topic Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success... in General Credit Topics

Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 02:10:50 GMT

Can you share a little bit about your profile not now, but at the time of your Discover approval?

We all know that it's nearly impossible to "figure out" Discover, but one thing we all do when attempting to do so is compare our profiles now rather than what they were at the time of approval. It's not unreasonable to think that accounts could be "bucketed" to some degree from the day they're born based on profile data at that time; We know Capital One for example does this in part.

So, if you're one of the lucky ones that has seen strong Discover growth (which for the sake of this discussion I'll define as at least tripling your SL or better), I'd like to hear about what your profile looked like at the time of approval. I'm looking for data such as your FICO score for approval, number of revolvers you had at the time and maybe a little bit about their limits, where your payment history/utilization sat, your age of accounts, etc. I'm also sort of working off of the assumption here that your profile has remained at least equally as strong if not became stronger over time since being approved.

I discussed this topic once buried in another Discover CLI thread and thought I may have started a thread on it a while back, but after searching and a few cocktails I can't be sure, so my apoligies to anyone that may have already shot the breeze with me on this in the past.

My initial hypothesis here is that perhaps the best "bucket" for Discover members is the one where their "target customer" is realized. From reading on this forum its been discussed that Discover seems to prefer thinner files, less revolvers present, relatively low credit lines on other revolvers, and younger files (lower age of accounts factors) if they're clean. For files that are a bit older/thicker, they may like a file that isn't as pretty/perfect... perhaps some moderate (fair) utilization, maybe a few aged baddies, etc. Overall either of this files may land a credit score in the realm of 700; perhaps 670-730 could be considered the general score range for their "ideal" target customer. It seems to me that those approved with scores outside of that range (be it above or below) may struggle more to obtain CLIs, as these individuals may not be a part of the best Discover "bucket" if there is one.

Looking forward to hear back from those that have had strong Discover CLI success. Thanks to all that contribute, as always.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Jnbmom — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 02:12:46 GMT

When you want to know about the WEAK disco peeps hit me up

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 02:32:48 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
When you want to know about the WEAK disco peeps hit me up

Well, sort of as a converse to this thread, does your profile fall into the "ideal target customer" type group, or do you think your profile would be considered less than ideal?

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Jnbmom — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 02:47:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Jnbmom wrote:
When you want to know about the WEAK disco peeps hit me up
Well, sort of as a converse to this thread, does your profile fall into the "ideal target customer" type group, or do you think your profile would be considered less than ideal?

All I can add to this is I believe I am "not the ideal" customer with discover. When I got disco I had a thin file and they started me out with 1100 SL, since aquiring them I have gotten many more cards with much higher limits. I tried using card heavily, that didn't work, then it went in SD, that too didn't work. After this card hit over the one year mark I thought I would try for a second disco card ( they have to give me a decent limit now with my profile) NOPE this card 1K SL. Not sure exactly what they don't dig on my profile, but I am still not the "ideal" customer. And that's ok I use my other cards now.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

thornback — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 03:06:52 GMT

Well, I haven't tripled my CL but have gone from an SL of $10.8K to a CL of 16.2K in less than 5 months. Would that be considered pretty strong growth so far?

My first CLI came at the 82 day mark for $500. Largest CLI was 4K, which occurred 31 days after the first. Most recent was 40 days after the second CLI, for $900.

Was approved with:
1) A dirty file - one paid CO which was 5.10 years old. FICOs ranged from 754-773.
2) 3 CCs all 1.1 years old.
3) 11 student loans - oldest accounts
4) AAoA 2.9 yrs, AoOA 5.10 yrs.
5) Util was ~4%.
6) CC limits: (1) $500; (2) $1500; (3) $5.3K

Profile has since gone from dirty to clean, but scores also dropped as a result.

Second CLI for 4K was granted despite 4 new accounts in the previous 4 months. My 3rd CLI came after my reports became clean and with addition of 2 more new accounts (so with 6 new accounts in 5 months).

Disco usage:

Heavily for first month and a half because of holidays; paid in full. Then did a hefty BT end of month 2. Made large payments in months 2 and 3 to reduce the BT balance by half. Now just carrying $2400 and paying ~$200-300 / month. Haven't used the card for purchases since December.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 03:25:43 GMT

@thornback wrote:
Well, I haven't tripled my CL but have gone from an SL of $10.8K to a CL of 16.2K in less than 5 months. Would that be considered pretty strong growth so far?

Your timeline is short, so naturally going 3X+ at this point is an impossibility. It does appear that you're on the right track, though. You gave a range of scores in your post above. Do you recall the exact FICO 8 score (probably EQ, maybe TU) that you were approved with?

Like you, I had aged major baddies on my file, but due to a strong file otherwise my scores were still pretty decent.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

thornback — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 03:32:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Your timeline is short, so naturally going 3X+ at this point is an impossibility. It does appear that you're on the right track, though. You gave a range of scores in your post above. Do you recall the exact FICO 8 score (probably EQ, maybe TU) that you were approved with?

Like you, I had aged major baddies on my file, but due to a strong file otherwise my scores were still pretty decent.

EX 773, EQ 769, TU 754. They pulled EX for me.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 04:09:14 GMT

Gotcha. How did your other credit limits compare to your Discover SL at the time you were approved?

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

thornback — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 04:12:06 GMT

Much lower: $500, $1500, and $5300

@Anonymous wrote:
Gotcha. How did your other credit limits compare to your Discover SL at the time you were approved?

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Jnbmom — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 04:18:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Gotcha. How did your other credit limits compare to your Discover SL at the time you were approved?

Just pulled up old reports, when I was approved for first discover, I only had 4 cards reporting, 3 were all 500 limits and an AU on a 2800CL, Now with second discover card 26+ cards, CL's over 200K.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 04:20:00 GMT

@thornback wrote:
Much lower: $500, $1500, and $5300

I thought that might be the case. This is another theory that I have with respect to potential Discover "bucketing," where Discover seems to throw a limit out there in excess (sometimes 2X-3X) of your current highest limit to many people. It seems that many times these people get their strongest CL from Discover and then receive CLIs at a strong rate in order to attempt to stay "#1" for that individual. My highest (only) open CC at the time I was approved for Discover was $3500 (highest closed was $10k) and Discover started me at $12,500.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 04:24:15 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
Just pulled up old reports, when I was approved for first discover, I only had 4 cards reporting, 3 were all 500 limits and an AU on a 2800CL, Now with second discover card 26+ cards, CL's over 200K.

AU account eliminated here, sounds like Discover approved you for just over 2X your other limits. Interesting!

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

thornback — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 04:35:40 GMT

Yep. I've also noticed that trend. Seems part of the trick is to get in early (with pretty decent reports / scores) before you begin acquiring high limits from other lenders.

@Anonymous wrote:
I thought that might be the case. This is another theory that I have with respect to potential Discover "bucketing," where Discover seems to throw a limit out there in excess (sometimes 2X-3X) of your current highest limit to many people. It seems that many times these people get their strongest CL from Discover and then receive CLIs at a strong rate in order to attempt to stay "#1" for that individual. My highest (only) open CC at the time I was approved for Discover was $3500 (highest closed was $10k) and Discover started me at $12,500.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

dynamicvb — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:21:35 GMT

I guess I may fit into your bucket. My scores were between 641TU, 671EX, and 675EQ or right around there. BK 13 on the file and several 60-90 lates at the time, but all where withina few months of falling off. I only had one open secured CapOne with a 400 limit at the time. They gave me an initial 12K SL( which blew me away), then at about 3 months, I clicked the button and got another 4K. I've got a couple of 500 CLI and one 1K since then for a total of 18K now.

I did try for one a couple of weeks ago and was denied for not enough experience with current limits, but I do have about 20% utilization on it right now, so that may have been the reason too as with all the other CLI's I just had a small balance.

Oldest account is 13 years and the average is between 7-8 years.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:35:40 GMT

That's a pretty dramatic step up from $400 to $12k! What about closed revolvers? What was your highest limit closed revolver on your CR, as Discover would have been able to see that as well to know if you ever had a high(er) limit account? Also if you did have a higher limit revolver that was closed, I think whether the account was paid as agreed or contained negative information could have been a factor.

It does sound like you're seeing some decent initial growth and that your profile could be ideal in the eyes of Discover. I'll be interested to see if your good luck continues.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

dynamicvb — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 13:40:43 GMT

I have a couple of closed revolvers with the highest being 2K and it has been closed quite a while. Will hit the 10 year mark next year and it is only on EQ. They did HP my EQ and EX when I applied, so not sure which gave the approval.

There were no other revolvers on my account except the 400 dollars CapOne at the time. Years ago, there would have been some higher limits in the 10K range, but none of those have been on my report for several years. Unless they have some data that points way back, I don't see how they could know about them

I was actually surprised at the SL I got with that card. It's still my highest CL. I have been able to grow my Amex Magnet from 4K to 12K in the last few months, but I did not have it at the time of Discover approval. Right now I only have the 3 cards in my name and I'm AU on one of my wife's card for a total CL of 31300

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 15:37:19 GMT

I'm following the data points in this thread. I've heard disco loves thin/young files but that doesn't seem to be case for my hubby as they won't give him a cli.
I'd love to know if there is some magic formula.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 16:20:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm following the data points in this thread. I've heard disco loves thin/young files but that doesn't seem to be case for my hubby as they won't give him a cli.
I'd love to know if there is some magic formula.

Definitely no magic formulas

Can you elaborate a bit on his thin/young file at the time of Discover approval? Things like his FICO score at the time of approval, age of accounts factors, file thickness, other revolvers and their limits, any negative info on his report, etc?

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

SouthJamaica — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 16:56:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Can you share a little bit about your profile not now, but at the time of your Discover approval?

We all know that it's nearly impossible to "figure out" Discover, but one thing we all do when attempting to do so is compare our profiles now rather than what they were at the time of approval. It's not unreasonable to think that accounts could be "bucketed" to some degree from the day they're born based on profile data at that time; We know Capital One for example does this in part.

So, if you're one of the lucky ones that has seen strong Discover growth (which for the sake of this discussion I'll define as at least tripling your SL or better), I'd like to hear about what your profile looked like at the time of approval. I'm looking for data such as your FICO score for approval, number of revolvers you had at the time and maybe a little bit about their limits, where your payment history/utilization sat, your age of accounts, etc. I'm also sort of working off of the assumption here that your profile has remained at least equally as strong if not became stronger over time since being approved.

I discussed this topic once buried in another Discover CLI thread and thought I may have started a thread on it a while back, but after searching and a few cocktails I can't be sure, so my apoligies to anyone that may have already shot the breeze with me on this in the past.

My initial hypothesis here is that perhaps the best "bucket" for Discover members is the one where their "target customer" is realized. From reading on this forum its been discussed that Discover seems to prefer thinner files, less revolvers present, relatively low credit lines on other revolvers, and younger files (lower age of accounts factors) if they're clean. For files that are a bit older/thicker, they may like a file that isn't as pretty/perfect... perhaps some moderate (fair) utilization, maybe a few aged baddies, etc. Overall either of this files may land a credit score in the realm of 700; perhaps 670-730 could be considered the general score range for their "ideal" target customer. It seems to me that those approved with scores outside of that range (be it above or below) may struggle more to obtain CLIs, as these individuals may not be a part of the best Discover "bucket" if there is one.

Looking forward to hear back from those that have had strong Discover CLI success. Thanks to all that contribute, as always.

I applaud your effort to try to find a pattern to Discover CLI success, but I read this forum as much as you do and have never seen anything to support (a) your "initial hypothesis" that the better CLI's go to Discover's "ideal target customers", or (b) your description of what you believe the "ideal target customer" is.

I believe it's not a "nearly impossible" task, but an impossible task, because the rationality you search for doesn't exist among the Discover keyboard monkeys.

But more power to you. If you find the elusive answer to this question, you will have done a service.

Re: Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 18:04:48 GMT

Sure, I'll share. In Feb of 2018 we pulled our annual free reports and they were a barren waste land filled with nothing, nothing and more nothing. LoL We had no credit scores either. So we got hubby a secured disco card in March for $400. Then in June got a joint unsecured card from our CU for $1000 and on the same day got $1000 secured personal loan.

That gave hubby 2 cards, one installment loan and two hard pulls both on eq. When the 7th statement cut for Disco they gave him his $400 back, and unsecured the card with a $1800 sl.
In April 2019 he had past the one year mark with discover we requested a cli and were denied.

I don't know what his exact scores across all three were that month but the free tu from disco was 738.
Disco 1800
Oregon state cu 1000
Oregon state installment loan 38/1000
no derogs and still 2 hp on Eq

Edited to add... the denile letter we recived said we didn't have enough expirience with our current credit limit.