topic Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier in Credit Card Applications

How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 20:53:04 GMT

I'm fairly new on my credit journey. Within 18 months, I went from no score (thin file) to buying a house just 2 weeks ago. Every step I've taken to get here has been a shot in the dark with very little understanding but now I want to really start making purposeful, calculated steps to increase my scores and limits.

I have a decent collection of cards in my wallet, all store cards except for 2 Cap1s (1 platinum and 1 secured) and mostly small limits. My largest limit is $4k on Amazon but then my limits take a sharp dive to the next highest at $1500 with my Cap1 Platinum. My inq are sitting pretty high right now with 17 in the last 12 months (about half from mortgage) but my util is only at 13%. My scores are in the 660 range so I know I have lots of room for improvement.
I don't want to add any more new cards or inquiries to my deck for at least 6-9 months but I do want to start increasing my limits. When I'm trying to go for SP CLI lately (by luv button, call or chat), I've been getting either tiny offers of only $200-$300 or flat out denials.

Reading on here, I see lots of different strategies of how to start getting those mega CLI. The denial letters I get back state that its either high inquiries or too many new accounts. At this point, is patience my best friend until my accounts and inquiries age or is there a course of action that I could try taking? TIA!

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

ddemari — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:48:18 GMT

are you refering to synch bank soft increases that are being flat out denied or cap 1?

if you are talking about synch. bank call this number 866 519 6441 and ask for a CLI on the card of your choice, if granted which is possible with credit solutions. hang up and call again and ask on a different card for a CLI.

calling credit solutions yields an approval for me when chat would not give me anything. they are easy to deal with. the whole process takes a few minutes. no harm by calling, its a soft pull look at your reports.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

fury1995 — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 01:17:25 GMT

What Store cards do you have?

Also, you stil have a secured card with Cap One? i would think if you are clean enough for a brand new mortgage, you should be able to move on from the secured card.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

pizza1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 01:43:14 GMT

you need to list your cards and limits so we know more

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 13:59:13 GMT

Sorry! Here's the added info:

Amazon $4000

Cap1 Platinum $1500

Cap1 secured $525

The Limited $700

NY&Co $900

VS $350

Express $750

Kohl's $300

Menard's $1000

TJMaxx $250

I've thought about closing out my secured but I thought I'd keep it until I'm ready to replace it. My AAoA is only 1.2 years and without that card, I'm afraid it will drop too significantly. My goal is to gain cards outside of stores and Cap1 but knowing how high my inq are, I want to hold off for several months before apping any more. So in the meantime, my goal is to work with what I have and start growing these limits.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 14:10:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Sorry! Here's the added info:

Amazon $4000
Cap1 Platinum $1500
Cap1 secured $525
The Limited $700
NY&Co $900
VS $350
Express $750
Kohl's $300
Menard's $1000
TJMaxx $250

I've thought about closing out my secured but I thought I'd keep it until I'm ready to replace it. My AAoA is only 1.2 years and without that card, I'm afraid it will drop too significantly. My goal is to gain cards outside of stores and Cap1 but knowing how high my inq are, I want to hold off for several months before apping any more. So in the meantime, my goal is to work with what I have and start growing these limits.

Your AAoA wont drop just because you close the card. It will continue to report on your CRs for roughly another 10 years before it falls off, adding to your AAoA and length of history.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 14:34:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Sorry! Here's the added info:

Amazon $4000
Cap1 Platinum $1500
Cap1 secured $525
The Limited $700
NY&Co $900
VS $350
Express $750
Kohl's $300
Menard's $1000
TJMaxx $250

I've thought about closing out my secured but I thought I'd keep it until I'm ready to replace it. My AAoA is only 1.2 years and without that card, I'm afraid it will drop too significantly. My goal is to gain cards outside of stores and Cap1 but knowing how high my inq are, I want to hold off for several months before apping any more. So in the meantime, my goal is to work with what I have and start growing these limits.
Your AAoA wont drop just because you close the card. It will continue to report on your CRs for roughly another 10 years before it falls off, adding to your AAoA and length of history.

That's so good to know! I always assumed it was based off of open accounts only. Any other pros or cons I should consider before closing it now?

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Countingpennies — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 14:55:33 GMT

Are the 17 inqs on one CRA, or the total on all 3?

Since you plan on gardening for awhile, if it were me, I would add a couple of new cards before gardening and let them start aging now. You might consider a Discover card, it has been giving CLIs for many, sometimes monthly. Barclays is a good card to add now, seems slower to grow, but decent. Walmart and Lowes are also good to have, and can grow fairly quickly to a nice limit.

The only Visa/MC cards you have are Cap1. The above cards I've mentioned can be obtained with a 660ish score.

And this is just my experience, but my Synchrony cards, some of which I've had for over 2 years, stayed on the low CL side until my scores went over 670, then I was able to get them all up to $4-6k, all in the same week.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:12:25 GMT

@Countingpennies wrote:
Are the 17 inqs on one CRA, or the total on all 3?

Since you plan on gardening for awhile, if it were me, I would add a couple of new cards before gardening and let them start aging now. You might consider a Discover card, it has been giving CLIs for many, sometimes monthly. Barclays is a good card to add now, seems slower to grow, but decent. Walmart and Lowes are also good to have, and can grow fairly quickly to a nice limit.

The only Visa/MC cards you have are Cap1. The above cards I've mentioned can be obtained with a 660ish score.

And this is just my experience, but my Synchrony cards, some of which I've had for over 2 years, stayed on the low CL side until my scores went over 670, then I was able to get them all up to $4-6k, all in the same week.

Its 17 inq listed on EX - my other reports are similar. The last card I tried was Lowe's but got shot down for inq and too many new accounts. I called to try a recon but was shot down. I'll take a look at Discover and Barclays and see if I should go for one more before I garden. Thanks!

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

tntexans72 — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:25:11 GMT

Credit is a game of patience. You need to let those accounts age for 6-12 months before applying for any more cards. Having a short history with that many inqs will get you shot down. You really don't want to waste any more inqs. In the meantime, you can work on getting those cap1 cli because those are all SP. Let cap1 see some usage and history before applying for a QS or Venture in 6-12 months. Even if you get approved now, most likely it will be a small SL. Congrats on getting those cards, you just have to sit tight and let them grow.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:38:07 GMT

@tntexans72 wrote:
Credit is a game of patience. You need to let those accounts age for 6-12 months before applying for any more cards. Having a short history with that many inqs will get you shot down. You really don't want to waste any more inqs. In the meantime, you can work on getting those cap1 cli because those are all SP. Let cap1 see some usage and history before applying for a QS or Venture in 6-12 months. Even if you get approved now, most likely it will be a small SL. Congrats on getting those cards, you just have to sit tight and let them grow.

Thank you tntexans72! I'm not a very patient person by nature (probably why I went from deciding I was going to buy a house to closing within 2 months). My husband and I have lots of plans for our new house after the winter so timing is perfect to garden now. I've heard/read many different theories on util. Is it best to keep overall below 30% or 10%? Does individual card util affect your score or is it just the overall that has the biggest impact?
Sorry for all the questions - I should have started this learning a long, long time ago but it's better late than never!

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

taxi818 — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:52:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@tntexans72 wrote:
Credit is a game of patience. You need to let those accounts age for 6-12 months before applying for any more cards. Having a short history with that many inqs will get you shot down. You really don't want to waste any more inqs. In the meantime, you can work on getting those cap1 cli because those are all SP. Let cap1 see some usage and history before applying for a QS or Venture in 6-12 months. Even if you get approved now, most likely it will be a small SL. Congrats on getting those cards, you just have to sit tight and let them grow.
Thank you tntexans72! I'm not a very patient person by nature (probably why I went from deciding I was going to buy a house to closing within 2 months). My husband and I have lots of plans for our new house after the winter so timing is perfect to garden now. I've heard/read many different theories on util. Is it best to keep overall below 30% or 10%? Does individual card util affect your score or is it just the overall that has the biggest impact?
Sorry for all the questions - I should have started this learning a long, long time ago but it's better late than never!

Under 30% is fine. Under 10% if applying for something and you need to maximize scores. Scores are just that scores. Useless until you need to app. No need to obsess over it. Time without applying is best. Strateg for increasing score. Keep until low. As possible. But dont be scared to use.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

tntexans72 — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:53:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@tntexans72 wrote:
Credit is a game of patience. You need to let those accounts age for 6-12 months before applying for any more cards. Having a short history with that many inqs will get you shot down. You really don't want to waste any more inqs. In the meantime, you can work on getting those cap1 cli because those are all SP. Let cap1 see some usage and history before applying for a QS or Venture in 6-12 months. Even if you get approved now, most likely it will be a small SL. Congrats on getting those cards, you just have to sit tight and let them grow.
Thank you tntexans72! I'm not a very patient person by nature (probably why I went from deciding I was going to buy a house to closing within 2 months). My husband and I have lots of plans for our new house after the winter so timing is perfect to garden now. I've heard/read many different theories on util. Is it best to keep overall below 30% or 10%? Does individual card util affect your score or is it just the overall that has the biggest impact?
Sorry for all the questions - I should have started this learning a long, long time ago but it's better late than never!

Congrats on on all your success. IME, I keep my util at 1-15% right before I app for a new card to get the best limit and rates. Everyone's profile are different but this has worked for me. I have 2-6 inqs max across the board. Based on those data points I am able to obtained higher SL. Good lock.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Countingpennies — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:55:30 GMT

Both, overall utilization and individual will affect your score.

Somewhere between 0 and 10% overall is best. However, 0% on all cards is not good either, the goal to maximize score points is to a small balance report on at least one card every month.

With small CLs, I know it's hard to stick with this. If you do let some balances report, they will bounce back the next month when they are paid. Micromanaging can make you (me actually) crazy sometimes.

And, I agree that time and patience are very important. The time will go by fast, meanwhile, keep reading and learning.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 16:16:25 GMT

@Countingpennies wrote:
Are the 17 inqs on one CRA, or the total on all 3?

Since you plan on gardening for awhile, if it were me, I would add a couple of new cards before gardening and let them start aging now. You might consider a Discover card, it has been giving CLIs for many, sometimes monthly. Barclays is a good card to add now, seems slower to grow, but decent. Walmart and Lowes are also good to have, and can grow fairly quickly to a nice limit.

The only Visa/MC cards you have are Cap1. The above cards I've mentioned can be obtained with a 660ish score.

And this is just my experience, but my Synchrony cards, some of which I've had for over 2 years, stayed on the low CL side until my scores went over 670, then I was able to get them all up to $4-6k, all in the same week.

I wouldn't try for Barclay. They are concerned with inquiries. I tried the day after I closed on my house and that was my reason for denial. My score was good. I hadn't applied for any cards but they said too many recent inquiries. They all came from when they pulled my credit for the loan on the house.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 22:54:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Countingpennies wrote:
Are the 17 inqs on one CRA, or the total on all 3?

Since you plan on gardening for awhile, if it were me, I would add a couple of new cards before gardening and let them start aging now. You might consider a Discover card, it has been giving CLIs for many, sometimes monthly. Barclays is a good card to add now, seems slower to grow, but decent. Walmart and Lowes are also good to have, and can grow fairly quickly to a nice limit.

The only Visa/MC cards you have are Cap1. The above cards I've mentioned can be obtained with a 660ish score.

And this is just my experience, but my Synchrony cards, some of which I've had for over 2 years, stayed on the low CL side until my scores went over 670, then I was able to get them all up to $4-6k, all in the same week.

I wouldn't try for Barclay. They are concerned with inquiries. I tried the day after I closed on my house and that was my reason for denial. My score was good. I hadn't applied for any cards but they said too many recent inquiries. They all came from when they pulled my credit for the loan on the house.

I agree about Barclay.

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 01:33:13 GMT

So I decided to try Discover before hanging up my apps. After calling in for a quick verification, I got approved for $1200. Now I'm officially in the garden for 6 month minimum!

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

LadyJEsq — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 02:58:57 GMT

Congrats and welcome to the garden!

Re: How to Break the CLI Barrier

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 06:39:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Sorry! Here's the added info:

Amazon $4000
Cap1 Platinum $1500
Cap1 secured $525
The Limited $700
NY&Co $900
VS $350
Express $750
Kohl's $300
Menard's $1000
TJMaxx $250

I've thought about closing out my secured but I thought I'd keep it until I'm ready to replace it. My AAoA is only 1.2 years and without that card, I'm afraid it will drop too significantly. My goal is to gain cards outside of stores and Cap1 but knowing how high my inq are, I want to hold off for several months before apping any more. So in the meantime, my goal is to work with what I have and start growing these limits.
Your AAoA wont drop just because you close the card. It will continue to report on your CRs for roughly another 10 years before it falls off, adding to your AAoA and length of history.
That's so good to know! I always assumed it was based off of open accounts only. Any other pros or cons I should consider before closing it now?

When you close an account that is in good standing, it will not effect your AAoA as others stated, and will continue to help for 10 years. But you do need to consider the amount of the CL you will be losing.

In your case, if you closed the secured CC at 525, you just need to be sure it wont matter to your overall UTIL. Its only about 5% of your total UTI.

If you can cover the 525 elsewhere, its not an issue. If it were say, 2000, it could be a problem for you.

HTH