BofA Credit Line Increase Response: I assume this means no.

[Anonymous]

My BF has had a BofA Cash Rewards Visa for over 4 years. It started as a secured card with a deposit of $99 and a credit limit of $500. After all his other cards (except his Synchrony Sweetwater card - a 0% card currently with $965 on it, that drops $29 a month) reported at $0, he submitted a request for a credit line increase to $5,500. Last month he spent $1,700 on the card (by paying it off repeatedly during the month) and ended the month with a $77 credit on the card. The previous month he spent about $1,200. Before that it was $900. The card has been paid in full (or more accurately over paid every month for the last 4 as he wanted to make sure it reported $0). Each month. He has started using it more because he added the 3% category bonus for dining.

He clicked the "Request Credit Line Increase" link and filled in all the information. 

In response he got:

Your business is appreciated. Careful consideration is being given to your request for a credit line increase. We need to review a few more things and if we have any questions, we will call you. This review of your request typically takes 7-10 business days. However it could take up to 30 days, after which we will mail you a written response.

Thank you for confirming your primary residence address. We’ll make any necessary updates to this address if your credit line increase request is approved. Your mailing address for your statements and credit card communications will remain unchanged.

Should we assume that means "no"?

According to CreditScoreCard.com his Experian FICO 8 score is 797 (up from 794 from the previous report).

According to CreditKarama his TransUnion Vantage 3 score is 760 and his Equifax score is 739.

Both of those scores were before his Capital One card reported at $0 (it had shown $83 the previous month).

Card	Limit	Balance (as reported)	Utilization
B of A	$500	$-77.00 (reports as $0, but since it is their card they should know the real number)	0%
CapOne	$5,500	$0	0%
Chase Freedom	$2,500	$0	0%
Chase Slate	$4,900	$0	0%
Synchrony Sweetwater	$4,500	$994	22%
Totals	$17,900	$994	5.5%

[kdm31091]

7-10 day message with BoA is typically, but not always, a denial. Sometimes it's just a flat out computer denial but other times it will be referred for a manual review (which I believe only take place during the week). In that case, you could still see a CLI.

If you see no change by Tuesday or so I'd say it's a denial.

[coldfusion]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

7-10 day message with BoA is typically, but not always, a denial. Sometimes it's just a flat out computer denial but other times it will be referred for a manual review (which I believe only take place during the week). In that case, you could still see a CLI.

It does mean a manual review will be performed by an underwriter which may or may not be further reviewed by a more senior staff member but the outcome is very much a YMMV.   You're correct that the reviews are done during normal EST/EDT business hours but I know from personal experience that it can take them a week to come back with an approval.

[Anonymous]

Guess we will wait and see. It was more important until I realized (by writing this post) that he's almost hit his $2,500 in category spend this quarter, so the card becomes much less interesting as soon as that happens. The only other benefit of the increase will be a general decrease in utilization that comes with a larger available credit pool. Would be nice to have, but not a crisis if it is denied (as long as they do not do a hard pull).

Am I correct in understanding that they will either approve the request, reject the request or offer a smaller increase? Is there a reason not to accept a lower increase if it is offered?

[coldfusion]

Accept what they offer.

[Anonymous]

Anything he can/should do while he is waiting to increase his chances? Transfer funds into his account? Pay more on his card (so he has a higher negative balance)? Continue to use it? Stop using it until there is a decision?

Do all of the above at the same time? :-)

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My BF has had a BofA Cash Rewards Visa for over 4 years. It started as a secured card with a deposit of $99 and a credit limit of $500. After all his other cards (except his Synchrony Sweetwater card - a 0% card currently with $965 on it, that drops $29 a month) reported at $0, he submitted a request for a credit line increase to $5,500. Last month he spent $1,700 on the card (by paying it off repeatedly during the month) and ended the month with a $77 credit on the card. The previous month he spent about $1,200. Before that it was $900. The card has been paid in full (or more accurately over paid every month for the last 4 as he wanted to make sure it reported $0). Each month. He has started using it more because he added the 3% category bonus for dining.

He clicked the "Request Credit Line Increase" link and filled in all the information. 

In response he got:

Your business is appreciated. Careful consideration is being given to your request for a credit line increase. We need to review a few more things and if we have any questions, we will call you. This review of your request typically takes 7-10 business days. However it could take up to 30 days, after which we will mail you a written response.

Thank you for confirming your primary residence address. We’ll make any necessary updates to this address if your credit line increase request is approved. Your mailing address for your statements and credit card communications will remain unchanged.

Should we assume that means "no"?

According to CreditScoreCard.com his Experian FICO 8 score is 797 (up from 794 from the previous report).

According to CreditKarama his TransUnion Vantage 3 score is 760 and his Equifax score is 739.

Both of those scores were before his Capital One card reported at $0 (it had shown $83 the previous month).

Card	Limit	Balance (as reported)	Utilization
B of A	$500	$-77.00 (reports as $0, but since it is their card they should know the real number)	0%
CapOne	$5,500	$0	0%
Chase Freedom	$2,500	$0	0%
Chase Slate	$4,900	$0	0%
Synchrony Sweetwater	$4,500	$994	22%
Totals	$17,900	$994	5.5%

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did the BoA card graduate? And it is still at $500 cl? I just was not sure. If it is still secured, that could be the issue. I just don't know if it would still be secured after 4 years, tho. I know it can be considered for auto graduate after x number of months, but there have been reports of some people asking. Not sure if that is just to circumvent waiting longer for auto graduation?

Good luck either way!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

did the BoA card graduate? And it is still at $500 cl? I just was not sure. If it is still secured, that could be the issue. I just don't know if it would still be secured after 4 years, tho. I know it can be considered for auto graduate after x number of months, but there have been reports of some people asking. Not sure if that is just to circumvent waiting longer for auto graduation?

Good luck either way!

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Well, I asked him to confirm, and he corrected me. He provided a $99 deposit, and received a $200 limit. After six months or one year, he received his deposit back and his limit was increased to $500. That was three years ago (or so). If it is bucketed, he will just wait until his “real” cards have hit 5 years (one year and eleven months from now) and close that card. His CapOne card is better for everything but dining and CostCo, but even just using it for dining, he has either hit 2,500 or come very close in only two months of actually using the card for bonus spend.

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Anything he can/should do while he is waiting to increase his chances? Transfer funds into his account? Pay more on his card (so he has a higher negative balance)? Continue to use it? Stop using it until there is a decision?

Do all of the above at the same time? :-)

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Just use it normally.

[Anonymous]

My BF logged in to his account and now sees a $3,600 line of credit. He has not received any communication from them, just a new credit line. A 7.2X increase, which should help his score overall. Not the $5,500 he requested, but a good day nonetheless. :-)

I am curious though, everyone talks about BofA countering, but he has not received any other message from them. Might that still come or is this process over as far as they are concerned?

Thanks for all the feedback and information.