topic Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer in Credit Card Applications

Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

tricklemoo — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 05:18:05 GMT

Hi all, I recently got my first Discover card (after getting mailers and pre-qualing for years) finally to take advantage of balance transfer of a couple of 0% APR cards that were running out. I got a 11k starting limit and promptly used almost 10k of that. Now paid down to almost 9k. Never use the card for spending so the balance will keep ticking down.

My question is this- any datapoints out there in requesting CLIs with Discover when only carrying a balance transfer balance and not actually using them for spending? As I've read over and over they like to be a main card/put a lot of spend on to give CLIs, but in my case after this balance transfer is paid down, I'll barely use the card for purchases (I mostly live abroad and nearly nowhere takes Discover), so maybe its actually best to press for CLIs now rather then later when they figure out I'm barely going to use the card?

Credit limits are very important to me due to keeping util low and setting precidents for future high starting limits. It's my biggest priority at the moment (making sure all my cards get as high a CL as possible and retaining those limits).

Just wondering if I have any chance of a CLI with Discover having a) not used them for actual spending b) carrying a high balance (9k/11k)? Probably not, right?
Thanks!

FICO8 720 Experian, 35% of primary card util and 16% of util if include authorised user cards. 6/9 primary user cards never post a balance, the other have 0% APR balances currently

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

M_Smart007 — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 05:53:50 GMT

You could try for a SP CLI with Discover, it cannot hurt.

What they really like to see is, heavy use, and "LARGE" payments.

ETA: I'd press for a CLI now.

If you do not get one, try again after you pay it down some more.

In other words, keep trying.

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

tricklemoo — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 06:22:39 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I'm aware they are SPs, so nothing to lose. Why I'm posting is because I'm trying to gauge how likely it is of any chance of success. It won't necessarily change any decisions I make right now, but it's helpful to have in mind if there is virtually no chance versus a decent chance etc. I suppose I might make slightly larger payments if I really thought it would help, but I really don't want to otherwise as that's cash I could use other places where I know it will have impact on getting potential CLI on other cards (instead of just might).

I'm waiting to do an initial SP request until the account is three months old, and then a little longer to wait for the paying off of an AU account to be reported (so probably the end of April will be my first request attempt)

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Jnbmom — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 11:52:29 GMT

@tricklemoo wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I'm aware they are SPs, so nothing to lose. Why I'm posting is because I'm trying to gauge how likely it is of any chance of success. It won't necessarily change any decisions I make right now, but it's helpful to have in mind if there is virtually no chance versus a decent chance etc. I suppose I might make slightly larger payments if I really thought it would help, but I really don't want to otherwise as that's cash I could use other places where I know it will have impact on getting potential CLI on other cards (instead of just might).

I'm waiting to do an initial SP request until the account is three months old, and then a little longer to wait for the paying off of an AU account to be reported (so probably the end of April will be my first request attempt)

I would advice as @M_Smart007 suggested and make some large payments and I would not apply until you have had the card atleast 6 months or longer .

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Aim_High — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 20:02:38 GMT

My theory on this, @tricklemoo, is that it might help but it may also depend on how long you carry it - and how much interest or BT fees you pay Discover. My card is my oldest currently-open card dating to 1993. I used it for some low five-figure BTs many years ago besides regularly using it in other periods for light spending. I've never put large spend on it. Over time and with relationship with Discover, it grew to $50K, although my income and FICOs had also risen. But I wondered if the earlier BTs had helped.

I remained "stuck" at $50K until I put some large short-term BTs on the card and got (2) small $1K additional increases. So my BTs might have helped ... but not much since in this situation they were only carried short-term. (The others I had were carried for a year or so each.) I'm not suggesting to pay fees or interest just to try for a CLI, but if you need to do so anyway it might help.

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

tricklemoo — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 08:11:36 GMT

@Jnbmom thank you- is there something documented/magic about 6 months versus 3 months or some other duration?

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

tricklemoo — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 08:13:59 GMT

thanks for the personal experience @Aim_High, interesting! Good to hear that with light spend you still managed to get up that high, though if the card is that old/you have that long of a relationship, not sure if that is the primary factor!

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Aim_High — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 16:51:52 GMT

@tricklemoo wrote:
@Jnbmom thank you- is there something documented/magic about 6 months versus 3 months or some other duration?

Most lenders have a minimum interval that they will consider a CLI, @tricklemoo. Six months is fairly common as a general rule-of-thumb and it specifically applies to Discover. So while you can always ask, they won't approve one unless the card is six months old or it's been six months since your last increase.

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Aim_High — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 16:56:37 GMT

@tricklemoo wrote:
thanks for the personal experience @Aim_High, interesting! Good to hear that with light spend you still managed to get up that high, though if the card is that old/you have that long of a relationship, not sure if that is the primary factor!

You're welcome, @tricklemoo. I imagine the long relationship did play a role, among other factors, in my ability to grow the credit limit. In the earlier days of the card, the ~1% cash back was very competitive if not industry-leading at that time, so it got more regular spending. And then the balance transfers I mentioned helped to build my internal credit history with them since they saw I handled my card responsibly. In later years, my credit limit has probably increased also due to much higher FICO, higher income, other high credit limits, and continuing to push for CLIs when eligible. (When it comes to CLIs, the "squeaky wheel" gets the grease; don't be shy about asking!)

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Dayvan_Cowbody — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 20:48:18 GMT

i've gotten two automatic CLIs in the last 6 months (from I think 11,000 to 14,000) from discover without purchasing anything new in that time. I have been carrying an absurdly high balance for a while so am paying interest through the teeth... about a year ago i took off all the stuff that auto-paid with that discover and have been slowly getting the balance down. at 27% interest it's taking longer than I want. I just got a new BT card over the weekend so i'm going to do some rearranging of debt from high APR cards to the BT and because the BT is a discover so i can't transfer directly to it from my other discover I'll likely do a balance transfer from my high interst discover to my lowest interest card (i think they will give me a 0% balance transfer APR but i have to look into it).

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

tricklemoo — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 13:48:28 GMT

@Dayvan_Cowbody , thanks, that's a really useful datapoint that even with a high balance that is carrying interest/no spend, you got auto CLIs recently. Encourages me that my high balance on 0% won't spook them from doing auto CLIs. What's your FICO score if I can ask?

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Dayvan_Cowbody — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 15:00:36 GMT

@tricklemoo wrote:
@Dayvan_Cowbody , thanks, that's a really useful datapoint that even with a high balance that is carrying interest/no spend, you got auto CLIs recently. Encourages me that my high balance on 0% won't spook them from doing auto CLIs. What's your FICO score if I can ask?

The funny thing is that my score has been going up lately and a lot of it had to do with those auto CLIs from discover (and apple) helping my UTIL. but the CLIs came while my FICO had been sitting between 667-669 without moving more than a point at a time from June 2022 'til March 2023 where it crept up to 670 at the beginning of the month and now it's at 703 due to those CLIs and paying about 25% of my debt down ($5K tax return went to two cards) so my UTIL went from 90%+ (667 score) to 65% (703 score). I also have a CO that will be on my report for another year which is suppressing my scores, too.

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Dayvan_Cowbody — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 15:30:26 GMT

i just checked my Discover history and the last time I had ANY spend with them was June 2022 and that was only $20.17. My cellphone bill had been auto-paying to discover prior to that but i changed it to my apple card after the April 2022 payment... so my total discover spend from May 2022 until now is $20. Interest is a whole other story... i paid them $2,753 in interest in 2022 and $718 so far this year. looking forward to moving some of that debt to 0% in the near future.

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

SouthJamaica — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 15:40:44 GMT

@tricklemoo wrote:
Hi all, I recently got my first Discover card (after getting mailers and pre-qualing for years) finally to take advantage of balance transfer of a couple of 0% APR cards that were running out. I got a 11k starting limit and promptly used almost 10k of that. Now paid down to almost 9k. Never use the card for spending so the balance will keep ticking down.

My question is this- any datapoints out there in requesting CLIs with Discover when only carrying a balance transfer balance and not actually using them for spending? As I've read over and over they like to be a main card/put a lot of spend on to give CLIs, but in my case after this balance transfer is paid down, I'll barely use the card for purchases (I mostly live abroad and nearly nowhere takes Discover), so maybe its actually best to press for CLIs now rather then later when they figure out I'm barely going to use the card?

Credit limits are very important to me due to keeping util low and setting precidents for future high starting limits. It's my biggest priority at the moment (making sure all my cards get as high a CL as possible and retaining those limits).

Just wondering if I have any chance of a CLI with Discover having a) not used them for actual spending b) carrying a high balance (9k/11k)? Probably not, right?
Thanks!

FICO8 720 Experian, 35% of primary card util and 16% of util if include authorised user cards. 6/9 primary user cards never post a balance, the other have 0% APR balances currently

My impression has been that they do consider balance transfers as valid usage of the card warranting a CLI from time to time.

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

M_Smart007 — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 16:08:59 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@tricklemoo wrote:
Hi all, I recently got my first Discover card (after getting mailers and pre-qualing for years) finally to take advantage of balance transfer of a couple of 0% APR cards that were running out. I got a 11k starting limit and promptly used almost 10k of that. Now paid down to almost 9k. Never use the card for spending so the balance will keep ticking down.

My question is this- any datapoints out there in requesting CLIs with Discover when only carrying a balance transfer balance and not actually using them for spending? As I've read over and over they like to be a main card/put a lot of spend on to give CLIs, but in my case after this balance transfer is paid down, I'll barely use the card for purchases (I mostly live abroad and nearly nowhere takes Discover), so maybe its actually best to press for CLIs now rather then later when they figure out I'm barely going to use the card?

Credit limits are very important to me due to keeping util low and setting precidents for future high starting limits. It's my biggest priority at the moment (making sure all my cards get as high a CL as possible and retaining those limits).

Just wondering if I have any chance of a CLI with Discover having a) not used them for actual spending b) carrying a high balance (9k/11k)? Probably not, right?
Thanks!

FICO8 720 Experian, 35% of primary card util and 16% of util if include authorised user cards. 6/9 primary user cards never post a balance, the other have 0% APR balances currently

My impression has been that they do consider balance transfers as valid usage of the card warranting a CLI from time to time.

They Do^

Now if they would just offer me one

Have not had a Disco BT offer in several years.

But then again,

"My name is @M_Smart007 and I am a "Credit Seeker" and need rehab."🍸🍹🍻

Pretty sure Disco does not like ^^

Maybe I can find an under 12/24 program

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

RSX — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 16:37:49 GMT

i have had good growth with mine since 2017 - but

i find that when i have an active BT with them - i get denied for CLI every time

when i pay it off then wait 1 month - i always get a CLI

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Aim_High — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 17:47:57 GMT

@RSX wrote:
i have had good growth with mine since 2017 - but
i find that when i have an active BT with them - i get denied for CLI every time
when i pay it off then wait 1 month - i always get a CLI

Similar to my experience, both with my Discover as well as DW's. She's been using BTs and has a high utilization right now. I believe we've only been able to get her one CLI since she opened the card in 2019 (not automatic.) I just checked again and it was denied even though nothing recent. However, we're probably going to move all that debt soon, so perhaps I can wait and check afterward to see the results.

I'm sure they love high spend as well, but the BT offers seem to work well for CLI too.

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

SouthJamaica — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 17:35:39 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@tricklemoo wrote:
Hi all, I recently got my first Discover card (after getting mailers and pre-qualing for years) finally to take advantage of balance transfer of a couple of 0% APR cards that were running out. I got a 11k starting limit and promptly used almost 10k of that. Now paid down to almost 9k. Never use the card for spending so the balance will keep ticking down.

My question is this- any datapoints out there in requesting CLIs with Discover when only carrying a balance transfer balance and not actually using them for spending? As I've read over and over they like to be a main card/put a lot of spend on to give CLIs, but in my case after this balance transfer is paid down, I'll barely use the card for purchases (I mostly live abroad and nearly nowhere takes Discover), so maybe its actually best to press for CLIs now rather then later when they figure out I'm barely going to use the card?

Credit limits are very important to me due to keeping util low and setting precidents for future high starting limits. It's my biggest priority at the moment (making sure all my cards get as high a CL as possible and retaining those limits).

Just wondering if I have any chance of a CLI with Discover having a) not used them for actual spending b) carrying a high balance (9k/11k)? Probably not, right?
Thanks!

FICO8 720 Experian, 35% of primary card util and 16% of util if include authorised user cards. 6/9 primary user cards never post a balance, the other have 0% APR balances currently

My impression has been that they do consider balance transfers as valid usage of the card warranting a CLI from time to time.

They Do^
Now if they would just offer me one
Have not had a Disco BT offer in several years.
But then again,
"My name is @M_Smart007 and I am a "Credit Seeker" and need rehab."🍸🍹🍻
Pretty sure Disco does not like ^^

Maybe I can find an under 12/24 program

They've been giving me balance transfer offers, but none of the type I like.

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

Aim_High — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 17:47:01 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@M_Smart007 wrote:
Have not had a Disco BT offer in several years.
They've been giving me balance transfer offers, but none of the type I like.

My current BT offers:

4% BT Fee + 0% APR for 14 months

(or)

0% BT Fee + 5.99% APR for 17 months

Re: Discover limit increase tactics when not using for purchases, just balance transfer

SouthJamaica — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 21:24:05 GMT

@Aim_High wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@M_Smart007 wrote:
Have not had a Disco BT offer in several years.
They've been giving me balance transfer offers, but none of the type I like.
My current BT offers:

4% BT Fee + 0% APR for 14 months

(or)

0% BT Fee + 5.99% APR for 17 months

I like the ones like your second one. Haven't seen one of those in a long time.