Since then I've been keeping a little more money than usual in my WF account. Now that I'm banking with 3 companies (WF, Chase and Capital One), that's been more challenging than it used to be. But even though I like C1 more for regular banking, WF and Chase do take my account history into account for their cards. And it became clear during my last CLI denial that my banking history with them could affect me negatively, even though (or perhaps because?) I didn't do anything to incur fees since getting the card.

That's why I added a WF saving account about a month ago to park some of my money. I even moved some of my C1 money to pad my WF accounts a little more, at least until I got approved for a CLI. I also paid the card further down over the last few months - it was around $1700 at the time I originally requested the CLI, and today it's just under $1,000. Since it's still at 0% APR through the end of the year I'm not in a hurry to pay it all off yet, but I figured it would probably help more than the extra money in my WF accounts.

Today I called WF back for a CLI and got one, from $4,500 to $5,700 (a nice 27% bump). I explained at the beginning of the call that I wanted it because I plan to put more of my expenses on the card, which is true. And part of the reason why I want to do that is because WF is expected to release at least one premium travel card by early next year. If that card is attractive to me, then I maximize my chances of approval at great terms through positive history.

My next moves with the card are to get the balance down to zero and use it for more of my expenses, including at least some of the 2% Apple Pay charges that I'd normally put on my Apple Card, and charges I'd normally put on my Chase Amazon Prime card (currently at 2% through the end of the year thanks to a targeted offer). But I may ease into using the WF card more over my Apple Card, since Apple/GS has recently told me that I'm declined for a CLI right now until they see more history of my using and paying off that card. I plan to use that card more for at least the next month or two, and use my Chase Amazon card less for non-Amazon things.

After getting this CLI and the $600 CLI that I recently got for my PayPal Credit, I'm now long out of of the game for applying for new credit simply to pad my account. And that feels great!

Almost forgot to mention - my current Experian FICO 9 score from the WF app is 702, up 13 from last month (after it decreased from getting a car loan). I was at 700 back in April, and 689 in October when I was approved for the Active Cash card.

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

gdale6 — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 22:53:31 GMT

Grats on your Wells Fargo move up

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

CreditMagic7 — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 22:56:02 GMT

Congratulations on your Active Cash Card CLI!

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

CreditAggie — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 00:12:03 GMT

Congratulations on your WF Active Cash CLI!

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

babygirl1256 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 00:57:36 GMT

Congrats on your WF Active Cash CLI.

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

LADave — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 01:20:56 GMT

Thank you @CreditAggie, @CreditMagic7, @gdale6 and @babygirl1256!

Some more thoughts -

When I originally applied for Active Cash I was slightly leery about expanding my banking relationship with Wells Fargo, due to their past issues with opening accounts without permission. It never happened to me, but it left a bad taste in my mouth that hasn't completely gone away. But in the months since I got the card, I've come away very impressed with their service.

I've called WF a few times over the last year for things like making an account product change on my checking (to cut out monthly fees) and for CLI requests. Each time, they've been friendly and super-helpful. They do seem to have put their past issues behind them as well as any major bank could. The service I've received has me more open to doing more banking with them, especially as they're poised to unveil a travel card that will compete against the best of Chase and Capital One.

For anyone wondering, WF does not have an online CLI form, and the only way I know of to do that is on the phone (requesting at a branch might also be an option). The operator told me that they can give a counter-offer if I make a request that's too high, so I requested a total limit of $8,000, which would have made it my highest limit card (beating my Discover It at $7K). The operator had my counter offer of $5,700 within seconds, which I was happy to receive.

If they finally get rid of their policy of having one SUB every 15 months I'd be way more open to doing even more business with them!

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

KingRue8500 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 02:07:11 GMT

Congrats on your Wells Fargo Active Cash CLI

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

NoMoreE46 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 11:48:58 GMT

Nice pivot on the banking accounts to get that CLI.

I am very interested in the verbiage about not enough money in your WF account from that previous denial.

Would you be able to let us know the wording??

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

firefox100 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 12:11:29 GMT

Congratulations on your wells fargo active cash credit increase. I have the Propel amex card from wells and enjoy it, it has cl of 25K limit.

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

user979797 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 13:20:54 GMT

Congrats on your increased scores and your CLI

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

Jordan23ww — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 13:24:56 GMT

Congratulations on your limit increase!

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

MartyWrite75 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 15:03:58 GMT

Congratulations on your CLI!

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

NalekSok — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:30:17 GMT

Congratulations on your CLI! 🎉

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

LADave — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 17:28:13 GMT

@NoMoreE46 wrote:
Nice pivot on the banking accounts to get that CLI.

I am very interested in the verbiage about not enough money in your WF account from that previous denial.

Would you be able to let us know the wording??

@NoMoreE46 I'll keep looking for the letter and will post an update here if/when I find it (I believe I still have it).

It's possible I might have got a CLI sooner by juggling the accounts and paying more of it off had it had been a higher priority for me. What finally got me over the edge to actually doing it was seeing the hype about the new Autograph card over the last week or so. I'm not in the market for Autograph at this time, but knowing they're maybe 6 months away from unveiling a travel card with a juicier SUB has me wanting to build more positive history with Wells Fargo.

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

LADave — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 18:47:33 GMT

@NoMoreE46 it looks like against my better judgement I probably shredded the letter before I scanned it. In the future I'll do my best to at least scan these letters before destroying them. 😂

However, I did find this thread from 2020 that had similar (if not identical) verbiage to what I got in the letter, where someone got denied for a WF credit card for having a low balance in their checking account. On first blush, it would look like moving money to WF savings instead of checking was for naught. On the other hand, I didn't even have a savings account with them before, and perhaps my new account activity helped my standing with them. Either way, I'm planning to move most or all of the money I recently transferred to WF back into C1, where it earns 100X the interest (currently 1 percent vs 0.01 percent).

I had also been trying to keep at least a slightly higher balance in my WF checking than I normally would, and that probably helped.

Of course, it's also possible that I simply didn't meet their criteria for a CLI at that time, and that was just one of the more plausible-sounding "reasons" they could offer in a letter.

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

cashorcharge — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 18:09:52 GMT

WooHoo!! Congratulations on your WF Approval!!👏🏼🍾🥂

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

mfinsmi1 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 19:22:59 GMT

Hey - Congrats!

How long did you wait between getting the card and getting this credit limit increase?

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

LADave — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 21:11:42 GMT

@mfinsmi1 wrote:
Hey - Congrats!

How long did you wait between getting the card and getting this credit limit increase?

It was just a few days short of 9 months.

I was originally inspired to do this 3 months ago by another thread posted by @NoMoreE46, and I see that he also waited 9 months before his CLI on Active Cash. My guess is that's more of a coincidence than anything.

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

NoMoreE46 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 23:21:47 GMT

@LADave wrote:
@NoMoreE46 it looks like against my better judgement I probably shredded the letter before I scanned it. In the future I'll do my best to at least scan these letters before destroying them. 😂

However, I did find this thread from 2020 that had similar (if not identical) verbiage to what I got in the letter, where someone got denied for a WF credit card for having a low balance in their checking account. On first blush, it would look like moving money to WF savings instead of checking was for naught. On the other hand, I didn't even have a savings account with them before, and perhaps my new account activity helped my standing with them. Either way, I'm planning to move most or all of the money I recently transferred to WF back into C1, where it earns 100X the interest (currently 1 percent vs 0.01 percent).

I had also been trying to keep at least a slightly higher balance in my WF checking than I normally would, and that probably helped.

Of course, it's also possible that I simply didn't meet their criteria for a CLI at that time, and that was just one of the more plausible-sounding "reasons" they could offer in a letter.

Thanks for looking around for the actual letter. The link you found is more than enough to get the gist, kudos @LADave .

So is it kinda odd for any Bank to actually include that verbiage as justification for CLI denial?

It is almost like WF is asking one to buy into a CLI.... I could see this reasoning for an "elite" card for PWM type clients but the Active Cash?

For the record, I like WF and have had all good experiences.

Re: WF Active Cash CLI - $4,500 to $5,700 (27% increase)

GatorGuy — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 23:38:17 GMT

Congrats on the healthy CLI!