Hey everyone,
This is my first post here and I wanted to start off by thanking all you regular contributors here. I've been spending a lot of time here over the past few months and it's by far the best credit card / fico resource I've found out there.
I've been meaning to post about a successful app spree I had at the beginning of this month (Sallie Mae WM for $5k, Chase Slate for $5,500, and BofA Better Balance Rewards for $9,000), but I wanted to wait until I had time to build one of those cool signatures. Unfortunately, I have an issue that *might* require immediate attention, so I'll have to forget about the signatures for now.
I mainly opened these credit cards for balance transfer offers (hence the Slate). I am in the process of transferring about $2k from Cap1 to Sallie Mae, $5k from Discover to Slate and $3k and change from Discover to BofA.
All this leads me to my question, but first some background... I've gotten two auto CLIs from Discover recently. It was a 5k limit since 2002, but earlier this year they increased it to $7,500. I took advantage of that and nearly went to 100% utilization for a no-fee 6% APR balance transfer (Citi had jacked my APR to 29.9% and it was killing me). Within a few months they increased it to $9,800, which I used to transfer the rest of my Citi debt. I've been paying Discover as much as possible the past 2 months, and now my $5k balance transfer from Chase hit Discover yesterday. My BofA balance transfer has not hit yet.
FINALLY, here's the question. Should I try the credit line increase button today or wait until my balance is essentially zero, which might happen as early as tomorrow? It seems like they love me carrying a balance so I don't know that it's wise to wait another day. Or should I not even try at all given the two auto CLIs I've already gotten this year?
In case you're wondering about my full background, I got a kick in the behind last year when I financed my car (bought out a lease) and I was embarrassed by the fact that my credit score was 640. It was my clear my RIDICULOUS utilization was the problem since aside from one 30 day late about 3 years ago my payment history is perfect and I never pay the minimum. My intention with these new cards was to simultaneously decrease my utilization significantly while saving money on interest in the short term. My goal is to have about $22k in CC debt near the end of last year paid off except for $3k on a 0% card by end the of this year, and every hundred counts believe me.
My Equifax FICO (purchased earlier this week) is now 730 and the simulator puts in the 770s if my plan comes to fruition. Now I can buy a house if I decide to become a grown up in the next couple years. 
(Edited for profanity.)
If its been longer than 3 months since your last CLI give it a shot in my opinion. If less than three months you may have to wait. My CLI button never works but if they like you......
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k
If you use the automated phone line you can try to do the CLI via SP... just hang up before you get on with a human and then see where that gets you. By the time the amount is BT'd then you can submit another CLI if you don't get results or the results you wanted after the pending phone CLI is completed. (If it even goes to pending.. may just be an immediate CLI 
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@Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the phone idea, Kenny. For some reason it seemed less official than submitting on the website. I hung up as soon as it started saying, "it looks like we may need more information..."
Right after my original post I realized that the auto CLIs I was getting were directly proportional to the gross annual income saved on their site (10%). I erred on the low side the last time I saved, so I rounded up my income. It seems unlikely they'll bump it up to 10k just because I updated that, but I think I'll be happy with a nice round number with 5 figures. Unless I can get it up in the 12-15k range I don't think it's worth calling in and getting another hard pull so soon after my spree. I wouldn't want to risk my plan of applying for a Chase Freedom as soon as they offer the $200 bonus again.
One should be pending for you now.. I think someone manually reviews it or at least maybe will send it to a computer for a review but you may or may not get an increase later on in the week or early next. (I know this because each time I've done it, I've either gotten an adverse action denial in the mail or an increase. )
Actually, I just logged in and I got the CLI. I'm assuming it was a computer, but who knows.
New limit --> 13.8k
Thanks again for the suggestion! 
@Anonymous wrote:Actually, I just logged in and I got the CLI. I'm assuming it was a computer, but who knows.
New limit --> 13.8k
Thanks again for the suggestion!
Nice, nice, nice!!
Congrats! Thanks for sharing.