Discovering Discover's CLI Quirks...

[Anonymous]

OK now I am thoroughly confused about Discover Luv (CLI's)...

Seeing lots of Discover Luv as of late; to all those who have gotten CLI's, especially those 31 day ones, Congrats!  BUT, I haven't.  Here's my Discover story (current balance: $1126/$1250 limit):

Returned to the USA after a decade abroad to find empty, 100% blank credit reports - except for a Chevron card still listed on my Experian with $0 bal, listed as closed/never late back in 2004 or 2005.  Why it still shows up is anybody's guess (and as a side note, is there any way to reopen this card to give my AAoA a powerboost?).  As I was in my last couple of terms in school doing an online degree with SNHU, I applied in 11/2015 for a Discover IT Chrome for Students after reading they sometimes will approve a card for students with zero credit history (even though I am 40 years old haha).  Listed my Social Security Disability benefits as my income (approx $1k/month).  Was stunned and elated to get a shiny new student card with a $1250 SL; letter with the card stated they had somehow come up with a 719 credit score from some credit bureau I have never heard of before.  Ran the card all the way up to my limit paying for necessities (moving is expensive, moving 6,000 miles is very expensive!), and started paying huge payments 1x to 2x month ($500 to $800 at a time). 

Two months ago, I paid an $800 payment, which they withdrew from the bank overnight like usual, but to my horror the next morning - a Friday - it had not posted.  Called Discover, they said they had a system-wide problem that day and no one who made a payment that day had their payment posted, and that it would post "at some point in the future when IT figures this out."  I called back to Discover multiple times that day, as it was the last day to make my final tuition payment for my last term in school, but no luck.  Was shuffled around to a few different people because if I didn't pay my tuition, would have to sit out a term = unacceptable, and finally got to someone who suggested maybe doing a CLI for $800 so I could make my deadline.  The rep came back on and told me "sorry but TransUnion link is also down, so can't pull a report and can't do a CLI."  This was March 2016.  A day later, however, a new hard inquiry from Discover popped up on my TransUnion (still no payment posted though), despite the rep saying he couldn't pull and me telling him to forget it then.  BTW, have tried to get Discover to delete the inquiry, they refused, so I just recently disputed it as "I did not authorize."  Whew, sorry guys, all that to explain though why I quit after my early March payment making large lump sum payments and went to $50 payments for April-June 2016....

All in all, have cycled $2,700 + change through in purchases and $1507 in payments with an additional $50 Cashback Bonus applied to my balance, still at initial credit limit.  Made another payment yesterday of $50 (posted), statement cuts on the 16th of the month.  This statement marks my six months of credit reporting to generate a FICO score, and therefore also of course six months of being an account holder.  Just a couple extra data points in case you have some advice:  1) just processed a balance transfer from Capital One to Discover in the amount of $400.00.  I understood from Discover they accept electronic transfers so they should have it in less than a week.  2) I PIF monthly my two newer CapOne cards (Pl and QS1), just did so and used 100% of the available credit on my PL card for the balance transfer (hoping Discover will start to see big payments again and decide to luv me again ha!) 3) am now graduated, working, making $63,000 at General Dynamics - a far cry from my disability checks! 4) did a chat with Discover yesterday; they said even though I've graduated, there is no product change that needs done, but did get a nifty $20 GPA bonus credit, and last, 5) will be making another $350 payment next Friday on payday to Discover (and PIF my Capital One PL card from the BT next month).

I did try to ht the Luv button today, and like it has since day #31 of having this account, it wants to do a HP, which I always decline. What am I doing wrong?  Does my account work on terms since I had/have a student card?  What advice do any of you have for me?  Please understand that I have ZERO interest in increasing my debt, but I would LOVE a CLI to help even more with utilization ratios and quite honestly, I feel shafted.  Every time I have had to communicate with Discover I have always gotten fabulous service, except for this one issue.  If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears...

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Oh, and no Luv from any Comenity cards, either.  Lenovo, Overstock, and J Crew, all since February 2016.  Capital One just cut the thrid statement last month and gave me a $100 CLI on each card...

[Themanwhocan]

Don't expect to get CLI's on a young credit card, with credit reports that only contain several young cards. It doesn't hurt to try, but don't expect it to work.

A 719 credit score, 7 months ago, from some bureau you never heard of? Your Discover card should be giving you a Transunion FICO 08 score by now, and if you sign up at creditscorecard.com you can also get a Experian FICO 08 score, so what are those scores now?

You need to control the usage that each card reports to the credit bureaus to maximize your FICO scores. See this post:  http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/How-do-I-play-the-1-9-Utilization-Game-Please-...

Do you have any open credit besides credit cards? old student loans, or car loans, etc? You may want to try the installment loan trick.  http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply!

My Discover account link for the free FICO says they have no score for me.  Am assuming that will change after the 16th of this month when I will have a full six months reporting (my frst statement was 01/16/2016).  What you mention about being so new to credit makes total sense to me though.  As of today, my Credit Karma FAKO says TU at 612 (9 inquiries, 63% utilization, AAoA Oy3m, and 7 total accounts) and EQ at 616 (7 inq, and the rest is identical to TU).  Credit.com also does not generate a score for me, so it will not fully create an account yet.  I am NOT applying for any new credit, until I go get a car loan in the next couple months, unless directed by someone like you (I opened the link re; installment loans, will read in a moment) and it would be advantageous to do so.  I did, however, get hit with a HP on EQ this past week when I became a PenFed member.  Oh, and I have tried to sign up for CCT, and it has yet to allow me to finish the signup process.  It always gets stuck and kicks me out right after the verification process, I call, they claim to fix, but then the same result.  Although I was able to do FreeCreditReport/Score.com, and everything was reporting correctly and similar to TU and EQ on Credit Karma, except only like one or two inquiries.  CapOne's score has me at 632 as of today. 

Credit cards:

Discover $1100/$1250

Cap One PL $79/$400

Cap One QS $48/$400

Lenovo  $570/$600 (had to buy a laptop)

J Crew  $137/$500

Overstock $140/$250

and another Comenity card that wasn't supposed to get opened but did, now listed as closed by consumer request (I had called and told them no when the card showed up in the mail)    = total 6 accounts open/7 total

[Themanwhocan]

For now, optimize your credit card utilization. Having balances on all cards and large utilization (both individual card utilization as well as total credit utilization) is going to kill your FICO scores once your credit is old enough to actually generate a FICO score.

Discover tries to generate a score about 5 days before your statements are generated (provided you used the card that month), so if it is possible to generate a FICO score at that time, then you should receive one online and on your statement at about that time. I can sometimes see my Discover FICO a day before the statement is generated, but that varies.

Here are the requirements for generating a FICO score:  http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/questions/requirement-for-fico-score.aspx

[Themanwhocan]

Oh, and leave the Chevron card alone. All credit lines that appear on your credit report will be factored into AAoA calculations, regardless of whether they are open or closed.

Best not to poke the bear, or you might only succeed in reminding someone to remove the closed card from your reports.

[RonM21]

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

For now, optimize your credit card utilization. Having balances on all cards and large utilization (both individual card utilization as well as total credit utilization) is going to kill your FICO scores once your credit is old enough to actually generate a FICO score.

Discover tries to generate a score about 5 days before your statements are generated (provided you used the card that month), so if it is possible to generate a FICO score at that time, then you should receive one online and on your statement at about that time. I can sometimes see my Discover FICO a day before the statement is generated, but that varies.

Here are the requirements for generating a FICO score:  http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/questions/requirement-for-fico-score.aspx

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+1

[Anonymous]

Heard.  Thank you!!

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

Oh, and leave the Chevron card alone. All credit lines that appear on your credit report will be factored into AAoA calculations, regardless of whether they are open or closed.

Best not to poke the bear, or you might only succeed in reminding someone to remove the closed card from your reports.

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[advocate1]

Even though Discover checks all 3 credit bureaus, they soft pull TU for CLI. TU is notorious for very low scores if you have high utlization. EQ and EX don't punish you as much as long as current on all accounts. I have gotten routine cli on my Cap One accounts, but Discover won't budge. Been at $500 with them for a year. $9,000 limits on Cap One combined. Go figure.

[fltireguy]

I would think that your Utilization might be keeping you from that CLI with Discover as well - the card is maxed, and that's probably a HUGE red flag in their system