topic Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull? in Credit Cards

Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

lunch — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:03:00 GMT

I'm working to decrease my CC utilization. I've paid the balances on all cards down to 0. The only thing left to do is request CL increases.

Macys card ... just a credit card, not a co-branded Visa ... with $900 limit. I've had the card since June 2007. Highest balance ever is $289. Almost always paid in full each month.

Does anyone have experience getting a CL increase with Macys? Do they do a hard pull in making the decision?

Thank you for your assistance.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

Creditaddict — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:10:12 GMT

@lunch wrote:
I'm working to decrease my CC utilization. I've paid the balances on all cards down to 0. The only thing left to do is request CL increases.

Macys card ... just a credit card, not a co-branded Visa ... with $900 limit. I've had the card since June 2007. Highest balance ever is $289. Almost always paid in full each month.

Does anyone have experience getting a CL increase with Macys? Do they do a hard pull in making the decision?

Thank you for your assistance.

You can request through live chat or over the phone just calling back of card.

They will tell you it's a hp but it's 95% of the time SP using the reports they get every 1-3 months automatically.

If you use Macy's on a regular basis I suggest asking for CLI's every 3-4 months on store account.

they will ask how much you want and then they will instantly counter... they will tell you they can push if you want what you requested but that would most likely be hp.

in your case I would ask for $3k and see what they counter back.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

lunch — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:44:24 GMT

Well... I contacted them using online chat. The chat person sounded very firm that it would be a hard pull. I declined to proceed. Will phone and see if I can get a better sense of the process. She also offered to reverse the 2.00 charge on my account which is remaining interest because I had a balance through half of the billing period before paying off the entire balance.

Here's the transcript:

Chat Transcript

lunch: Hello, I would like to know if I can apply for a credit line increase and also if doing so requires a hard or soft pull of my credit report

Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...

You have been connected to Ariel L.

Ariel L: Welcome to Macy's live chat. I see your question and would be happy to help. May I have your full card or account number please?

lunch: ## ### ### ### 0 [I gave them the real number]

Ariel L: Thank you for the information. Please hold while I open your account.

Ariel L: Thank you for waiting. Can you please verify the last 4 digits of your social security number and your date of birth for the security of the account?

lunch: #### mm/dd/yyyy [I gave them the actual numbers]

Ariel L: Thank you for the information. In order to review the account for an increase, I will need your permission to view your credit report. I will also need to obtain your annual income before taxes. Your income may include salary, wages, tips, investment and rental income, Social Security, retirement account distributions and any other income you receive. Alimony, child support, or separate maintenance income need not be revealed if you do not wish to have it considered as a basis for repaying this obligation. I will also need you to provide me with your current living arrangement. For your current living arrangement, please inform me if you rent, own or have another type of living arrangement and the amount you pay monthly.

lunch: The question I have is whether this view of my credit report is a HARD PULL or a SOFT PULL. I assume you know the difference.

Ariel L: Please know that it will be a hard pull review to view your credit report.

lunch: OK, never mind then. Good bye.

Ariel L: Please know that I see a $2.00 charge on your account.

lunch: I know. I will pay that right after I stop chatting with you.

Ariel L: Please know that I can take care of the charges for you, but let me explain why you have the $2.00 charge.

lunch: Yes, please explain

Ariel L: Please be informed that our records indicate that you paid less than your full balance for at least one prior billing period. This is called having a revolving balance. As detailed in the Credit Card Agreement for your account, whenever you have a revolving balance on your account, interest is charged on that balance until the day you pay the balance in full. The interest charge you're questioning is for the days from the beginning of that billing period until the day you paid your balance in full. I was able to remove that amount for you. You now have a zero balance on your account. Is there anything else I can help you with?

lunch: That's great. Thank you very much.

Ariel L: Do you have any additional questions I may assist you with today

lunch: No. I'm fine. Have a good day. Thank you for your assistance

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

Transmogrifying_Bee — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:52:28 GMT

"Lunch," How did you capture your dialogue with Macy's? Verbatim recording or voice recognition software? Curious, if you have time! Thanks!

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

Creditaddict — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:54:47 GMT

Like I said... They always say it will be a HP but almost never is. I was told by chat and even underwriting it would be HP and I went forward with request and it was NOT a HP... They used report on file.
This topic has been discussed over and over so you can search if you like and 95+% of the time it's a sp, not sure what decides it to be HP in the rare times it is but you have had the account way to long to be way to low on CL, is go for it

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

Creditaddict — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:55:43 GMT

You can copy paste the convo

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

lunch — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:56:44 GMT

@Corgihound wrote:
"Lunch," How did you capture your dialogue with Macy's? Verbatim recording or voice recognition software? Curious, if you have time! Thanks!

It was a chat, not a phone call, so just copy and paste from the transcript window to the forum screen, then edited out my personal info.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

lunch — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:01:05 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
Like I said... They always say it will be a HP but almost never is. I was told by chat and even underwriting it would be HP and I went forward with request and it was NOT a HP... They used report on file.
This topic has been discussed over and over so you can search if you like and 95+% of the time it's a sp, not sure what decides it to be HP in the rare times it is but you have had the account way to long to be way to low on CL, is go for it

I know you said that but it was more real actually reading the words on the screen.

I'll try it again.

And one more question with apologies if this already been answered. I am shopping for a mortgage. I have one hard lender pull from last week (only hard pull in years) and will be talking to at least one other lender. Plus my CR is going up and even if I stick with the current lender they'll probably do a hard pull again right before we finalize the purchase becuase I want to get a lower rate than that for which I've been pre-approved.

I know that multiple pulls in a short period of time only count as one pull. Is this true if some of them are pulls from a bank, like for a mortgage inquiry and some from a credit card? If not, it seems like this little 30-day period would be the time to do anything that requires a hard pull because they'll all be treated as one? It cannot be that easy ...

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

Transmogrifying_Bee — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:09:38 GMT

lunch . . . THANKS!

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

Creditaddict — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:25:39 GMT

Mortgage and auto Inq are grouped together for scoring within a time period... Credit cards don't count.
Now since you are so close to mortgage app I would not risk the 5% chance of HP and wait till after you close to do cli!!

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

lunch — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 21:30:39 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
Mortgage and auto Inq are grouped together for scoring within a time period... Credit cards don't count.
Now since you are so close to mortgage app I would not risk the 5% chance of HP and wait till after you close to do cli!!

Good advice. Just out of curiousity, I called Macys. They said essentially the exact same thing and invited me to call back after my house is bought because "I can see you're one of our better customers..." LOL. I doubt that's true with an all time high balance of less than $300.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

lunch — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 22:36:27 GMT

UPDATE: Still trying to do whatever is possible to increase credit score, I approached my one other retail credit card: The Gap. Have had the card since 2007. $600 limit. High balance $422. Current balance: $0.

Went to Gap website, clicked on "ask for credit line increase". Form asked for one piece of information only: annual income. Obviously no hard credit pull. Entered annual income and instantly had CL increased by 100% to $1200.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

09Lexie — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 22:38:55 GMT

Congrats on the CLI.

FWIW, I req a CLI on Macy's a few months ago on the phone. I noticed they had SPd me a few weeks before and I received it with no HP. Of course, YMMV.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

lunch — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:21:41 GMT

@09Lexie wrote:
Congrats on the CLI.

FWIW, I req a CLI on Macy's a few months ago on the phone. I noticed they had SPd me a few weeks before and I received it with no HP. Of course, YMMV.

How could you tell that they SP'd you? For that matter, how can you tell if anyone SP's you?

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

sghosh5 — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 01:31:53 GMT

I asked Macy's for CLI 2 times in a week and both time they used the last SP they did on my EXPERIAN /EQUIFAX. No HP.

You can see the SPs on your report if you pull your reports from Credit Bureaus dispute links. Thats where i check the SPs once in a month. Not sure if there are any other ways to see the SPs.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

mnavas — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 03:51:14 GMT

@lunch wrote:
Well... I contacted them using online chat. The chat person sounded very firm that it would be a hard pull. I declined to proceed. Will phone and see if I can get a better sense of the process. She also offered to reverse the 2.00 charge on my account which is remaining interest because I had a balance through half of the billing period before paying off the entire balance.

Here's the transcript:

Chat Transcript
lunch: Hello, I would like to know if I can apply for a credit line increase and also if doing so requires a hard or soft pull of my credit report
Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...
You have been connected to Ariel L.
Ariel L: Welcome to Macy's live chat. I see your question and would be happy to help. May I have your full card or account number please?
lunch: ## ### ### ### 0 [I gave them the real number]
Ariel L: Thank you for the information. Please hold while I open your account.
Ariel L: Thank you for waiting. Can you please verify the last 4 digits of your social security number and your date of birth for the security of the account?
lunch: #### mm/dd/yyyy [I gave them the actual numbers]
Ariel L: Thank you for the information. In order to review the account for an increase, I will need your permission to view your credit report. I will also need to obtain your annual income before taxes. Your income may include salary, wages, tips, investment and rental income, Social Security, retirement account distributions and any other income you receive. Alimony, child support, or separate maintenance income need not be revealed if you do not wish to have it considered as a basis for repaying this obligation. I will also need you to provide me with your current living arrangement. For your current living arrangement, please inform me if you rent, own or have another type of living arrangement and the amount you pay monthly.
lunch: The question I have is whether this view of my credit report is a HARD PULL or a SOFT PULL. I assume you know the difference.
Ariel L: Please know that it will be a hard pull review to view your credit report.
lunch: OK, never mind then. Good bye.
Ariel L: Please know that I see a $2.00 charge on your account.
lunch: I know. I will pay that right after I stop chatting with you.
Ariel L: Please know that I can take care of the charges for you, but let me explain why you have the $2.00 charge.
lunch: Yes, please explain
Ariel L: Please be informed that our records indicate that you paid less than your full balance for at least one prior billing period. This is called having a revolving balance. As detailed in the Credit Card Agreement for your account, whenever you have a revolving balance on your account, interest is charged on that balance until the day you pay the balance in full. The interest charge you're questioning is for the days from the beginning of that billing period until the day you paid your balance in full. I was able to remove that amount for you. You now have a zero balance on your account. Is there anything else I can help you with?
lunch: That's great. Thank you very much.
Ariel L: Do you have any additional questions I may assist you with today
lunch: No. I'm fine. Have a good day. Thank you for your assistance

The reason the CSR told you, you'll get a HP on your report is cuz there's always a chance you'll get one. Most CSRs don't even know the difference between HP and SP they just run the info on the computer system As everyone has said, in most cases is SP. It mostly depends on how your credit report looks like, If you have recent negative info then you increase your chances of getting a HP due to low score on the last SP they have on file. My mom has requested three CLIs in the last two years and two of them have been HP and one SP but yeah she has some major derrogatories on her reports. As for me i have requested two CLIs and the upgrade to the AMEX version and everything has been approved with SPs

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

BQQKWORM — Fri, 16 May 2014 16:49:18 GMT

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

NoAnchoviesPlease — Fri, 16 May 2014 17:19:16 GMT

@lunch wrote:
I'm working to decrease my CC utilization. I've paid the balances on all cards down to 0. The only thing left to do is request CL increases.

Macys card ... just a credit card, not a co-branded Visa ... with $900 limit. I've had the card since June 2007. Highest balance ever is $289. Almost always paid in full each month.

Does anyone have experience getting a CL increase with Macys? Do they do a hard pull in making the decision?

Thank you for your assistance.

I have a Macy's store card, had an $1100 CL for a couple of years, occasional run-up and back down (when DW needs jewelry in an emergency). Asked for $5k for upcoming furniture purchases (via secure message). Got response with $1500 total CL the next day. No inquiry alerts but my inquiry alerts are a day behind.

It's always safest to assume a HP for everything, but YMMV.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

Creditaddict — Fri, 16 May 2014 17:24:05 GMT

@NoAnchoviesPlease wrote:
@lunch wrote:
I'm working to decrease my CC utilization. I've paid the balances on all cards down to 0. The only thing left to do is request CL increases.

Macys card ... just a credit card, not a co-branded Visa ... with $900 limit. I've had the card since June 2007. Highest balance ever is $289. Almost always paid in full each month.

Does anyone have experience getting a CL increase with Macys? Do they do a hard pull in making the decision?

Thank you for your assistance.
I have a Macy's store card, had an $1100 CL for a couple of years, occasional run-up and back down (when DW needs jewelry in an emergency). Asked for $5k for upcoming furniture purchases (via secure message). Got response with $1500 total CL the next day. No inquiry alerts but my inquiry alerts are a day behind.

It's always safest to assume a HP for everything, but YMMV.

you do know you can ask for a seperate "major purchase" line for furniture and a 2nd for jewelry with Macy's right? again they will say possible HP but I have never seen it be one, it's usually in the computer already you just have to ask for it.

Re: Macys credit line increase ... does it work? hard or soft pull?

NoAnchoviesPlease — Fri, 16 May 2014 17:48:07 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
you do know you can ask for a seperate "major purchase" line for furniture and a 2nd for jewelry with Macy's right? again they will say possible HP but I have never seen it be one, it's usually in the computer already you just have to ask for it.

Now I do. If I don't find something in the next week or so that's either (1) under $1500 at Macy's or (2) better deal elsewhere... I'll check back in with them.