topic Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it in Credit Cards

Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2018 01:48:48 GMT

I have a good credit score (808 TU, 788 EF, 781 FICO8) I have a solid income, no degretory marks on my report, and other high limit cards (two different 30k+ Chase cards, others in the 10-20k range). I have a total of over 250k in credit avaialabe to me. I don't cary a balance, and I have only applied for maybe 2 cards in the last year, maybe another 2 in the previous year (typically do it once every 6 months or so).

Anyways, my most recent card is a citi double cash and I was only approved for $500. I love the 2% cash back, but it is a VERY low limit. It works fine for small purchases, but it is worthless for paying bills etc. I have tried their automated process to raise my limit but have been denied because the account is too new.

Is there any ways to get around this? With some companies I have succeeded in opening a new card, the closing it and rolling the line of credit to an existing card (worked great to 10x my chase amazon card from 3k to 30). Citi has told me they don't allow this.

Is there a human I can talk to that can actually look at my vitals (credit score, income, debet, etc) and give me an increase. Even just $1,500 would be great, I could always pay it multiple times per month if I needed the extra space.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

TheBoondocks — Thu, 10 May 2018 01:59:18 GMT

Bro, just call them and wait still cause the card is still new and I don't even understand why they gave you a $500 limit either, that makes no sense on their part.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2018 03:01:57 GMT

Did you ever burn Citi in the past or anything?

You could email the CEO to get a call back from the EO to speak with someone above CS level about your situation and see what they recommend.

One option would be to burn an EQ HP and ask for your limit to be increased. In doing so you may be able to bump it up to a more comfortable level.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Meanmchine — Thu, 10 May 2018 02:49:49 GMT

Are those high limit cards yours or are you just an AU on them?

This is konfuzing

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 02:19:13 GMT

OP already burned a HP to ge tthe card, woud a second HP look reveal anything different?

I think it's definitely worth it to call them once you get your card, and aks the reason.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 02:32:25 GMT

Best of luck to you. Let us know how it goes.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

GeorgiaBulldog — Fri, 11 May 2018 06:05:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
OP already burned a HP to ge tthe card, woud a second HP look reveal anything different?

I think it's definitely worth it to call them once you get your card, and aks the reason.

You'd think a second hp wouldn't make a difference, but a lot of folks (including myself) took a second hard pull shortly after DC approval with good results. I went from 3600 to 8400 with an hp. That was in 2016, though. Recent DPs of this working would be worth looking for before pulling the trigger on an HP cli request.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 06:48:14 GMT

@AnonymousOP already burned a HP to ge tthe card, woud a second HP look reveal anything different?

No, it's not that a second HP reveals anything different compared to the original HP. The purpose of a HP in general is to make note that someone applied for credit or in this case additional credit. By giving them a second HP, Citi is much more giving in terms of a CLI.

There are people on this forum that have had a $8k-$10k Citi DC card and were given $3k-$5k SP CLIs. Upon allowing Citi to take a HP, many of these people were able to get their limits increased to $25k-$30k in one shot, something that with just SP CLIs would likely have taken many smaller CLIs and perhaps years to achieve.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 10:30:26 GMT

Sorry for the slow reply, late night at work yesterday :/

"Did you ever burn Citi in the past or anything?"

I did cancel an Citi American Airlines card after holding it for 1 year. I signed up for the miles, then got a dog and couldn't use them as easily and decided it wasn't worth the next year's fee.

I hadn't heard about the emailing the CEO trick. I have does that with T-Moble before with great success, so it might be worth a shot.

"Are those high limit cards yours or are you just an AU on them?"

I am either the only or the primary cardholder on multiple 30k+ limit cards. I am an AU on my parents credit card from a long time ago, and this probobly contributes 50-100k to my total, but I have well over 150k of credit where I am primary.

I have called and tried chatting with them online. In all cases they are friendly and happy to run the query for a credit increase, but it gets imediatly denied. When I read the explanation it is b/c the account is less than 6 months old. I know I should just suck it up and try again in 6 months, but it really makes the card worthless in the mean time. #firstworldproblem

Thanks All!

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

trant3 — Fri, 11 May 2018 11:49:10 GMT

Wait 90 days then request an increase, which will be a SP at that time. If you have $250k in credit why sweat this?

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 11:49:29 GMT

Citi has never started me with anything more than $2000, with a $300 increase every 6 months or so. This is another reason I don'y use Citi: their sarting limits are too low. My FICOs are all in the low 800s.

A daily driver is useless to me without at least a limit of $10,000, because I charge about $5000 monthly.

My advice is to call them when you get the card, and tell them that you would like to use the card as your main card, but that is impossible with a $500 limit.

If they refuse to raise it, put the card in the sock drawer (DON'T cancel it out of anger), use something else, and call back in 6 months.

Sorry that this happened to you, but Citi is notorious for very low starting limits.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 11 May 2018 12:23:13 GMT

Citi has opened the floodgates on the sl recently for this card unlike the past few years. Another hp and a calling from Op to talk to a live person should work wonders.

As for sweating a small limit, its human nature, many of us have built up our profiles through hard work and believe when we apply for new cards thathopefully that hard work will be rewarded. Nothing wrong with some emotion lol.

Op , best of luck, it's possible your profile just slipped through the cracks, happens to quite a few folks. Eventually Citi will come around...hopefully

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 15:59:02 GMT

@Anonymous
A daily driver is useless to me without at least a limit of $10,000, because I charge about $5000 monthly.

While it isn't nearly as convenient, one can get by just fine with a smaller limit card than their total purchases simply by making additional payments. Someone that charges $5000 monthly could "get by" with a card with even half that credit limit; They would just have to make multiple payments during the cycle to make it work. The only constraint to this of course would be single large purchases that may exceed the CL, but the frequency of those on a daily driver type card isn't all that great.

My Citi DC limit last month wasn't enough to get by without making an additional payment about a week before the closing date. I made the payment though and then a few days later made another large purchase that i otherwise would have had to use another card for. A little annoying making a second payment, sure, but it didn't render my card useless.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

expatCanuck — Fri, 11 May 2018 21:07:26 GMT

Your point is well-taken, BBS.

That said, if someone is spending $5K per month, I'd wager that at least some of those transactions will exceed $500 (the balance Citi provided on the OP's card). And, even if they weren't, the math requires that the OP make a payment every 3 days.

To my way of thinking, that tends to make the card more trouble than it's worth (assuming that you can find other card combinations that at come close to providing the 2% cash back (2% of $5K= $100).

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2018 21:08:51 GMT

Well sure it doesn't make it totally useless, just a hassle. Unless one turns it into an auto payment card for netflix etc.

Then maybe one day it will get there. IMO, $500 is a starter card for either rebuilders. Or people who are 18-20 and are just starting.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Sat, 12 May 2018 08:02:09 GMT

Your point is well-taken, BBS.

That said, if someone is spending $5K per month, I'd wager that at least some of those transactions will exceed $500 (the balance Citi provided on the OP's card). And, even if they weren't, the math requires that the OP make a payment every 3 days.

To my way of thinking, that tends to make the card more trouble than it's worth (assuming that you can find other card combinations that at come close to providing the 2% cash back (2% of $5K= $100).

Oh yeah, no doubt - I wasn't talking about the OPs $500 CL card, but rather others that replied since then citing higher limits in the thousands. I agree that a $500 limit would be a big problem, but don't feel that it's nearly as much of an issue for someone with a $5000 limit that states it's pretty "useless" unless it is $10,000.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Sat, 12 May 2018 10:56:39 GMT

Yeah, I would even be fine with a $1,500 limit. I pay a lot of my cards 1x per week so i don't run the risk of forgetting. The trouble with $500 is that I like to pay bills with the card to get the 2% CB. I put 1/2 of my recent car insurnace permium on it wed, the chare didn't post until friday. I paid it today, and my limit is still used up until the payment posts. Citi is much slower than some of my other cards, so the turnaround time for this is nearly a full week. certaily 3+ business days.

I have tried to call and speak with them 3 times now and they refuse to do more than run the automated credit increase process which is automated and doesn't invovle a real person looking at my stats.

So far it seems like the best option will be to bench the card and come back to it in 6 months. I know this is very small potatoes, but I hate missing out on the 2% CB, even with 1.5% cards in my wallet.

Can anyone recomend a better alternative to Citi Double that would get me 2%?

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Anonymous — Sat, 12 May 2018 12:07:56 GMT

Well, I prefer to pay all my credit cards once a month, and then forget them.

A minimum $10,000 limit lets me do that.

Each to his own, I guess.

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

Gmood1 — Sat, 12 May 2018 12:31:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah, I would even be fine with a $1,500 limit. I pay a lot of my cards 1x per week so i don't run the risk of forgetting. The trouble with $500 is that I like to pay bills with the card to get the 2% CB. I put 1/2 of my recent car insurnace permium on it wed, the chare didn't post until friday. I paid it today, and my limit is still used up until the payment posts. Citi is much slower than some of my other cards, so the turnaround time for this is nearly a full week. certaily 3+ business days.

I have tried to call and speak with them 3 times now and they refuse to do more than run the automated credit increase process which is automated and doesn't invovle a real person looking at my stats.

So far it seems like the best option will be to bench the card and come back to it in 6 months. I know this is very small potatoes, but I hate missing out on the 2% CB, even with 1.5% cards in my wallet.

Can anyone recomend a better alternative to Citi Double that would get me 2%?

You have 2% casbback cards issued by Alliant, Penfed, SDFCU, Blispay and PayPal.

Paypal is probably the easiest to increase the limit on with a SP. You need a checking account with Penfed in order to get the full 2%. Alliant can be very conservative, just something to keep in mind. Though, they may love your profile.

I'd grab the Paypal 2% MasterCard if I were you. I'd have it, if I could. I'm stuck with the old version.lol

Re: Why did I get screwed on Citi DC and how do I fix it

SouthJamaica — Sat, 12 May 2018 12:42:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I have a good credit score (808 TU, 788 EF, 781 FICO8) I have a solid income, no degretory marks on my report, and other high limit cards (two different 30k+ Chase cards, others in the 10-20k range). I have a total of over 250k in credit avaialabe to me. I don't cary a balance, and I have only applied for maybe 2 cards in the last year, maybe another 2 in the previous year (typically do it once every 6 months or so).

Anyways, my most recent card is a citi double cash and I was only approved for $500. I love the 2% cash back, but it is a VERY low limit. It works fine for small purchases, but it is worthless for paying bills etc. I have tried their automated process to raise my limit but have been denied because the account is too new.

Is there any ways to get around this? With some companies I have succeeded in opening a new card, the closing it and rolling the line of credit to an existing card (worked great to 10x my chase amazon card from 3k to 30). Citi has told me they don't allow this.

Is there a human I can talk to that can actually look at my vitals (credit score, income, debet, etc) and give me an increase. Even just $1,500 would be great, I could always pay it multiple times per month if I needed the extra space.

I would just call one of their backdoor numbers and recon the limit.