topic Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards in Credit Card Applications

Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

The_Rooster — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 00:07:09 GMT

It's odd, my wife has a Citi Simplicity card that REFUSES to go above $1,100 credit limit. There must be 50 declined CLI requests over the years.

However, our Citi Home Depot card? CLI's whenever we choose!

I've been adding $1,500 to $3,000 CLI's to that card every 3-6 months for the past two years and added another $5,000 CLI today. I dont ever remember getting a declined CLI on that card. I'm starting to wonder how high they're going to let it go LOL!

So here is my question: Is the underwriting guidelines for the Home Depot card different than the Simplicity and other Citi Cards?

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

FinStar — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 01:26:57 GMT

The UW is very different between Citi legacy and Citi Retail CCs. Results can definitely vary depending on the profile, of course. Another item to keep in mind, Citi legacy CLIs can typically be SP (when eligible) vs Home Depot which would end up as HPs.

You mentioned ~50 declined CLI requests over the years, what are the reasons being cited for each of those?

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

Wavester64 — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 16:04:05 GMT

@The_Rooster wrote:
It's odd, my wife has a Citi Simplicity card that REFUSES to go above $1,100 credit limit. There must be 50 declined CLI requests over the years.

However, our Citi Home Depot card? CLI's whenever we choose!

I've been adding $1,500 to $3,000 CLI's to that card every 3-6 months for the past two years and added another $5,000 CLI today. I dont ever remember getting a declined CLI on that card. I'm starting to wonder how high they're going to let it go LOL!

So here is my question: Is the underwriting guidelines for the Home Depot card different than the Simplicity and other Citi Cards?

I read recently that another MF member stated they were getting HPs for their Citi-Costco CLI requests. I am assuming you are not getting HPs for these?

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

The_Rooster — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 17:14:49 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
The UW is very different between Citi legacy and Citi Retail CCs. Results can definitely vary depending on the profile, of course. Another item to keep in mind, Citi legacy CLIs can typically be SP (when eligible) vs Home Depot which would end up as HPs.

You mentioned ~50 declined CLI requests over the years, what are the reasons being cited for each of those?

All of the Home Depot CLI's are soft pulls as well.

The website usually says something like "We are sorry, we can not grant your request". I can list the exact reasons once we get our next decline letter in a few days. At this point Im usually just shredding them before I open them.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

The_Rooster — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 17:15:32 GMT

@Wavester64 wrote:
@The_Rooster wrote:
It's odd, my wife has a Citi Simplicity card that REFUSES to go above $1,100 credit limit. There must be 50 declined CLI requests over the years.

However, our Citi Home Depot card? CLI's whenever we choose!

I've been adding $1,500 to $3,000 CLI's to that card every 3-6 months for the past two years and added another $5,000 CLI today. I dont ever remember getting a declined CLI on that card. I'm starting to wonder how high they're going to let it go LOL!

So here is my question: Is the underwriting guidelines for the Home Depot card different than the Simplicity and other Citi Cards?
I read recently that another MF member stated they were getting HPs for their Citi-Costco CLI requests. I am assuming you are not getting HPs for these?

Nope. No hard pulls on these. At least none that MyFico are showing.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

lgtwriter — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 02:34:32 GMT

I was approved for a Citi Costco card in August and they gave me a very small credit limit, $1,200 which was way way less than all of my other credit cards. I tried for a cli a couple of times, but decided to close the card because it was not very useful to me with that cl.

The same day or next day (I can't remember exactly) I applied for the Citi Simplicity card and was given a $14,600 credit line. Same datapoints. I had paid off a bit of utilization in the several months since I opened the Costco card, but there was no way that there were any changes in my profile to cause a difference of over ten times the credit limit.

Citi is weird, at least in my situation. YMMV of course.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

Loquat — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 21:27:32 GMT

The easier underwriting criteria on a store card versus a major credit card that can be used just about everywhere comes down to the amount of risk involved.

You can do a lot more damage with a major card from a risk factor than one can with a store card. Having a $20k on a Citi Simplicity is a lot different than $20k on a Home Depot card.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

FinanceGuy205 — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 15:50:30 GMT

@Loquat wrote:
The easier underwriting criteria on a store card versus a major credit card that can be used just about everywhere comes down to the amount of risk involved.

You can do a lot more damage with a major card from a risk factor than one can with a store card. Having a $20k on a Citi Simplicity is a lot different than $20k on a Home Depot card.

Maybe that is their logic, but it certainly doesn't apply for us. We will max out (and pay off) this Home Depot card quite often. We are constantly doing home projects.

In fact that card is already up to $9k on it now.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

Crowhelm — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 17:06:48 GMT

@lgtwriter wrote:
I was approved for a Citi Costco card in August and they gave me a very small credit limit, $1,200 which was way way less than all of my other credit cards. I tried for a cli a couple of times, but decided to close the card because it was not very useful to me with that cl.

The same day or next day (I can't remember exactly) I applied for the Citi Simplicity card and was given a $14,600 credit line. Same datapoints. I had paid off a bit of utilization in the several months since I opened the Costco card, but there was no way that there were any changes in my profile to cause a difference of over ten times the credit limit.

Citi is weird, at least in my situation. YMMV of course.

All big banks are like that. If they start you off low even though you have great credit scores you are better off closing the account. Two very important things are communicated that way. You are not desperate for their card and most important you are not willing to play by their rules if the rewards don't outweigh their ridiculous limits. Can't wait to have my wife close the Freedom Flex card right after we cash in her latest points. $1600 limit with a 784 score pulled and 6 digit income is nothing but insulting and we won't stand for it.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

lgtwriter — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 21:20:15 GMT

@Crowhelm That is why I closed the citi costco card. It was ridiculous. I had ficos in the mid 750s and an income of over 190k when I applied (they are in the 770s now) and there was no way I should have been given a credit limit of $1,200.

Citi simplicity gave me a credit limit that made sense and I have a year of 0% apr as well.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

Junejer — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 22:14:08 GMT

Just closed my Citi DC because of the same thing. Same $3K CL for over three years, put decent spend on it each month and the reward was a $500 CLI. Buh-bye.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

micvite — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 08:04:18 GMT

@Junejer wrote:
Just closed my Citi DC because of the same thing. Same $3K CL for over three years, put decent spend on it each month and the reward was a $500 CLI. Buh-bye.

I guess it just depends what you consider decent spend... I had 2k CL on my DC, open for about a year, got a CLI to 4k, during the 6 month wait I put around 6-8k per month on the card and leaving it with a statement balance of a few hundred dollars and I got bumped from 4k-8k CL. Last 3 months before my cli is due I'm gonna put around 12-15k on it each month and see where that takes me in terms of CL.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

Crowhelm — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 15:12:10 GMT

@micvite wrote:
@Junejer wrote:
Just closed my Citi DC because of the same thing. Same $3K CL for over three years, put decent spend on it each month and the reward was a $500 CLI. Buh-bye.
I guess it just depends what you consider decent spend... I had 2k CL on my DC, open for about a year, got a CLI to 4k, during the 6 month wait I put around 6-8k per month on the card and leaving it with a statement balance of a few hundred dollars and I got bumped from 4k-8k CL. Last 3 months before my cli is due I'm gonna put around 12-15k on it each month and see where that takes me in terms of CL.

It is great that you have no issue doing this because it requires multiple monthly payments. And if you are rebuilding or new to credit then yes, that might be necessary. But once you are 760+ nobody should get a low 1k or 2k limit if everything else is great as well. I want to take full advantage of grace periods and just refuse to have to make multiple monthly payments just to make a card usable in the hope this will trigger an auto cli. So yeah, I am with @Junejer on that one. I rather see a denial than a token credit limit that is useless. We just closed my DW Freedom Flex because they gave her a $1600 limit, just crazy.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

Junejer — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 20:27:25 GMT

@micvite wrote:
@Junejer wrote:
Just closed my Citi DC because of the same thing. Same $3K CL for over three years, put decent spend on it each month and the reward was a $500 CLI. Buh-bye.
I guess it just depends what you consider decent spend... I had 2k CL on my DC, open for about a year, got a CLI to 4k, during the 6 month wait I put around 6-8k per month on the card and leaving it with a statement balance of a few hundred dollars and I got bumped from 4k-8k CL. Last 3 months before my cli is due I'm gonna put around 12-15k on it each month and see where that takes me in terms of CL.

@micvite

That's what I would call heavy spend. By decent spend, I'm talking about $800-$900 on a card of $3K CL. To me, that's a decent spend on that card. Sorry, but I'm not going to put myself through all of those gyrations for a card of that limit. I should've turned it down when they offered $3K. I didn't, so I rectified the situation now. I make one payment per month on each card. That's enough for me.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

micvite — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 20:32:16 GMT

@Junejer wrote:
@micvite wrote:
@Junejer wrote:
Just closed my Citi DC because of the same thing. Same $3K CL for over three years, put decent spend on it each month and the reward was a $500 CLI. Buh-bye.
I guess it just depends what you consider decent spend... I had 2k CL on my DC, open for about a year, got a CLI to 4k, during the 6 month wait I put around 6-8k per month on the card and leaving it with a statement balance of a few hundred dollars and I got bumped from 4k-8k CL. Last 3 months before my cli is due I'm gonna put around 12-15k on it each month and see where that takes me in terms of CL.
@micvite
That's what I would call heavy spend. By decent spend, I'm talking about $800-$900 on a card of $3K CL. To me, that's a decent spend on that card. Sorry, but I'm not going to put myself through all of those gyrations for a card of that limit. I should've turned it down when they offered $3K. I didn't, so I rectified the situation now. I make one payment per month on each card. That's enough for me.

Ah fair enough, like I said I didn't know what you considered decent spend. For me I personally don't mind, it's my daily spend 2% card for stuff that doesn't fit into flights hotels and dining lol... when it's time for a cli on cap 1 I take the loss on .5% to try to get higher limits on that card nowadays.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

micvite — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 20:35:21 GMT

@Crowhelm wrote:
@micvite wrote:
@Junejer wrote:
Just closed my Citi DC because of the same thing. Same $3K CL for over three years, put decent spend on it each month and the reward was a $500 CLI. Buh-bye.
I guess it just depends what you consider decent spend... I had 2k CL on my DC, open for about a year, got a CLI to 4k, during the 6 month wait I put around 6-8k per month on the card and leaving it with a statement balance of a few hundred dollars and I got bumped from 4k-8k CL. Last 3 months before my cli is due I'm gonna put around 12-15k on it each month and see where that takes me in terms of CL.
It is great that you have no issue doing this because it requires multiple monthly payments. And if you are rebuilding or new to credit then yes, that might be necessary. But once you are 760+ nobody should get a low 1k or 2k limit if everything else is great as well. I want to take full advantage of grace periods and just refuse to have to make multiple monthly payments just to make a card usable in the hope this will trigger an auto cli. So yeah, I am with @Junejer on that one. I rather see a denial than a token credit limit that is useless. We just closed my DW Freedom Flex because they gave her a $1600 limit, just crazy.

I mean when I applied for the card personally I had like 720 and had other cards that had higher limits and even got a freedom flex with like 4500 in the same app spree and yet citi gave me 2k, wf propel gave me 2k. And personally with my spending I prefer making multiple payments simply because I don't want to get bacm in a situation where I can't PIF and I've been there done that and never again, if I see the money in my bank getting low it'll limit my spending at least if I see big numbers I tend to spend without thinking of what the balances are on the ccs... sadly

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

Junejer — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 20:58:14 GMT

@micvite wrote:
@Junejer wrote:
@micvite wrote:
@Junejer wrote:
Just closed my Citi DC because of the same thing. Same $3K CL for over three years, put decent spend on it each month and the reward was a $500 CLI. Buh-bye.
I guess it just depends what you consider decent spend... I had 2k CL on my DC, open for about a year, got a CLI to 4k, during the 6 month wait I put around 6-8k per month on the card and leaving it with a statement balance of a few hundred dollars and I got bumped from 4k-8k CL. Last 3 months before my cli is due I'm gonna put around 12-15k on it each month and see where that takes me in terms of CL.
@micvite
That's what I would call heavy spend. By decent spend, I'm talking about $800-$900 on a card of $3K CL. To me, that's a decent spend on that card. Sorry, but I'm not going to put myself through all of those gyrations for a card of that limit. I should've turned it down when they offered $3K. I didn't, so I rectified the situation now. I make one payment per month on each card. That's enough for me.
Ah fair enough, like I said I didn't know what you considered decent spend. For me I personally don't mind, it's my daily spend 2% card for stuff that doesn't fit into flights hotels and dining lol... when it's time for a cli on cap 1 I take the loss on .5% to try to get higher limits on that card nowadays.

I suppose I figure that if I spend close to the limit over the course of a few months, that is a good spend. I don't have unlimited income, so I have to determine which cards are going to give me the best bang for my buck. The last couple of years, it was on my SW card. This year, I will focus on my spend across several cards. These cards all have decent limits though. I will take that spend and put it towards my CapOne card for the first few months of the year. If it doesn't result in a decent CLI, then it will be relegated to the "pack of gum per month" treatment.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

805orbust — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 23:31:22 GMT

I am in FULL agreement. I don't have time for these banks that won't raise my limits. My Chase Amazon limit is still at $1000 for years... like 6 years or so, I can't remeber. Are you kidding me? I'm gonna be closing everything under $9,000 except for my REI MC and Amex BBP, which I just haven't requested a CLI on as of yet. Can't be bothered and I've got WAY more cc's than I can manage so... Simplicity. They can jump in the lake. My apologies for sounding like I'm ranting.

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

expatCanuck — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 17:48:46 GMT

Offered for data points -

opened my Citi about a decade ago. Don't recall the original product. Went through two product changes. Had to fight like Hades to get the product change to the DC.

Original limit was 5 or 6K. Over the years, $500 here, $2K there, and the limit is now $20K.

They extended 9.4K when I opened the Custom Cash 5 months ago. (Why '.4' I'll never understand.)

Re: Citi is VERY generous ... on certain cards

MarkintheHV — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 15:59:24 GMT

@Crowhelm wrote:
@lgtwriter wrote:
I was approved for a Citi Costco card in August and they gave me a very small credit limit, $1,200 which was way way less than all of my other credit cards. I tried for a cli a couple of times, but decided to close the card because it was not very useful to me with that cl.

The same day or next day (I can't remember exactly) I applied for the Citi Simplicity card and was given a $14,600 credit line. Same datapoints. I had paid off a bit of utilization in the several months since I opened the Costco card, but there was no way that there were any changes in my profile to cause a difference of over ten times the credit limit.

Citi is weird, at least in my situation. YMMV of course.
All big banks are like that. If they start you off low even though you have great credit scores you are better off closing the account. Two very important things are communicated that way. You are not desperate for their card and most important you are not willing to play by their rules if the rewards don't outweigh their ridiculous limits. Can't wait to have my wife close the Freedom Flex card right after we cash in her latest points. $1600 limit with a 784 score pulled and 6 digit income is nothing but insulting and we won't stand for it.

I feel the same way, if they insult me with a ridiculous CL, I will close it. A low CL card will never get used by me because I will not let a card go above 10% utilization, and a $3k card (think Discover) would only get $300 and that is too much headache to deal with.