Discover graduated at 9 months with CLI

[lindsaydruart]

I jumped on the Discover secured bandwagon back in January only to be declined. After a hefty letter to EO, I reapplied for an approval in February with a $200 limit. I went from the Chrome to the IT and PIF multiple times a month, taking full advantage of my 5% categories.

A few months ago, I added 300 and continued the pattern of 98% util with PIF but decided a month or so ago to exercise my SRA capabilities as a spouse just to get the rate down. I hate high rates on principle. I'm not sure if that triggered an account review but I just got a letter that my security deposit was being returned and my 500 limit is now 1000. I was fully happy waiting until March to unsecure. What a Christmas gift! My last secured card is gone!

[Skypilot1]

I have the Discover secured and just past my 7th statement. Hoping to get unsecured soon.

[lindsaydruart]

Historically, it's been 13 months minimum. Even calling customer care, I was told a year because I've been eligible for a regular card for a long time now. I'm happy it's not a hard 13 months or maybe SRA made a difference.

[austinguy907]

They have a new policy as of a couple of months ago to start looking at converting after month 7.  We've been seeing a good handful of them hitting at 7 months and it seems they're clearing some of the backlog of older accounts as people hitting 18-24 months are now finally getting move over as well.  Now that you're unsecured and got a bump to $1K try to keep the spend lighter than you have been if you want to reap the rewards when hitting the CLI button.  Also, I wouldn't bother hitting it more than every other month from the data I collected during the first year I had the card.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Approvals/My-first-year-with-Discover-Data-Points/m-p/47...

[lindsaydruart]

Good to know. I literally only use it for the Amazon 5% categories for my subscribe and saves and I just cut those by half. I'll keep an eye on it for sure.

[austinguy907]

You'll make it grow in no time flat!  Your scores from 4/10 put you right on the cusp of some decent limits going forward and I'm hoping they're higher now with the lack of apps and working on the secured angle.  They're always running Amazon catagory spend for 5% so I wouldn't worry about missing out on it.

[ItsPossible]

Congratulations on your graduation!!! Many are being secured earlier than one year now. You're reaping those benefits. 

[dallasareaguy]

Mine just had it's ninth statement cut a few days ago. Ohhhh.. I want to graduate so badly. I want to use the card much heavier, but the $500 limit is too low and I just can't bring myself to add money to the secured side of things... so the Amex and QS are my goto for now... someday that could change a bit with some of the great category deals Discover offers.

[austinguy907]

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@dallasareaguy wrote:

Mine just had it's ninth statement cut a few days ago. Ohhhh.. I want to graduate so badly. I want to use the card much heavier, but the $500 limit is too low and I just can't bring myself to add money to the secured side of things... so the Amex and QS are my goto for now... someday that could change a bit with some of the great category deals Discover offers.

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As long as you're still using it monthly for something small you should be fine and convert soon.  If you're not using it then you're not showing them that you can manage it and will remain secured longer.  Once it does convert though try to keep your spend to 10-20% of the limit if you want some good CLI's down the road.

[tydawg]

Nice Congratulations!