Been with Citicard since 2015, they won't increase my limit. Should I apply for new card?

[creditguy86]

I started out with a secured card bank in 2015, I've tried to get a credit line increase through the app, but it's always declined. I called one of the backdoor numbers today, and the guy you just need to apply for another card. 

My score has risen a 100 points, it's now 667 Equifax. Can you recommend a good card to apply for or should I keep trying to get them to increase the limit on my current card? 

[zerofire]

Lots of info missing here. First which card is it? In fact what are your accounts with limits so we can see how all of your lenders are interacting. Next where are you getting your score from and what type of score is it? What about TransUnion and Experian? Citi should be looking at something else except Equifax. Right now I think your score might just be too low. Prepandemic you wanted to be 700 before applying for new credit now 740 is more like it. I think you are pulling the trigger a little early.

[creditguy86]

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@zerofire wrote:

Lots of info missing here. First which card is it? In fact what are your accounts with limits so we can see how all of your lenders are interacting. Next where are you getting your score from and what type of score is it? What about TransUnion and Experian? Citi should be looking at something else except Equifax. Right now I think your score might just be too low. Prepandemic you wanted to be 700 before applying for new credit now 740 is more like it. I think you are pulling the trigger a little early.

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My FICO 8 Scores are 647 EX, 667 EQ, 633 TU. I pull my scores from Experian. I have no clue which card it is, it started out as a secured card, then went unsecured. I have low limits, discover 200, citi 200, CU 1000, Amazon 200, Express 200. I have alot of revolving accounts closed. I only have about 1800 credit card debt across 3 card open and closed. 

[FinStar]

What's keeping your FICO scores at those levels? Are there any negatives on CRs?  You mentioned you have a lot of revolving accounts closed, where these involuntary or voluntary actions?

On the plus side, if I'm reading your last response correctly, the Citi card is unsecured.  What have been the reasons they've provided for getting declined for past increase requests?

[thornback]

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@creditguy86 wrote:My FICO 8 Scores are 647 EX, 667 EQ, 633 TU. I pull my scores from Experian. I have no clue which card it is, it started out as a secured card, then went unsecured. I have low limits, discover 200, citi 200, CU 1000, Amazon 200, Express 200. I have alot of revolving accounts closed. I only have about 1800 credit card debt across 3 card open and closed. 

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Can you clarify a bit please: 

You have $1800 revolving cc debt and your total limit on your open revolving credit accounts is also $1800?  

You say you have balances on both open and closed accounts -  are the closed accounts with balances chargeoffs or are they just closed, in good standing, with a balance? 

[Anonymous]

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@thornback wrote:

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@creditguy86 wrote:My FICO 8 Scores are 647 EX, 667 EQ, 633 TU. I pull my scores from Experian. I have no clue which card it is, it started out as a secured card, then went unsecured. I have low limits, discover 200, citi 200, CU 1000, Amazon 200, Express 200. I have alot of revolving accounts closed. I only have about 1800 credit card debt across 3 card open and closed. 

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Can you clarify a bit please: 

You have $1800 revolving cc debt and your total limit on your open revolving credit accounts is also $1800?  

You say you have balances on both open and closed accounts -  are the closed accounts with balances chargeoffs or are they just closed, in good standing, with a balance? 

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Key questions right here. I'll add, what are the total limits of your open accounts plus any closed accounts with a balance? This will all play a role but @zerofire has nailed it - even in good economic times, your scores aren't high enough for an approval from Citi outright. The way things are now, that's even more true. 

Sharing the entirety of your profile stats will help us help you plan how to best attack the factors holding you back.

[creditguy86]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@thornback wrote:

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@creditguy86 wrote:My FICO 8 Scores are 647 EX, 667 EQ, 633 TU. I pull my scores from Experian. I have no clue which card it is, it started out as a secured card, then went unsecured. I have low limits, discover 200, citi 200, CU 1000, Amazon 200, Express 200. I have alot of revolving accounts closed. I only have about 1800 credit card debt across 3 card open and closed. 

---

Can you clarify a bit please: 

You have $1800 revolving cc debt and your total limit on your open revolving credit accounts is also $1800?  

You say you have balances on both open and closed accounts -  are the closed accounts with balances chargeoffs or are they just closed, in good standing, with a balance? 

---

Key questions right here. I'll add, what are the total limits of your open accounts plus any closed accounts with a balance? This will all play a role but @zerofire has nailed it - even in good economic times, your scores aren't high enough for an approval from Citi outright. The way things are now, that's even more true. 

Sharing the entirety of your profile stats will help us help you plan how to best attack the factors holding you back.

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Open accounts

citicards 200 - 0 balance

Express 200 - 0 balance

Credit One 600 - 334 balance

Discover 200 - 0 balance

Nordstrom 300 - 0 balance (30 day late)

Summit CU - 1000 - 655 balance

Amazaon - 200 - 0 balance

Fingerhut 1100 - 0 balance

Closed 

Marathon 900 - 475 balance

Cap 1 - 0 balance - Chargeoff

CFNA - 0 balance - Chargeoff

Milestone - 0 balance - Chargeoff

Old Navy - 0 balance - late pay

Care Credit - 0 balance - late pay

BP - 0 balance - good standing

Belk - 0 balance - good standing

No collections...I double-checked and my revolving debt is only about $1464. I have 62 inquiries on equifax. Sounds like i should wait til next year to start inquiring again. As most of the inquires will be gone this year. I'll be left with only 11 or so in January 2022.

[Anonymous]

@creditguy86 

Your utilization is killing you. All it takes is one high utilization to tank scores and you have two cards with high utilization. Your profile right now screams high risk due to the extreme credit seeking behavior and high utilization. 

I see you have a 200 discover. assuming this is secured. When does it graduate?

if you have over 60 inquiries and a dirty profile you 100% need to take your own suggestion and not apply for more credit until those fall off. Please know that 11 inquiries is still way too high for the avg user. The combination of derogs and inquiries simply won't pass internal review and when it does you get stuck with small limits on cards that are bucketed.

Give yourself some time. You are in the rebuild stage. Your strategy should be to rebuild and unfortunately you weren't utilizing an appropriate strategy up until this point. But you can change starting today! Optimize your score and you will see better results even with those closed charge offs. You have enough cards. Don't apply for anymore store cards or toy cards. Let your profile age and let the inquiries fall off. Apply for credit wisely and during a rebuild each account should mean something and do lots of research before you burn a hard pull. It isn't uncommon for accounts riddled with small toy limit cards to have a hard time getting larger limits.

[Anonymous]

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@creditguy86 wrote:

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I double-checked and my revolving debt is only about $1464.

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Your revolving debt is only $1464, but against what I total up to be $3900 in available credit.  Is that correct?  If so, that's 38% utilization which isn't good.  The balance you have on a closed account isn't a great look either.  You've got to pay off your CC debt.  Are you able to pay it today if you wanted to?  If you aren't able to, my suggestion would be to not look toward raising any of your CC limits further.  Once your revolving debt is paid off, that's when I'd suggest revisiting the idea of CLIs.

[creditguy86]

Okay, that sounds good! My original plan was to let the inquiries and some other account fall off. I will stay the course. Yeah, I'm at around 41% util right now. More than likely have these balances paid off within the next month. 

Thanks for taking the time to respond.