Beware, long post ahead!!!
Wow, what a week of approvals and CLIs!! I have this board to thank, yet again, for so many of my successes. Thank you to ALL who continue to share their wisdom, their datapoints, and their encouragement along the way. I’ve been rebuilding for the last few years after having had to let my credit take a nosedive (thank you global economic crisis!). I am so very grateful I was able to somehow dodge filing BK, and got on payment plans with my creditors, but not until having gone up to 120 days late on a few of my credit cards, and multiple 30, 60, and 90’s on others. My credit scores will all in the low 500s after all of this, but thanks to a lot of perseverance, I am now inching ever closer to the 700s. Last late payment: 26 months ago.
A few cards I have been really wanting, I’ve been unable to get because of my blemished reports, but more specifically, because they are backed by a lender with whom I had established a payment plan. Two of those creditors were Amex and Citi. With Amex, I completed a 5 year payment plan with them, having paid it off almost 3 years early, as of February 2016. I managed to somehow get approved for a Delta Gold Amex 2 months after being out of my payment plan, but since that time, they’ve denied CLIs and the BCP and PRG charge card I had been wanting, always citing needing to be out of my payment plan for 12 months before approval.
After waiting 13 months, I app’d for BCP again and was once again denied! Feeling completely bummed, I vowed to try once more and then wait until next year to try again. I waited not quite 30 days, and this time actually app’d for BCE, as I didn’t want to get an auto denial for having already app’d for the BCP less than 30 days ago. This time…APPROVED! $2K starting limit! And, approved for PRG charge, as well! I couldn’t believe it! My EX score hadn’t changed by even one point, no increase or decrease on utilization. The only difference was a few inquiries had aged past the 12 month mark, but that was it. Approved for both on Monday, still have yet to get a HP alert.
I’ve started getting pre-selected letters from Citi for the Home Depot card, which I have been wanting for a while. I wondered if that meant I would have a chance finally at one of their majors (denied multiple times in the past for Citi DC and Aadvantage card, though I do have a few store cards with them). I really wanted one more travel card, to qualify for another free plane ticket (traveling monthly at the moment due to caring for my mom who lives out of state), and of course the free checked bag is so nice to have, too. I have one more day before my Experian report goes back on frozen status (other 2 bureaus have been frozen for a month, now), so I rolled the dice and APPROVED for Aadvantage Plat Select World Elite, with a SL of $6K!! I am still in absolute shock!
A few other CLIs this week:
Navy Fed GoRewards – CLI from $12K to $20K
Pier 1, JCrew both increased by $6K and $3K, respectively. New limits: $21.1K and $15.5K
Restoration Hardware: I continue to see monthly increases of $1.5K. New limit: $19.2K
Discover IT: Auto CLI from $3.2K to $4.1K
VERY happy camper and now gardening indefinitely!! I will be closing out a few of my lower limit store cards that I obtained early in my rebuild via the SCT. I will continue to do so each time I get increases on existing cards I want to keep, until I finally have only cards I use consistently. I am very excited for this next phase of my credit plan!
Started rebuilding 8/2015. Current Fico 8 Scores 9/17: TU FICO: 698 (from 646 3/15/16) | EX FICO: 689 (from 617 3/15/16) | EQ FICO: 670 (from 614 3/15/16). Discover Miles: $10K | Amex PRG | Amex BCE $2K | Amex SPG $2K | Citi Aadvantage $7K | JetBlue Plus MC $3.9K | Walmart MC $3.5K | Marvel MC $5K | NFCU CashRewards $15K | CareCredit $12K | PenFed Amex $9K | USAA Limitless Visa Sig $6K | NFCU goRewards $20K | NFCU Amex $10.4K | NavCheck $13.5K | Blispay $4K | QS $9.5K | Pier 1 $21.1K | RH $20.7K | JCrew $16.8K | Wayfair $4.9K | Pottery Barn $19.5K | Discover IT $4.1K | Nord. Visa Sig $22K | USAA Visa Plat $2.5K | Neiman Marcus $6.4k | Amex Delta Reserve $1k | Saks $15K | VS $2.2K | Target $1K | Macy's $25K | Bloomies Amex $25K| West Elm $12.4K | PP Credit (Comenity) $4.4K
