Should I Apply for a CLI? BoA Secured Platinum Plus MC.

[Anonymous]

Hello folks,

I'm new to the foums, so hoping I'm putting this in the right place.

Long story short: I'm finally, at the age of 30, building my credit. I got my first card (secured) just after my 30th birthday after having that realization that I'd been living on my own, handling my life and such, for 12-13 years and had never bothered to care about my credit. I paid most things in cash, and the few loans I'd gotten were small "in house" loans from local car dealerships who didn't run my credit (I used to live in a very small area, so the "you're a local" mentality was very common).

Random note of pride: I actually have a calculable FICO score now! Just happened this week, haha.

Anyway... my first card was a Bank of America Secured Platinum Plus Mastercard. I put $500 on it and while I do use it, I've never missed a payment and all but once, always paid off the full balance. I will be paying the current balance (265, thanks to having to live off of it when my debit card info was stolen while I waited for my new debit card to come in the mail) tomorrow.

I also have a Captial One Quicksilver One card with a limit of $300 that I just got in the mail two days ago.

I've had the link to request a CLI for at least a couple weeks, but I've been putting it off/worried about clicking it because I'm scared they'll do a hard pull and then deny me and my credit will dip. The past few months, my credit has been kind of all over according to Credit Karma, but largely improving. I mostly want the CLI so my utilization will go down. It's hard not to have a "high utilization" when you have such a low limit. Just paying a single bill can bump me up in to the 40% range easily.

So here is my question... should I go for it and risk the couple point hit to my score? If I should, how much would you suggest asking for?

[DaveInAZ]

1- No, don't request a CLI, BoA almost never will do a CLI on secured card. How long have you had the card? On the application it says it will unsecure in 1 year, with good usage & payment you can call and get unsecured at 7-8 months.When you call to request it be unsecured, use the "sticky" thread at the top of this forum, and call the # listed for BoA Secured & Partially secured cards - it's actually the Priority Cardholder line and I've always have very friendly & helpful service calling that #. When you get it unsecured ask the rep if you are eligible for a credit limit increase, worth a try.

2- NEVER let any card report 50% or more of the credit limit, I can personally attest 50% or more untilization will really hurt your credit score. You can use it up to the limit, but pay it down to under 50% before the satement date so it reports less than 50%.

3- Follow the <50% for Cap One, and try for a credit limit increase (CLI) after 3 months, they never "hard pull" our credit for a CLI, so you won't get an inquiry. For BoA if you click the "request credit limit increase" it is almost always a hard pull, inquiry on you credit report. BoA does auto CLIs, I only made a $300 deposit on my secured card so that was the credit limit when they unsecured it at 7 months. After a year or so they gave an auto CLI to $1800. When they did that I called to see if I could get rewards added and they converted it a Cash Rewards card which gives you 1% rewards on any purchase, 2% on groceries and 3% for gas.

And be patient, building good credit is marathon, not a sprint.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the feedback! I won't request the CLI for another few months then. I've had it for 6, never missed a payment and I ALWAYS pay the full balance every month. I didn't intend to go over 50% this month, but as I stated in my first post, my debit card info was stolen. I live in the city, so I try not to carry much (if any) cash on me for safety reasons, so I was relying on my credit card to get me through those two weeks, and will be paying the balance back down to 0 tomorrow when my paycheck comes through, which should bump my credit back up to where I'd worked so hard to get it before that mess happened. 

The Cap One card I only have a couple small recurring payments (transferred my Netflix, HBONow, and put myFICO on it today, and have already set it up for auto payments so it's always paid in full before the reporting date, and otherwise don't plan to use it, just to make sure the utilization is low. 

I applied for a Wayfair card last night after getting a notification about it while I was browsing the site, but didn't get automatic approval or denial, so we'll see where that goes. It didn't seem to do a hard pull either, as I checked all my reports this morning and nothing. So at least if it doesn't go through, I know it didn't HURT me to try. >.> 

[fltireguy]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

1- No, don't request a CLI, BoA almost never will do a CLI on secured card. How long have you had the card? On the application it says it will unsecure in 1 year, with good usage & payment you can call and get unsecured at 7-8 months.When you call to request it be unsecured, use the "sticky" thread at the top of this forum, and call the # listed for BoA Secured & Partially secured cards - it's actually the Priority Cardholder line and I've always have very friendly & helpful service calling that #. When you get it unsecured ask the rep if you are eligible for a credit limit increase, worth a try.

2- NEVER let any card report 50% or more of the credit limit, I can personally attest 50% or more untilization will really hurt your credit score. You can use it up to the limit, but pay it down to under 50% before the satement date so it reports less than 50%.

3- Follow the <50% for Cap One, and try for a credit limit increase (CLI) after 3 months, they never "hard pull" our credit for a CLI, so you won't get an inquiry. For BoA if you click the "request credit limit increase" it is almost always a hard pull, inquiry on you credit report. BoA does auto CLIs, I only made a $300 deposit on my secured card so that was the credit limit when they unsecured it at 7 months. After a year or so they gave an auto CLI to $1800. When they did that I called to see if I could get rewards added and they converted it a Cash Rewards card which gives you 1% rewards on any purchase, 2% on groceries and 3% for gas.

And be patient, building good credit is marathon, not a sprint.

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I disagree completely with you DaveinAZ  on #1

With a secured, or a partially secured BofA card, when the link appears, it seems to mean that the card CAN BE UNSECURED at that time. There is no reason to call - click the link, request an amount, and it will more than likely unsecure if the link is there. That card can easily unsecure via tha method in as few as 5 months - mine did, as well as a lot of other board members. I had a 99/500 card. Link appeared after 5 months, and I requested a CLI to $2000. They unsecured the card, and gave me a $1000 CL. Called CS, and PC'd it to a cash rewards. Then, another 2 months down the road, the CLI link appeared again. Requested $5000, approved for $2800. I'll take that, knowing that in another 3-5 months, I'll probably go to $5-10k or so easily.. This has been a GREAT card for me, probably one of the best so far

OP - BUT your scores are considerably lower than mine are, so YMMV

[joltdude]

But doesn't unsecuring a BOA card usually require an HP, esp if you initiate it?

That said... CK is useless for a score, ditto for CS, or WH, or most other service.. they use FAKO scores.. not fico scores...

Its not the same and most CC companies do NOT use it in deciding your credit....

You can get a monthly Fico from Credit Scorecard, and/or Experian Freecreditscore, I wouldnt sign up for both at once, id stagger them over the month, since the 30 day window starts the first time you login....

Some cards provide FICO scores, some provide FAKOs and some none at all...

At least if its a flavor of FICO it will be in the ballpark... FAKOs are a bit more volitile than FICO in my experience.. and you really want 9mo to a year before you start poking for more cards .... I would just wait for a few more months for the BA to autounsecure if its going to...  Having 2 cards is a good thing but they need time to age and marinate... And your FICO may be better than your FAKO because FAKOs tend to get hit hard for new accounts, even moreso than the real thing. But you do have a thin file (im presuming) 

Im still thinking those are calcuated FAKOs not true FICOs... or (new account enhanced) scores.. another reason to let your accounts age a bit before you do anything.. they should and will likely go up on their own in just a few months... 

Credit is a marathon not a sprint.... You want some aging of accounts under your belt, esp if your going for other cards.... some CC companies really dont make it easy if you dont have at least a year under your belt... 

[DaveInAZ]

@fltireguy wrote:

I disagree completely with you DaveinAZ  on #1

With a secured, or a partially secured BofA card, when the link appears, it seems to mean that the card CAN BE UNSECURED at that time. There is no reason to call - click the link, request an amount, and it will more than likely unsecure if the link is there. That card can easily unsecure via tha method in as few as 5 months - mine did, as well as a lot of other board members. I had a 99/500 card. Link appeared after 5 months, and I requested a CLI to $2000. They unsecured the card, and gave me a $1000 CL. Called CS, and PC'd it to a cash rewards. Then, another 2 months down the road, the CLI link appeared again. Requested $5000, approved for $2800. I'll take that, knowing that in another 3-5 months, I'll probably go to $5-10k or so easily.. This has been a GREAT card for me, probably one of the best so far

OP - BUT your scores are considerably lower than mine are, so YMMV

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Well, we cn agree that a BoA secured or partially secured card it great. But the 99/500 crd is diferent than the fully secured card. On a fully secured card your deposit is your credit limit. On the 99/500 you have a CL that is already 4x your deposit and accordingly can be granted a CLI. From what I have read here clicking the link for "request CL increase" is always a hard pull on TU. When you call in they can do things withouit a HP. For my secured card the only HP was the original app, unsecured, auto CLI, and PC'd to Cash Rewards has all been done without any HPs. With such a thin file I don't think the OP should risk a HP just for a CLI or unsecured, but we all need to make our own decisions.

[Anonymous]

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@fltireguy wrote:

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

1- No, don't request a CLI, BoA almost never will do a CLI on secured card. How long have you had the card? On the application it says it will unsecure in 1 year, with good usage & payment you can call and get unsecured at 7-8 months.When you call to request it be unsecured, use the "sticky" thread at the top of this forum, and call the # listed for BoA Secured & Partially secured cards - it's actually the Priority Cardholder line and I've always have very friendly & helpful service calling that #. When you get it unsecured ask the rep if you are eligible for a credit limit increase, worth a try.

2- NEVER let any card report 50% or more of the credit limit, I can personally attest 50% or more untilization will really hurt your credit score. You can use it up to the limit, but pay it down to under 50% before the satement date so it reports less than 50%.

3- Follow the <50% for Cap One, and try for a credit limit increase (CLI) after 3 months, they never "hard pull" our credit for a CLI, so you won't get an inquiry. For BoA if you click the "request credit limit increase" it is almost always a hard pull, inquiry on you credit report. BoA does auto CLIs, I only made a $300 deposit on my secured card so that was the credit limit when they unsecured it at 7 months. After a year or so they gave an auto CLI to $1800. When they did that I called to see if I could get rewards added and they converted it a Cash Rewards card which gives you 1% rewards on any purchase, 2% on groceries and 3% for gas.

And be patient, building good credit is marathon, not a sprint.

---

I disagree completely with you DaveinAZ  on #1

With a secured, or a partially secured BofA card, when the link appears, it seems to mean that the card CAN BE UNSECURED at that time. There is no reason to call - click the link, request an amount, and it will more than likely unsecure if the link is there. That card can easily unsecure via tha method in as few as 5 months - mine did, as well as a lot of other board members. I had a 99/500 card. Link appeared after 5 months, and I requested a CLI to $2000. They unsecured the card, and gave me a $1000 CL. Called CS, and PC'd it to a cash rewards. Then, another 2 months down the road, the CLI link appeared again. Requested $5000, approved for $2800. I'll take that, knowing that in another 3-5 months, I'll probably go to $5-10k or so easily.. This has been a GREAT card for me, probably one of the best so far

OP - BUT your scores are considerably lower than mine are, so YMMV

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+1 I agree with you fltireguy, on #1.  Op, the link appeared there for a reason, and I believe the reason is you've paid your dues, they like how you've handled your card with them, they have faith in you, so let's unsecure this baby and maybe even give you a little more CL to play with! I'd  jump on this in a heartbeat! 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if there's necessarily a correlation between the CLI link showing up and it being ready to be unsecured.  I'm in a very similar situation and I really doubt they're ready to unsecure my card.  Mine is fully secured as well.  Mine is at $500 as well and I also just got the "credit limit increase" link to show up a few days ago.  The only difference is that Only difference is that I've only had my account for 3 months (maybe less... opened in Jan or Feb).  I'm curious what will happen if you decide to call.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure if there's necessarily a correlation between the CLI link showing up and it being ready to be unsecured.  I'm in a very similar situation and I really doubt they're ready to unsecure my card.  Mine is fully secured as well.  Mine is at $500 as well and I also just got the "credit limit increase" link to show up a few days ago.  The only difference is that Only difference is that I've only had my account for 3 months (maybe less... opened in Jan or Feb).  I'm curious what will happen if you decide to call.

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Maybe I'm a wierdo...but I would just call and ask...but that's just me....

[Anonymous]

I just got home and decided to call (I figured it can't help to ask why I have the link if I'm not at a year yet) and was told that I could increase my CL, but it may require an additional deposit for collateral, and that it would definitely result in a HP. For me, it's not really worth the ding to my credit that a HP would cause (I only have a couple inquiries on my report - 3 on 1 and 1 on the other two) and I'd like to keep that number low for now. Plus I just paid both my cards in full this morning, so I want to see what happens to my FICO when my utilization is reported back under 10%. 

To be clear: the scores listed in my signature are my actual FICO scores, not FAKO. I realized the difference after reading through stuff on here for a few days and signed up for myFICO's report monitoring and canceled my CK subscription. I may, in a couple weeks, sign up for a different FICO service so I have one that updates every two weeks so I can keep a close eye on things. We'll see. I may decide I don't need it. I think I'm just eager to see my score go back up after the nasty hit it took when I had to live off my credit card for a couple weeks, haha. 

Thank you for the feedback, folks. I'm sure I'll update things on this front in a few months when I actually do get around to requesting a CLI/seeing if I can unsecure my card.