topic Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI in Credit Cards

Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 19:47:19 GMT

Hello all! I wrote awhile ago that I would be paying off those predatory cards that I just don't want anymore. I have about 8 cards, and 4-5 of which I will be closing by the end of the year (strategically closing cards over the course of this year). My question is, I have a Barclay's card I got the middle of last year (I think it was July or Aug), and that is one of the cards that I am intending to keep. Anyway, my limit is $350, and I owe about $290 on it now, so I am paying that off, and another card within the next couple of weeks. The other card I am paying off is going to be one of those that I chop this year, but I am trying to keep things open until I pay off the cards that I am going to keep, so my utilization (once I get it down) isn't horrible. I'm currently at about 80% utilization, and will be around 45-50% by April/May, and hopefully < 10% by end of year.

SO, I said all of that background info to ask if it's a good idea (once I pay off my Barclay's card), to attempt to request a CLI to around $1500-2500. That would be benefical in that, a. when I close those 4-5 cards that I have, my utilization will still be in a good place if they grant the CLI, as I will keep my Barclay's PIF, and b. if they granted the CLI, I would have a card with a decent credit line, since all of mine are 1k or lower. I don't want, nor need a lot of credit, but it would be good to (eventually) have two cards w/$2500 limit. In June/July I am getting a CU Secured Credit Card for about 1-2k (to build up to around 5 - 10k in the next couple years), so that will be good for my utilization, eventually, too.

Is it better to pay off the two cards I'm going to pay off, and then let that report in March, and then contact Barclay's for the CLI? Or will it even matter, since they will be able to see that their card (at least) is PIF? Oh yes, also, I did see in another thread that you can't PC a Barclay's card, and I REALLY would've like that NFL card since I am an NFL fanatic! But, I don't think I'd get approved for that, so I'm not going to try. I have no real scores now, as I am going to get all of them in March after I pay off those two cards, and see where I'm at. My FAKO's with Credit Sesame is 604 & my Credit Karma is 654 (increased like 18+ points in the past 3-4 weeks, as I slowly have chipped away at my utlization, and some inquiries dropped off, now have 5 on there).

Thanks in advance for any responses, they are ALWAYS greatly appreciated!

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

chnceit — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 20:05:52 GMT

Barclays usually gives CLI's at 6 months. With a $350 CL to go to $2500 is a huge CLI. All initiated CLI with Barclay will result in a HP.

Report your utilization below 10% and keep your cards open IMO.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 20:19:48 GMT

Thanks for the advice! I didn't realize that they did a HP for all CLI's and you are right, I thought the $350 to $2500 request would be a lot, but I've seen where it's recommended to ask for more than you really want if it's recon, etc, so I was looking at a $2500 req, but actually getting, maybe $1000 or so, that was my logic on asking for that amount.

And the 4-5 "predatory" cards are going. They all have annual fees and/or monthly "maintenane fees," so I will not be keeping any of those. I know my score will take a hit when they are closed, but I don't care. I don't plan on apping for a mortgage in the next 2 years, and I won't be apping for more than 1 card by the middle to end of this year, which will likely just be the CU Secured Card I get, so if my score decreases because of AAoA, I'll just have to take that hit, because I am not keeping those cards.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

chnceit — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 20:31:58 GMT

Yeah I would definatly close any card with monthly maintenance fees.

Once you pay down your cards how about a GE store card? Good company and generous with CLI's

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 23:36:33 GMT

I'll see about a GE backed card perhaps at the end of the year; however, I don't just want a card to have one if I won't ever use it, and I have to buy something random every few months to keep it opened to help with utilization. But, I think Amazon is GE backed, so I could get that since I do spend money on Amazon; otherwise, I don't shop at Walmart or Sam's Club, and I haven't looked at the list of all the GE cards (I saw it floating around somewhere).

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 04:02:48 GMT

IME Barclays is pretty reasonable. If you PIF and have manageable UTIL, you'd have a good chance. Save yourself time and energy, though, and go directly through the back door. It will be a hard pull, though.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 04:16:17 GMT

Thanks McArthur. I guess I should do the recon line around May/June, when I will (hopefully) be less than 50%? Also, I'll have been PIF the Barclay card for at least a good 3-4 months, so hopefully that will look good to them, as well as the 50% or less of utilization.

I appreciate all the replies, they really do help me a lot, as I am trying to be smart about things, and I'd rather wait a bit longer, than rushing things.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 04:19:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks McArthur. I guess I should do the recon line around May/June, when I will (hopefully) be less than 50%? Also, I'll have been PIF the Barclay card for at least a good 3-4 months, so hopefully that will look good to them, as well as the 50% or less of utilization.

I appreciate all the replies, they really do help me a lot, as I am trying to be smart about things, and I'd rather wait a bit longer, than rushing things.

Your patience will pay off!

I just wish I had patience.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Mike360 — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 04:20:32 GMT

IMO 50% is still too high. Also i wouldn't do it if you've opened any new accounts within the last 6 months. Barclays loves to close accounts for that.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 04:28:55 GMT

@Mike360 wrote:
IMO 50% is still too high. Also i wouldn't do it if you've opened any new accounts within the last 6 months. Barclays loves to close accounts for that.

Thank you! I haven't opened anything in about 6 months or so. I'm in no rush to get any new credit, so that's no worries for me, per se. My BIGGEST thing is to get s#it closed! Unlike most, I can't wait until things are closed and gone! Yes, I won't lie, in that I do want certain things; the reality is that my credit has been bad for such a long time, that being patient really isn't a biggie for me Would it be fantastic to HAVE great credit? YES! But do I? Nope! I won't for a long, long time. As a very responsible poster wrote to me when I first joined, (paraphrasing), "Don't worry about your FICO score; worry about getting where YOU want to be." I'm living that right now. My credits going to be bad for a long time coming, I mean, I filed CH7 BK at the end of 2010, so ain't nothing pretty coming out of that anytime soon! Oh, and I'm not a millionaire or six figure income person (which would be fabulous) so I'm ok with where I am!

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 04:44:02 GMT

@Mike360 wrote:
IMO 50% is still too high. Also i wouldn't do it if you've opened any new accounts within the last 6 months. Barclays loves to close accounts for that.

Yeah, 50% isn't exactly pretty, but she might do ok for the relatively small increase she wants. No way to really tell without pulling the trigger though.

I think the Barclays aversion to new accounts is overrated. I actually asked them about that and it's more for new customers with iffy approvals.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Shogun — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 05:02:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Mike360 wrote:
IMO 50% is still too high. Also i wouldn't do it if you've opened any new accounts within the last 6 months. Barclays loves to close accounts for that.
Yeah, 50% isn't exactly pretty, but she might do ok for the relatively small increase she wants. No way to really tell without pulling the trigger though.

I think the Barclays aversion to new accounts is overrated. I actually asked them about that and it's more for new customers with iffy approvals.

^^^ I like this answer.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 06:43:07 GMT

@Shogun wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Mike360 wrote:
IMO 50% is still too high. Also i wouldn't do it if you've opened any new accounts within the last 6 months. Barclays loves to close accounts for that.
Yeah, 50% isn't exactly pretty, but she might do ok for the relatively small increase she wants. No way to really tell without pulling the trigger though.

I think the Barclays aversion to new accounts is overrated. I actually asked them about that and it's more for new customers with iffy approvals.
^^^ I like this answer.

I was worried since I've got a dozen new TLs within the past 6 months and two more still to start reporting (Don't even ask how or why!) and I was worried my Barclays cards would get nuked. I finally called and got routed with someone in a position to know and they stated not to worry. They value long term relationships more than other things and both of my accounts are relatively old.

For those with new accounts and iffy credit, caution may be in order. But then that's also the recommendation for any bank. Queen's Barclays card will be a year old by the time she requests her CLI and her credit has improved since approval so I'd think she'll be good.

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 18:52:20 GMT

Thanks for all the great advice! Yes, I won't be applying for anything, so I should be ok. This year is ALL about paying things off and saving as much money as I can to rebuild back to where I used to be. Slow and steady wins the race!

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

TiggerDat — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:07:39 GMT

If your not interested in the Walmart card, try Comenity. They have some department store cards which will become Visa or MasterCard later. After you get one with them it becomes easier to get another. I had a Beall's of Florida and a Marathon Gas Card with them for about 8 months I think and then I applied for the Marathon Visa card and they gave me a good limit with it. It was actually the highest limit at the time of all the cards. It is still my third highest limit and I barely use the card. Mostly because I don't carry a balance and the rewards are only for gas. (I don't drive, so I don't need gas rewards. Well I do drive, but no in the US!) The nice thing about GE is that they will increase you limit pretty nicely over time. I actually just got an increase on my Walmart Card today from $1000 to $1700 and the card is only about 6 months old. It started out at $500, so it's doing pretty good. I don't even know it I have spent a total of $700 on the card in the whole time, so having a balance or using it much is not much of an issue for either of them! (I have spent about $200 on the Marathon Visa card.) The nice thing about the Visa products at Comenity is that they will lower the interest rate on the card too!

I asked them to lower my interest on the card in December or January and they gave me the lowest interest rate they offer. No really that low, 16.99%, but it is their lowest rate. I guess they figured there was no harm in that since I wasn't using the card or paying interest. Even if you get a Walmart card with GE and don't shop there much there are a few benefits you can take advantage of. They at times offer a nice discount on gas, it helps your util, and over time it might PC to a Discover card! If you strategize it out and get limit increases every 3 months and it PC's to a Discover card, then it becomes more usable. Just something to consider and Good Luck!

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:21:52 GMT

@bernhardtra wrote:
If your not interested in the Walmart card, try Comenity. They have some department store cards which will become Visa or MasterCard later. After you get one with them it becomes easier to get another. I had a Beall's of Florida and a Marathon Gas Card with them for about 8 months I think and then I applied for the Marathon Visa card and they gave me a good limit with it. It was actually the highest limit at the time of all the cards. It is still my third highest limit and I barely use the card. Mostly because I don't carry a balance and the rewards are only for gas. (I don't drive, so I don't need gas rewards. Well I do drive, but no in the US!) The nice thing about GE is that they will increase you limit pretty nicely over time. I actually just got an increase on my Walmart Card today from $1000 to $1700 and the card is only about 6 months old. It started out at $500, so it's doing pretty good. I don't even know it I have spent a total of $700 on the card in the whole time, so having a balance or using it much is not much of an issue for either of them! (I have spent about $200 on the Marathon Visa card.) The nice thing about the Visa products at Comenity is that they will lower the interest rate on the card too!

I asked them to lower my interest on the card in December or January and they gave me the lowest interest rate they offer. No really that low, 16.99%, but it is their lowest rate. I guess they figured there was no harm in that since I wasn't using the card or paying interest. Even if you get a Walmart card with GE and don't shop there much there are a few benefits you can take advantage of. They at times offer a nice discount on gas, it helps your util, and over time it might PC to a Discover card! If you strategize it out and get limit increases every 3 months and it PC's to a Discover card, then it becomes more usable. Just something to consider and Good Luck!

Thanks for the great information! I'll have to check out Comenity cards (I'm assuming it's like GE and has a lot of different cards in its product family).

Re: Advice on Barclay Card CLI

TiggerDat — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:35:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the great information! I'll have to check out Comenity cards (I'm assuming it's like GE and has a lot of different cards in its product family).

Comenity Bank used to be called World Financial Network National Bank. They have quite a list of them, I have made an incomplete list below it this helps. I say incomplete because I may have missed one or two, maybe three or four, but maybe not looking at the list. Some may have been dropped, I may have duplicated 1 or 2, but anyway, here you go.... ..... ... . . . Some of them have upgrades to a Visa or MasterCard or a Visa/MasterCard Partner Card. For example I have Marathon and Marathon Visa; they don't upgrade the card, they just let you get two. If they change that policy I will have two Marathon Visa Cards.

LISTING

Bealls of Florida

Bealls Outlet (Same company, different card. You can use the Bealls of Floridia at the Bealls outlet, but not vice versa. That was Bealls doing not them.)

Marathon Gas

Marathon Gas Visa

Victoria's Secret

NY and Co.

Brylane Homes

Abercrombie

Sportsman's Guide Visa

My Points Visa

J. Crew

Express

The Limited

HSN card

J. Crew

Buckle

One Stop Plus

Catherines

West Elm

Crate & Barrell

Bon Ton

Avenue

Justice

Dressbarn

Restorations Hardware

Burkes

Maurice's

Pottery Barn

Christopher and Banks

Eddie Bauer

Z Gallerie

Reeds Jewelers

Petland

Metrostyle

Chadwicks

Roamans

Arhaus Archage

OPT/Arizona Mail Order

Torrid

J. Jill

King Size

Goodies

Peebles

Ashley Stewart

Davids Bridal

Stage

Blaire

Lane Bryant

Giant Eagle

Bedford Fair

Value City

Fashion Bug

American Signature

Haband

Speigel

Ann Taylor

Gander Mountain

Samueal Diamond

Undergear

American

Women Within

Trek

Pier 1

Pacific Sunwear

Palais Royal

Gardner White

Orchard Supply Hardware

Sports Authority

Gordmans

Smile Generation Financial

The Room Place

Love Loft

You might find one in here your like or a few you can't use which will help you keep util down. I imaginge that you need to wait a few to 6 months before you get their other cards. The same with GE. I know when I got the Walmart card I also applied for the Belk's card and I am pretty sure they pulled a credit report for each. They pulled a report later for my Paypal Visa. So be careful, maybe the soft pull only works if you are at the site for GE and they have already prequalified you. Here you can find a list for GE cards. Good Luck