12 Aug 13 -
SW Update - SW picked up that NFCU just reported a $450 balance, down from $3150. This brings my FICO back up to 715. Just waiting for BoA to fix the mid-cycle report (hopefully my recent address change worked) and then I will be good to go.... pending all of the updates reaching the TU report.
EX:694 TU:744 EQ:777Finally! My online address change is starting to do mid-cycle updates. Experian is back to reporting a $0 balance. This account will be back to reporting the way it should for all CRAs in a few days. It is worth noting that the address change over the phone did not work to get a mid-cycle update, but the online address change did work.
Eagerly awaiting for SW to give me an alert for the BoA balance that dropped back to $0 a few days ago, I pulled my daily 3-in-1 reports from my CMS. I noticed that TU is now reflecting all of the correct balances. Total Utilization is now 1% with only $450 on a single card. I decided to pull my TU98 from myFICO and was happy to see an increase from 696 to 719. Thats a 23 point increase for dropping utilization from around 14% to approximately 1%. Too bad I couldn't hit 720. This is going to be my max score for about 2 years.
If I don't get a SW update for equifax by tomorrow, I will use my last free power report for the year.
I think I could get the Barclays Arrival. I could use a restaurant card, since I eat at a cafeteria at work every day and it bills to my credit card with a restaurant transaction code. This fits the bill.
Modified plan for Monday:
Apply for Barclays Arrival over the phone
Ask BoA for CLI via the website and call in if recon is needed
Ask for SDFCU CLI over the phone
Ask for NFCU CLI via the website
Hopefully, I will have 100% positive results and can say that my year+ of gardening got me something worthwhile.
ETA:
Just got EQ SW update. All card balances are now correctly updated. I am now at 1% utilization with only 1 card reporting a balance. Unfortunately, this did not increase my FICO, which is still at 715. I was hoping for more, but I guess this is as good as it gets at this point in my rebuild. I will try to make it work, though. I am excited for some results!
19 Aug - Results:
Barclays Arrival World Mastercard - Approved $5k! Yippie! I have a new restaurant card. This is the no-AF version, specifically because I think a PC with Barclays is going to be difficult and I want to build a history with the card that I want.
BoA - Approved $9.6k from $4.5k - Weird numbers, but whatever. This was instant online, so could have been SP. I also requested an APR reduction over the phone, which I also got. This is still my highest interest card at 16.9%, but I don't carry balances on it anyway since the intro period ended.
SDFCU - Pending - These guys are so conservative. They are sending me an email requiring my digital signature. Upon receipt, their credit analysts will look over my report.
NFCU - Approved $17.5k from $14k with no hard pull - I did this over the phone and they told me that I might be able to get $25k if they did a credit report pull, but I was approved for $17.5k with no pull. I didn't even know they did this. I don't really need to full credit limit anyway, so I took the $17.5.
Still waiting on the form to sign for SDFCU, but it looks like my gardening has worked! I've got credit!
Thanks! I am quite pleased with my results so far. I am still waiting on SDFCU, but I think they will give me something. What I logged here was the utilization effect on my score. In some cases, such as EQ, dropping from 9% to 1% gained no extra points, but I am sure the lenders liked seeing that 1% utilization when I asked them for more credit. It also helped that I had no new accounts or inquiries for over a year.
This is a great plan for anyone who wants something from a lender.
Well done! Excellent results 
Thanks. Hopefully, I can still get something out of SDFCU... they still have not sent me their signature form (they said it might take 24 hours).
Here are the hard pulls that I took:
Barclays - Experian (surpirsed bc I thought that Barclays always pulled TU... I guess not always)
BoA - Transunion
SDFCU - Experian
NFCU - no pull (surprised again)
Interesting that Barclays pulled EX. Better keep an eye if others have similar experiences.
This afternoon (about 9AM EST), I received an email from SDFCU containing a link to a secure document using a system called DocuSign. I used the link and had to enter my username and password, then answer about 7 questions such as counties I have lived, streets, etc... like if you were getting an annual credit report, except more questions. I did this and then it asked me for my mother's maiden name and few other things. Finally, I was able to log in to see an 8-page document annotating my request for a credit limit increase, as well as details about my card, lending disclosures, and various other credit-related things. At the bottom was a highlighted section that I could click to sign. I did this and hit the link to send the form.
Form sent at about 9:30AM EST. I got an email stating that the signed document had been received, but no further notifications. I called SDFCU at about 4PM EST and was told they are still reviewing my request. Hopefully, I will find out tomorrow, 2 days later.
This is ridiculous.