topic Re: $5K CL Hurdle in Credit Cards

$5K CL Hurdle

aynot4fitness — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 03:21:27 GMT

Maybe someone can help with my curiosity. I have 3 cards with CL just under $5K. I'm happy with how my credit rebuild has been going, I'm just wondering why none of my CLs go over $5K. My highest CL is with Merrick Bank. It was the first card I got after a BK and the CLIs have steadily risen from $300 to $4.6K. I also have a Cap1 QS1 card that has been at $4K for more than 3 years. I recently applied for a Chase Freedom and was approved for ... wait for it ... $4.5K. So today I went online to Cap1 and requested a CLI for the QS1. It was increased to $4.4K. I'm not complaining, just wondering if there is some logic I don't know about.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Meanmchine — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 03:59:19 GMT

Look at the Penfed and NFCU threads to see if maybe you are a match for them. If so, they would easily be your first $5k lender, maybe higher. Also, check out Amex pre-qual site as a $2k CL can easily grow to $18k in less then a year

Good kuck

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 04:12:34 GMT

You’re a perfect candidate for Disco assuming your utilization is low on all of these cards. Disco leapfrogged my Capital One and became my largest SL at $7500 and it was also my first $10K+ card (now at $11,200).

Since its basically 2% back on everything and 10% back on categories for the first year (1%/5% up front and 1%/5% at your one year anniversary), just get a Discover IT and put all of your other cards into the sock drawer and toss them a charge every few months. Disco loves thin profiles, they love being your primary, and they have no problem being your first higher limit although it doesn’t always happen.

NFCU is practically guaranteed if you have low DTI and you’re eligible. Even if they don’t start you with a huge SL, their cards have crazy growth potential. I went from $3000 on one card when I joined in September to $14,700 between two cards in December.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

HeavenOhio — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 04:28:24 GMT

That's a high limit for Merrick. I don't recall seeing one any higher. I'd be surprised if it increased any further.

Chase has a reputation for not wanting to grant one his highest limit. They came close in your case, though.

How much are you spending on your Capital One card? Spending is usually the key to Capital One CLIs. Some Capital One cards are stuck in a starter bucket and never grow. But with your current limit, I'd bet against your card being one of those.

You didn't ask about this, but you should really look into upgrading your QS1 to a no-fee Quicksilver. Call in or chat. It's possible that you have an offer right now. If not, use the card each and every month. And call in to check for upgrade offers each and every month. A handful of datapoints indicate that consecutive months of usage may help to coax an offer. I was able to upgrade two QS1s after 12 or 13 consecutive months of usage.

I second the credit union and AMEX suggestions. You might get 5-digit limits from the credit unions. With AMEX, I'd guess you'd start in the 4k to 6k range (maybe better). But the key is that you'd very likely qualify for up to a 3X CLI 61 days after opening the card. If you haven't done so yet, read the first few pages and the last few pages of this topic:

The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

aynot4fitness — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 04:38:14 GMT

Thanks for that info. Right now my priority is to get my utilization under 30% which will take 1-2 months. Maybe I'll apply to AMEX or Disco then.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

HeavenOhio — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 04:44:46 GMT

Definitely don't apply until your utilization is at 28.9% or below on each card. The reason for this is that FICO rounds all percentages up, e.g. 29.0000000001% is rounded up to 30%. When that happens, you're no longer "under" 30%.

If you're paying interest, pay down to 27% to ensure that the next month's interest charge won't bump you back up over the 28.9% threshold.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

EAJuggalo — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 00:03:51 GMT

Chase was my highest limit twice, once when I got my Freedom with an $800 limit and again when they approved me for a CSP. At that point my highest other CL was Cap One at 4500. I now have a Flagship from Navy Fed with a $10k limit.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Shooting-For-800 — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 20:21:49 GMT

check for prequal for venture NOT ventureone.

if prequal'd your next card with Cap One would probably be over $5k in fact probably $10k+.

Venture's min SL is $5k (99% sure).

GL!

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

aynot4fitness — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 12:21:35 GMT

Thank you so much for the advice - check my siggy, there's now a disco there! I decided to try disco yesterday - I figured I'd get all the HPs out of the way now and see what happens. I was approved for $8400! My UTIL dropped from 32% to 23%. Mission accomplished!

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 12:23:17 GMT

@aynot4fitness wrote:
Thank you so much for the advice - check my siggy, there's now a disco there! I decided to try disco yesterday - I figured I'd get all the HPs out of the way now and see what happens. I was approved for $8400! My UTIL dropped from 32% to 23%. Mission accomplished!

Congrats! I had a feeling Disco would open the door for you!

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

aynot4fitness — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 12:30:37 GMT

I seem to be on a roll so I will call Cap1 today and see if I can upgrade the QS1 to QS and save the AF. BTW I checked the APR on my QS1 and it is 18.49% which is toward the low end of the scale even for QS - so the QS does make sense. I'll report back on what happens.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 12:40:57 GMT

Yeah I’m jealous of that APR lol! Outside of my credit union cards, the lowest ongoing APR I have is 21.24% and the highest is my QS at 25.15%!

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

joltdude — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 14:25:11 GMT

Good call on the Discover... as @saeren mentioned they can/do open the door for folks to higher limits... And you check a lot of their checkmarks for what they look for... Gonna admit it.. Discover actually lowballed me when I opened the card... Chase actually gave me a higher limit than Discover.. but only slightly higher than my CU card at the time.... But I still say they opened the door to higher limits.. even my CU card got an auto-CLI post-discover.. I got the 3 month auto CLI, then I got on the Discover Train and look where i am now...

Good luck

-J

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

aynot4fitness — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 14:26:23 GMT

Yeah I didn't know what my APR was until I looked yesterday - pretty nice! MyFICO has me looking at all kinds of things that I never thought about before. My other 2 Cap1 APRs are decent also: 20.5% and 21.49%. The balances on those stay at zero so I'm ok with it. My highest is Merrick at 30.5%! I just did a PIF to Merrick with a 0% BT to Chase so I'll keep up the PIF each month and hold on to the CL for optimal UTIL. Even with the high APR I've been loyal to Merrick for giving me a chance after my CH7 and they are awesome with automatic CLIs. Also its my oldest account so it helps my AAoA.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

aynot4fitness — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 19:19:31 GMT

So I called Cap1 and asked if my QS1 can be promoted to QS - that was a no-go. They tried to sell me on Venture One, but I decided to stay with QS1 which has a better cash back plan even with the AF. It’s all good though, I’ll try again in a few months.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 19:46:52 GMT

I would have taken the Venture One and then PC’d that to QS in 6 months. No AF is worth the temporary loss in benefits.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

aynot4fitness — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 21:22:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I would have taken the Venture One and then PC’d that to QS in 6 months. No AF is worth the temporary loss in benefits.

You have a good point @saeren. After thinking about it for a bit I realize that I have mentally been in credit rebuilding mode for the past 9 years since a BK then some serious financial troubles 1-2 years ago. I just expected that, in order to have a credit card, I have to pay for it in the form of an AF. So I just did the simple math to see that I have to put $2600 through the QS1 to break even on the AF. Meanwhile I have new cards with better CLs from Chase and Disco with no AF. That was a newbie mistake. I'll take the Venture One, save the AF, and PC to QS in 6 months. Time for me to start thinking differently. Thanks again.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 21:50:20 GMT

Sure thing!

Its just notoriously difficult to get out of the QS1 so a Venture One becomes incredibly attractive even if it reduces value for 6 months.

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 14:18:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Sure thing!

Its just notoriously difficult to get out of the QS1 so a Venture One becomes incredibly attractive even if it reduces value for 6 months.

Listen to this dude, Saeren is the Cap1 masta!

Re: $5K CL Hurdle

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 14:25:29 GMT

Congrats on the Disco approval!