@Curious_George2 wrote:
@Curious_George2 wrote:
7/2: Requested $5k CLI via website on Card 1. Instant approval. All reports were frozen and inquiry was SP. Prior CLI was only 4.5 months earlier.
7/3: Requested $5k CLI via website on Card 2. Got 7-10 day message. All reports still frozen. Prior CLI was only 4.5 months earlier.
7/4: No change to CL on Card 2 yet. No email update. Since it's a holiday weekend, I assume manual review before Monday is unlikely. Link for "Request a credit line increase" is still present on webpage for Card 2 (not for Card 1).
Update on my CLI request for Card 2: Denial letter arrived in the mail. It was dated 7/3, which means it was system-generated and no human review occured. Not complaining, just observing. It lists four reasons for the denial:
- You have had a recent credit line change on one or more of your accounts. (4.5 months ago on this card and 1 day ago on a different card.)
- Current or past delinquency with one or more of your creditors. (I have a 2+ year old 30D on a CapOne card.)
- Utilization of your credit is too high. (Util on the TU report they soft pulled is 13%.)
- There are too many inquiries on your credit file. (TU shows 2/24, 2/12, 2/6.)
Points 2-4 seem a little exaggerated as reasons to deny a CLI. They didn't stop BofA from giving me a $5k CLI on Card 1 the day before. Seems like reason 1 is the real reason, and it's totally legit in light of their published policy of 1 CLI per card every 6 months. The weird thing is, the hyperlink to request a CLI is still present on this card. It feels like I'm in some sort of gray area. Maybe if everything else about my profile was spotless, I could get a CLI on this card at the 4.5 month point, and that's why the link appears. But when I click it and they look closer, the algorithm decides I actually pose enough risk that they will make me wait longer. Maybe 6 months, maybe less. Who knows?
Also interesting is what they did not say. This card has a $25k CL, and I have spent less than $200 on it in the past 12 months. It actually has a few cents' worth of credit balance at the moment. So clearly I don't need a larger CL, but neither of those facts were mentioned in the denial letter. I recognize that letters like these often don't tell the truth or the whole truth, but I can't think of why they would hide their desire for more spend if that's what they want.
It's so interesting trying to figure out the secret rulebooks various lenders play by. The non-crazy thing to do is to wait until 6 months passes since my last CLI, but I'm super tempted to keep trying the luv button every week while it's there.
Update: Today was day #181 since my last CLI on card 2. The hyperlink for requesting a CLI has been present continuously for more than a month and I tried it periodically without success. Today it worked. Requested $5k and got instant approval. All reports were frozen. If they relied on a TU SP from last month, it probably showed Util around 10%. Other facts listed above remain unchanged.
