topic Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time in Credit Card Applications

3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 10:03:01 GMT

A little bit of background abt me. I have 750+ With EX and EQ, 800+ with TR. Gross Annual is 180K+. Only debt is a car loan for $12K. $130K in Total Credit Limit. Avg age is 4.5 yrs. For inquiries: 3 TR, 5 EQ, 5 EX. 1 record of past delinquency for 1 missed payment for a closed Macy’s card 6/7 yrs ago that is still in my credit report because it was closed in good standing so it stays in my credit report for at least 10 yrs.

A week ago, I have applied for 3 credit cards in the same day:
Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select (My first Citi Card)
WF Propel Card
Amex Hilton Ascend (My first Amex)

I did not get instant approval on any of the cards, and i pretty much had to bug the reconsideration lines for WF, Amex, and Citi every day. WF and Amex eventually approved me.

For WF, Ive had a checking and savings acct with WF for 12 yrs at least, I have 1 credit card with them that has a limit of $500 (lol.. i know its embarrassing) and I only got $8K. It isn’t horrible I guess but Chase spoiled me with more than $20K limits with the past 4 credit cards i got from them.

For Amex, this is the first Amex Card I have ever applied for and I only got approved for $1,000 CL! I was borderline offended! Is this normal for a first Amex?

For Citibank, my new bank that i have just opened accounts with, still have not approved me. This is my first credit card application with them as well. I am still stalking them on their recon line. I always get the standard response of within 24 hrs and 7-10 days. Very frustrating. Is this waiting time normal for citibank??

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Coolermaster007 — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 11:55:15 GMT

For Citi bank call their EO instead you gonna get a better and faster response.good luck & let us know.

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Remedios — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 11:57:36 GMT

How many other cards do you have, when were they opened and what is individual/aggregate utilization?

The be honest, I dont think that's a bad SL for WF

Amex on the other hand will issue $500/1000 SLs to people with limited or borderline credit.
Unless your utilization is high, I dont see why they would stick you with the starter limits

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:11:53 GMT

I have 0% individual utilization on 16 credit cards, and an 11% utilization ($581 on a $5,000 Credit Limit) on Best Buy Credit Card that has a 0% promotional offer for 12 months.

Overall Utilization is still 0% though because I have a total credit limit of $131,450. So it's $581 / $131,450 = 0.442%

Not including the 3 that I have just applied for this month, I have 5 credit cards opened in the last 2 years. 4 from Chase and 1 from Barclay.

2 Chase cards more than 1 yr ago (Freedom and Freedom Unlimited)

1 Barclay (Cash Forward)

Another 2 Chase Cards 2 months ago (Chase Sapphire Reserve and Hyatt)

I am very confused with the Amex Credit Limit. I am wondering what are other people's experience with First Amex Card Credit Limits?

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:15:17 GMT

What is EO?

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Gmood1 — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:23:49 GMT

I'm confused as well why your latest SLs are so low with the stats you've provided.
How are you using your CCs? Do you allow usage to report? Do you allow statements to cut before paying the bills.
From your description it doesn't sound like it.

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:33:24 GMT

I pay all my credit cards that I use right on the statement end date, so when they generate the statement, it would always show $0 balance.

I'm under the impression that doing that would be better for my credit score. Is that wrong? Should I let it reflect a balance sometimes?

ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Gmood1 — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:04:53 GMT

Yes you are doing it wrong, if you're trying to build credit.
Not to be confused with raising credit scores.
If you want to build credit, allow your statements to at least post before paying them.
I had a interesting conversation with a UW yesterday. She mentioned that my reported balances were low in comparison to my TLs.
I agreed, I also let her know that I have hidden lines. And that what was actually used, was several times higher than what she saw. Of course, she probably didn't believe me. lol

This is the reason I'm adamant about allowing my balances to report.
In a manual review, it doesn't look as though you're using your credit.
Just as it didn't look as though I was using mine. Even though it was still over $3000 reporting.
I can only imagine what would have went through her head if I were allowing$1 to report like the AZEO crowd.
She would have probably hung up on me without coming back to the phone😂.

My household income is much, much less than yours. Yet my TCLs is almost 6 times of yours. Let your balances report, unless you're bumping against 30% utilization on one card.

That's how I built my lines. Some members say it's easy to do. It's not as easy as one would think. lol

Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Remedios — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:51:16 GMT

I get what you're saying G, and I totally agree, however, his SL is almost Amex's version of credit steps.
Its totally out of synch with his overall profile and scores.
I would have expected to see him start around $7-10k.

Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Gmood1 — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:57:15 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
I get what you're saying G, and I totally agree, however, his SL is almost Amex's version of credit steps.
Its totally out of synch with his overall profile and scores.
I would have expected to see him start around $7-10k.

I agree, I'm baffled by it as well. That's one of the strangest approvals I've seen. Besides the guy with a $500,000 yearly income with decent scores that received a SL of $500 from Navy Federal. Now that blew my mind!

Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 16:22:13 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
I get what you're saying G, and I totally agree, however, his SL is almost Amex's version of credit steps.
Its totally out of synch with his overall profile and scores.
I would have expected to see him start around $7-10k.

Because not using existing credit lines is almost like having bad credit. Paying in full before statement cut and keeping utilization extremely low is good for increasing your FICO credit scores and your internal scores with lenders who have already extended credit to you. But new creditors will wonder why your existing lines appear unused. There's another thread right now where the OP has the same issue: Chase Prequalify vs Applying

Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Remedios — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 16:43:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Remedios wrote:
I get what you're saying G, and I totally agree, however, his SL is almost Amex's version of credit steps.
Its totally out of synch with his overall profile and scores.
I would have expected to see him start around $7-10k.

Because not using existing credit lines is almost like having bad credit. Paying in full before statement cut and keeping utilization extremely low is good for increasing your FICO credit scores and your internal scores with lenders who have already extended credit to you. But new creditors will wonder why your existing lines appear unused. There's another thread right now where the OP has the same issue: Chase Prequalify vs Applying

Nah. Read post 13

The OP was denied by Chase, went ahead and applied for Amex . Approved for $14,5000. It's the exact opposite from this scenario.

As you can see, in that case Amex did not care about ultra low utilization.

I inclined to lean towards myfico's favorite line " there has to be more to this story"

Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Remedios — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 16:44:42 GMT

‎07-24-2018 08:13 PM

Here are the specifics:

14 cards, 8 store and 6 CC. 4 are my wifes, 3 store and 1 cc. So in my name I have 5 store and 5 credit cards, and total credit line in my name is around 120k. My utilization is .03%. I stated 4% above, unsure if they pulled before or after a few large payments reflected on my report. Own home, 11 years at same address.

Both times I called I was passed to verifications, then to the ‘back office’, after the primary person that answered, But they were all nice. The specific reason was Too many open trades with high credit limits. I even told her I am being denied because I have too much credit? Yes. She then said I could talk to a credit advisor, I denied.

Now, I did plan on closing a few cards. As a FYI, I went ahead and qualified for an Amex Blue Preferred with a $14500 CL. It was an instant approval. My FICO range is 746-756. I believe Chase pulls Experian which is 756.

My most recent credit card was opened over 2 years ago. Totoal inquiries 9. Newest account was a personal loan from Marcus.

Message 13 of 13

Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 18:19:01 GMT

Perhaps there's more to the story but lenders' algorithms invariably tell them that someone who has significant credit but doesn't appear to use it is riskier than someone carrying balances ( or at least only paying after statement cut). And at worst lenders can perceive the OP's practices (PIF before statement cut, low balances, minimal reported utilization, etc) as a precursor to bust out fraud.

The fortunate thing about the Amex limit is that the OP should be able to get a 3X CLI at 61 days and another 6 months later. So their credit limit can grow very quickly once Amex learns their spending/payment habits.

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 21:17:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I have 0% individual utilization on 16 credit cards, and an 11% utilization ($581 on a $5,000 Credit Limit) on Best Buy Credit Card that has a 0% promotional offer for 12 months.

Overall Utilization is still 0% though because I have a total credit limit of $131,450. So it's $581 / $131,450 = 0.442%

Not including the 3 that I have just applied for this month, I have 5 credit cards opened in the last 2 years. 4 from Chase and 1 from Barclay.
2 Chase cards more than 1 yr ago (Freedom and Freedom Unlimited)
1 Barclay (Cash Forward)
Another 2 Chase Cards 2 months ago (Chase Sapphire Reserve and Hyatt)

I am very confused with the Amex Credit Limit. I am wondering what are other people's experience with First Amex Card Credit Limits?

That's a strange first limit to me. My first SL with Amex was $6,000 and it was my highest by far. Maybe they were concerned about how much credit you already have available compared to income?

Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 07:23:14 GMT

Thanks for the tip Gmood1! Omg I didnt know building credit would have opposite tactics from raising credit score. That’s so counter-intuitive!

My credit score would probably dip if I ever use any of my credit cards that have a lower limit then.

Re: ItRe: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 02:47:10 GMT

I would really like to bug Amex about why the computer decided to give me that credit limit. What algorithm could it possibly use? I really don’t have anything negative in my credit app that could possibly be the culprit except for that 1 missed payment that I have a gazillion years ago. I tried calling EO today. 4 different times! Nope! No one can help until I receive the card. Im probably going to try requesting for an increase upon approval and have it manually reviewed if it denies me.

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 02:50:34 GMT

Stockiest Trout: I highly doubt that. There are a lot of people that have total credit scores that are significantly higher than their income. My total credit limit still hasnt even reached my gross income.

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 02:51:48 GMT

Update as of tonight! i finally got approval for citi! After 7 days! I got a $9.3K CL! Not bad!

Re: 3 credit apps in 1 day.. Low credit Limits and CitiBank Waiting Time

Gmood1 — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 05:57:39 GMT

Since you're in with Amex and Citi now. They can track your spending on their cards, whether you pay before or after statements close.

Instant approvals are your best friend! I know they are mine. Lol

As Maze mentioned it can and will bite you when going after a new lender or CLI. Sometimes the UWs want to see the spend on your reports inorder to approve the kinds of SLs you like.

Having low utilization is fine, just allow the prospective lenders a look/see where they can benefit from your spending and payment patterns.
Congrats on your approvals!