topic Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL in Credit Card Approvals

First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

Hammer — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:04:12 GMT

Last week I applied for the U.S. Bank Shopper Rewards credit card in order to get 6% back on Amazon, Lowe's and 3% on utility bills. I expected to at least get a 3k SL, since I already had a Chase Freedom Ultd with 12k, Cap1 QS with 10k and two BofA cards with 7k each. My scores were in the 700-710 range, 26% util and 3 INQs in 24 mo. Total CL of 68.5k across all cards on a 6 figure income. AAoA 4yr4mo, oldest 8yr2mo. 99.8% on time payments, no BK, no collections.

I submitted the application and it showed the loading screen for like 4-5 minutes, lol. Then it said I was approved but with only a 500 limit.

Is U.S. bank this conservative when it comes to new customers? It's worth noting I live thousands of miles away from any of their branches and have no personal or family history with them. A 500 SL seems to be way too low. I can't even pay an electric bill with it, even if I repay it in full immediately.

Is it worth asking for an increase in 1-2 months or do they tend to provide auto increases? By then, I can get my util down to 15% which should bump my scores to 730+. How tough is U.S. Bank with user-requested CLIs?

What manner should I pay this card in order to have the best chance of auto CLIs? I don't know if I should pay the next day after I make any charges, or pay right after the closing date, or even keep a small balance on it after the due date. What behavior does U.S. Bank favor?

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

sznthescore — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:20:37 GMT

AI approvals yes. I would ask for reconsideration to have an actual human look at your report so they can see you deserve a higher SL. I've heard that reconsiderations could possibly result in an additional HP, not sure on the actual verdict regarding that though...

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

coldfusion — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:32:14 GMT

@sznthescore wrote:
AI approvals yes. I would ask for reconsideration to have an actual human look at your report so they can see you deserve a higher SL. I've heard that reconsiderations could possibly result in an additional HP, not sure on the actual verdict regarding that though...

That's correct, there have been members here who experienced it firsthand (and got an increase).

US Bank is pretty notorious for issuing Visa Signatures with $500 starting limits, if you search the site you'll find a number of data points over the last several years of $500 Cash+ Visa Signature approvals as an example.

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

mgood — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 18:12:39 GMT

Yes, they are that conservative and yes, $500 SL is pretty common.

When I was approved for the Cash+, I called to ask if the limit could be reconsidered and was told it would be another HP. I decided to wait 6 months. It still took a HP, but I got a 5x increase, from $2k to $10k.

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

Hammer — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 22:13:58 GMT

What I've gathered so far is I should just keep using the card and paying it off, then if there's still no auto bump in 6 months, I should ask for a CLI. Is that the best plan?

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

cashorcharge — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 17:38:08 GMT

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

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

KingRue8500 — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 23:27:40 GMT

Congrats on your U.S. Bank Shopper Rewards approval

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

BigBS — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 01:11:38 GMT

May not feel like much, but the CL can grow! Congrats!

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

Invest4Rest — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 05:01:48 GMT

Congrats!! 🚀🚀🚀 Flip side of the $500 SL you got your foot in the door. 🎉🎉

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

TheRedHat — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 15:12:23 GMT

Congrats on your approval!

Question: How many new accounts (credit cards, to be specific) have you opened in the past 12 months?

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

firefox100 — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 15:32:44 GMT

First congrats in getting in with US Bank, use the card and pay it off before the end of month then then starting using it again. If you do not want a hard pull wate seven months before requesting credit increase and do it on the phone they will let you know if a hard pull will be needed. If you show them that you are using the card and paying it off that will help another thing do not open any new accounts or get any new hard inquires before you request a credincrease. good luck and enjoy.

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

youngandcreditwrthy — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 15:38:47 GMT

@Hammer wrote:
Last week I applied for the U.S. Bank Shopper Rewards credit card in order to get 6% back on Amazon, Lowe's and 3% on utility bills. I expected to at least get a 3k SL, since I already had a Chase Freedom Ultd with 12k, Cap1 QS with 10k and two BofA cards with 7k each. My scores were in the 700-710 range, 26% util and 3 INQs in 24 mo. Total CL of 68.5k across all cards on a 6 figure income. AAoA 4yr4mo, oldest 8yr2mo. 99.8% on time payments, no BK, no collections.

I submitted the application and it showed the loading screen for like 4-5 minutes, lol. Then it said I was approved but with only a 500 limit.

Is U.S. bank this conservative when it comes to new customers? It's worth noting I live thousands of miles away from any of their branches and have no personal or family history with them. A 500 SL seems to be way too low. I can't even pay an electric bill with it, even if I repay it in full immediately.

Is it worth asking for an increase in 1-2 months or do they tend to provide auto increases? By then, I can get my util down to 15% which should bump my scores to 730+. How tough is U.S. Bank with user-requested CLIs?

What manner should I pay this card in order to have the best chance of auto CLIs? I don't know if I should pay the next day after I make any charges, or pay right after the closing date, or even keep a small balance on it after the due date. What behavior does U.S. Bank favor?

Ime, they are very conservative. I applied once about ten years ago when I had amex limits in the 10-15k range and at least 5 other cards in that range... and they approved me for a whopping 1000 in Texas on a US bank card with a sold 700 FICO. I canceled it and got them to remove the inquiry. Good luck!

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

Jccflat — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 15:47:53 GMT

i also got $500 with starting limit.

my credit is great and all my cards are above 25k .

ans after 7 months requested a cli and it was a HP only

got it increased to 2700$.

so nothing is guaranteed with them .

us bank is crazy conservative

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

CreditAggie — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 01:50:29 GMT

Congratulations on your US Bank approval!

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

Hammer — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 16:15:31 GMT

@TheRedHat wrote:
Congrats on your approval!

Question: How many new accounts (credit cards, to be specific) have you opened in the past 12 months?

A heck of a lot. 5 to be exact, and 3 of them were HPs. No personal loans, auto loans or any other type of debt

Maybe that's why they set the SL so low? My feeling is it's because I'm a new U.S. bank customer from outside their territory, not the number of HPs.

Feb 2023: AmEx Blue Business Cash

Feb 2023: Chase Ink Unlimited

April 2023: Cap1 Quicksilver

July 2023: AmEx Business Gold

September 2023: Chase Ink Cash

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

Hammer — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 16:17:06 GMT

@firefox100 wrote:
First congrats in getting in with US Bank, use the card and pay it off before the end of month then then starting using it again. If you do not want a hard pull wate seven months before requesting credit increase and do it on the phone they will let you know if a hard pull will be needed. If you show them that you are using the card and paying it off that will help another thing do not open any new accounts or get any new hard inquires before you request a credincrease. good luck and enjoy.

Thank you for the advice. After I got approved for the card, I opened a personal loan and a PayPal card in the same month. That's a hell of a lot of inquiries, so I'll wait 8-9 months instead of 7.

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

firefox100 — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 16:30:15 GMT

I would wate at least 2 years for the inquires to drop off and the balance on your loan to drop and I would start putting most of your spend on the paypal card you can get increases easer from Synchrony they all soft inquires all the time.

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

SouthJamaica — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 19:11:13 GMT

@Hammer wrote:
Last week I applied for the U.S. Bank Shopper Rewards credit card in order to get 6% back on Amazon, Lowe's and 3% on utility bills. I expected to at least get a 3k SL, since I already had a Chase Freedom Ultd with 12k, Cap1 QS with 10k and two BofA cards with 7k each. My scores were in the 700-710 range, 26% util and 3 INQs in 24 mo. Total CL of 68.5k across all cards on a 6 figure income. AAoA 4yr4mo, oldest 8yr2mo. 99.8% on time payments, no BK, no collections.

I submitted the application and it showed the loading screen for like 4-5 minutes, lol. Then it said I was approved but with only a 500 limit.

Is U.S. bank this conservative when it comes to new customers? It's worth noting I live thousands of miles away from any of their branches and have no personal or family history with them. A 500 SL seems to be way too low. I can't even pay an electric bill with it, even if I repay it in full immediately.

Is it worth asking for an increase in 1-2 months or do they tend to provide auto increases? By then, I can get my util down to 15% which should bump my scores to 730+. How tough is U.S. Bank with user-requested CLIs?

What manner should I pay this card in order to have the best chance of auto CLIs? I don't know if I should pay the next day after I make any charges, or pay right after the closing date, or even keep a small balance on it after the due date. What behavior does U.S. Bank favor?

Congratulations on the approval.

I'm guessing your best bet is to keep using it and paying it off.

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

nwa479 — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:33:48 GMT

Congrats on your approval. I know it's not much but your in the door. Stories like this keep me from even trying right now with USBank. They have good cards but yiu can't do much with that limit. Hopefully it will grow quickly after 6/7 months.

Re: First card with U.S. Bank: only approved for a 500 SL

TheRedHat — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 14:08:14 GMT

@Hammer wrote:
@TheRedHat wrote:
Congrats on your approval!

Question: How many new accounts (credit cards, to be specific) have you opened in the past 12 months?
A heck of a lot. 5 to be exact, and 3 of them were HPs. No personal loans, auto loans or any other type of debt
Maybe that's why they set the SL so low? My feeling is it's because I'm a new U.S. bank customer from outside their territory, not the number of HPs.

Feb 2023: AmEx Blue Business Cash
Feb 2023: Chase Ink Unlimited
April 2023: Cap1 Quicksilver
July 2023: AmEx Business Gold
September 2023: Chase Ink Cash

As mentioned earlier, U.S. Bank is quite conservative and doesn't like to see a lot of new credit card accounts opened in the previous 12 months when I applying for one of their cards, especially if it's your first card. That's just how their system works. This would explain your low starting limit despite your having much higher limits with other cards. 1/12 or better is usually ideal for this bank, in my opinion.

If you have time, take a look at the data points for other members being approved for their cards, their starting limits and their number of new accounts at the time of application.