Recent Approvals and CLIs

[Anonymous]

Congrats!

[2011beginnings]

Was your balance at 0 for the CLI on BofA?

[Sevenfeet]

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@2011beginnings wrote:
Was your balance at 0 for the CLI on BofA?

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Not even close.  How about 95%? 

When I started this, my wife and I wanted to get a 0% card to absorb about $28K of credit card debt so we could burn it down in 18 months according to our financial goals.  Both the Chase and BofA cards were $13.5K credit limits and 95% utilization.  We approached Chase first and found a very nice agent who listened to our story and (after a hard pull) approved an increase to $25K and an upgrade to the Chase Freedom.   It helped that my credit has had no baddies for a decade. That set the table for going back to BofA.  A few years back we were at $13K usage of a $15K limit and BofA actually *decreased* my limit back to match Chase at $13.5K.  That was not cool.  But today was different.  I asked for a CL to $20K (not to be greedy) and that was granted too.  

With those victories in hand, I thought I had a decent shot at Penfed...util now at 65%.  I had a total CL of $45K on just two cards and an Amex Platinum that had $8000 on it but had seen a high of $39K at one point.  But again, my record was clean and I make good money...over $150K of household income.  I called Penfed and asked for $28k. After a review of my income, they approved it.

Now my util is around 50% and I gained one of the cash back cards I truly wanted to boot.  Now I'm looking to round out the list doing apps between me and my wife for the following cards in this order:

Fidelity Amex:  I estimate that we spend at least $40K a year in things that wouldn't be categories on other cards, including my daughter's tuition.  We may get up to $1000 cash back from this 2% card alone in a year.

US Bank Cash +:  I was hoping to use this for utilities and insurance but I hear that their 5% utilities category is going away soon.  That's ok since it's still a great restaurant card and I may save up to $400 a year here.

Discover It:  I need to make a Mac purchase at the Apple store and I think I can save over $300, maybe more with ShopDiscover

Amex BCP:  This was a top card priority until they capped category spending at $6000.  Now it's just a good grocery card for 4 months in our house before we max out, but that saves us $285 a year after the AF.

That leaves my existing cards, the Chase Freedom chasing their 5% categories throughout the year, and the Amex Platinum, which will be relegated to travel reservations, hotel upgrades, and Costco (getting the Costco TE Amex card isn't worth it right now since we spend only about $4K in Costco every year for a rebate of $40 and I have Penfed for gas).  And the BofA Cash Rewards will end up being the odd man out, replaced for most things by other cards.

 With my smallest card at $20K CL, I'm thinking that $100K+ total CL is very possible.  The short term goal is to get utilization down to 30% before we even start the debt repayment plan.  By the fall of 2014, with just money on the Chase left (it's interest rate is low enough to park large out-of-budget purchases), we should by down to somewhere in the 15% range.

With four cards to go, we'll see what happens.

[zerobacan]

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@Sevenfeet wrote:

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@2011beginnings wrote:
Was your balance at 0 for the CLI on BofA?

---

Not even close.  How about 95%? 

When I started this, my wife and I wanted to get a 0% card to absorb about $28K of credit card debt so we could burn it down in 18 months according to our financial goals.  Both the Chase and BofA cards were $13.5K credit limits and 95% utilization.  We approached Chase first and found a very nice agent who listened to our story and (after a hard pull) approved an increase to $25K and an upgrade to the Chase Freedom.   It helped that my credit has had no baddies for a decade. That set the table for going back to BofA.  A few years back we were at $13K usage of a $15K limit and BofA actually *decreased* my limit back to match Chase at $13.5K.  That was not cool.  But today was different.  I asked for a CL to $20K (not to be greedy) and that was granted too.  

With those victories in hand, I thought I had a decent shot at Penfed...util now at 65%.  I had a total CL of $45K on just two cards and an Amex Platinum that had $8000 on it but had seen a high of $39K at one point.  But again, my record was clean and I make good money...over $150K of household income.  I called Penfed and asked for $28k. After a review of my income, they approved it.

Now my util is around 50% and I gained one of the cash back cards I truly wanted to boot.  Now I'm looking to round out the list doing apps between me and my wife for the following cards in this order:

Fidelity Amex:  I estimate that we spend at least $40K a year in things that wouldn't be categories on other cards, including my daughter's tuition.  We may get up to $1000 cash back from this 2% card alone in a year.

US Bank Cash +:  I was hoping to use this for utilities and insurance but I hear that their 5% utilities category is going away soon.  That's ok since it's still a great restaurant card and I may save up to $400 a year here.

Discover It:  I need to make a Mac purchase at the Apple store and I think I can save over $300, maybe more with ShopDiscover

Amex BCP:  This was a top card priority until they capped category spending at $6000.  Now it's just a good grocery card for 4 months in our house before we max out, but that saves us $285 a year after the AF.

That leaves my existing cards, the Chase Freedom chasing their 5% categories throughout the year, and the Amex Platinum, which will be relegated to travel reservations, hotel upgrades, and Costco (getting the Costco TE Amex card isn't worth it right now since we spend only about $4K in Costco every year for a rebate of $40 and I have Penfed for gas).  And the BofA Cash Rewards will end up being the odd man out, replaced for most things by other cards.

 With my smallest card at $20K CL, I'm thinking that $100K+ total CL is very possible.  With four cards to go, we'll see what happens.

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I have a Target card with a $200 that gives 5% back, that can help you out too!

[MsLadyRover]

Congratulations!