I have been sitting on my hands for months since I saw the USAA limitless roll out. I was eligiable for the pilot program because I live in a state where the roll outs began. I have been in the garden for over a year and I was doing soooo good. But that darn card kept calling my name. I kept looking at my monthly regular non catagory spend plus the bills I pay online with a credit card and the amount of money I could be making vs what I was making with my current cashback card which was the Capital One World card 1.5%. I looked at the citi double cash but that extra .5% still beat out the double cash because even with 18 months interest free I don't carry a balance so it doesn't really do much for me.
So it finally got to me yesterday. I pulled the trigger and held my breath. Boom! Approved for 25k! Highest starting limit for me to date. Since I already took the hard pull for the limitless I went ahead and banked that they'd use the same pull for a cli increase on my Amex Cash Back rewards plus which I have had a little over a year. Started with a $5000 credit line and they cli to 20k so another 15k from USAA. Good day so far. Since I had already fell off the wagon so to speak I went ahead and hit up BOA for a CLI this card started low for me on starting limit even though I have been banking with them for 20 years. My CL was $1500 hit the button didn't expect much and they increased me to 20k shocked on that one.
So all in all I feel it was very worth it for me to step out of the garden. I know I am going to take a hit for the new account which is what has kept me from doing it for so long. I am hoping it wont hurt too bad. The inquiries have already hit Myfico and I lost 1 point on EQ for the inquiry so I am figuring maybe another 5-10 pts for new account which will still leave me well above 700 score. I will only be in the garden another 6 months or so as I have to buy a new car. I was planning to do it at the end of Oct but then had decided that I would wait until after tax time next year and see what I have to pay in taxes before I go throwing a down payment down on a car right away.
After that I am done with cards, houses and cars. I wont need anything else for a very long time. I bought my house last year and my card line up for me is stellar. I have gas covered at 5% with USAA Amex, groceries covered at 6% BCP, Catagory spend with Discover and Freedom, Amazon 5% with Chase Amazon, Sams Club and Walmat 2% plus the extra 25% bonus when I cash in which I believe will give me better return than the Limitless at 2.5% at those stores. I don't eat out much so dining not important and now the 2.5% on my bills and everything else. I am going to start weeding cards now because with those CLI and New card it has thrown my available credit above the 100k mark which sounds really good but I will never ever need that much and I think my exposure will start looking to high to others.
I was just so excited I had to share with people who I knew would understand. My family was like yeah ok? Big deal lol.
Congrats on all your success!
I know what you mean about family not understanding the significance of CLIs and approvals... that's what our myFICO family is for! 
Excellent! Congrats 
NFCU Flagship $32K | NFCU Cashrewards $42K | Discover IT $39K | SECU Visa $20K | Chase SW $24k | CSR $15K | Chase Bonvoy $11.5K | Chase Freedom $11.5K | Chase Amazon Visa 8.5K | AMEX Bonvoy $18.1K | AMEX Hilton Surpass $15K | AMEX Hilton Aspire $24.4K | AMEX Gold | Aviator Red $16K | Uber Visa 10k | Citi TY Premier $24.6K | BoA Premium Rewards 35k | BoA Cash Rewards Visa $31.5k | BoA Cash Rewards MC $23k | US Bank Cash+ $10k | USAA AMEX $6K | Cap1QS $11K | BJs MC $27.6K | Walmart MC $5.1K | Loft MC $25,000 | Macy’s Store/Amex $20K/$1K | BR Visa $10K | JCP $1K | VS $3.2K | Home Depot $5K | Lowes $8.5K | Target $14.5k
Thank you both! For me 10 years ago I had to file chapter 13. I swore then I would do everything in my power to A) rebuild to be better than I was before the 13 and B) Do everything in my power to never be in that position that I have to ever file again, though I know things happen and as hard as you try sometimes circumstances just don't allow that but I am hoping to never find myself in that position again.
So for me to get these kinds of approvals and CLI is a major major accomplishment. Before I filed 13 I really never understood the importance of credit and utilization or anything that came with the responsibility of having credit. I carried balances, I paid interest all of that. For me to have a total utlilization of 75%-80% was not uncommon. Heck I'd just buy something and make the payments not realizing those payments were going to take me years to pay off what I bought and I'd buy something else and add even more years to the pay off. It's crazy now to even think of doing that. Though I will admit that I do use those interest free periods sometimes to carry a balance just to show a creditor I can carry a balance and make payments even though I don't have too. Or if I wanr to buy something or have a small emergency I don't want to use emergency savings for I will carry a balance then even though I have the money in the bank. I'd rather sometimes keep the money in the bank earning interest even though it isn't much interest and do 0% pay off because earning interest is better than not paying interest.
Congrats! Any idea what your scores are by chance? Limitless is one of those cards which I may pickup depending how my life goes over the next six months, so curious as to their current UW.
All my scores were around 725 across the board.
Congrats Aprile, glad you finally pulled the trigger. I know how hard it can be to come out of the garden when you've been in for so long, but I've learned that if it's what's best for me financially, then I will and I won't feel bad for doing so. I hadn't been on the boards in a long while when I went out to buy a couch, which turned into significantly more and instead of just putting the couch on my CC, I decided to finance. When they first asked to run my credit all I could think was "wait you mean a HP?! Oh noooooooooooo I don't do no stinking HPs" That's when the guy lied and said it would only be a SP. I knew he was lying, but for some reason it gave me comfort and I agreed. Well that was blown all to hell when I went to VCF and made my significant purchases. It just made sense to finance instead of dipping into savings. We take such pride in our little spades and getting to the next level, so when you have to go back to a seedling, it stings a little. But we should all keep in mind that what we're really doing is what's best for us financially and if that means stumbling out of the garden, then so-be-it.
