Have barclays arrival+ card with 7.5k limit. My understanding is that any CLI request would be a HP, so I am hoping to get an auto-CLI. How often does barclays do this? Do I need to run charges near the limit for them to give me more credit or will 1 to 2k a month do it? Is the six month mark the earliest they would consider an auto cli?
;
Mine recently hit 6th statement and no CLI. I doubt they'll give me one considering how young my credit profile is.
May I ask why you PIF before statement cuts? Are you planning on taking out a loan next month and want the 1% util for the tiny score bump? Because personally for me, PIF before statement is like asking not to get a CLI.
@kdm31091 wrote:I agree about PIF before statement cut. They're not going to increase your credit this way.
In order to get a CLI (well, to be more assured you will get one - nothing's guaranteed), you need to run your spending close to your balance. You may sacrifice rewards w/ other cards, but if you want a card to grow, temporarily you should use it as your main card. Run up the spending close to the balance. Pay it down before statement cut, but not all the way off. PIF after the statement posts.
They will see the heavy usage and are much more likely to reward you - because they see you are a potential moneymaker for them! If you PIF before every statement cut, you are almost certainly not getting a CLI. Why would you need one if you can pay it off beforehand anyway - that will be their reasoning.
You have to abandon traditional "how to have the best score" ideas temporarily in order to strategize for CLI's. You have to rack up your util on the card. Now, some times people get CLI's anyway, but this is much more likely to make it happen. Also, spending $1k out of a $7k limit is positively NOT going to get you an increase. Again, in their eyes, why on earth would you need it?
I disagree with the the idea you need to let a balance report to get an auto CLI. You do want to have heavy use on the card, but the lender can see that heavy use even if you are PIF. When they want to review your account for a CLI they are not getting their info concerning their account from your credit report they are getting it from their internal system, so they will see all the use even if you did PIF before statement cut. In fact it could be argued that this is an even bigger sign that you need a CLI if you are running up your balance and being forced to pay it down before the statement even cuts because your credit needs are not being met by the initial credit line they gave you.
@kdm31091 wrote:Yes they can see the high usage, but if they see you are easily PIF before the statement even cuts, they can sense that your current credit line is "enough". Why would they extend more, if you are using and paying off just fine on your current line?
Because eventually you may start going to other lenders so you don't have to pay down the card multiple times a month to use it (I have some cards that don't get used because of this). I got an auto cli on freedom using it this way. We can't really know for sure since only Barclays knows and I think its more of a system generated thing than a manual review.