Citi DoubleCash CLI question

Anonymous · ‎05-16-2016

I have had my Citi DC card since Oct 2015, and had the SP Credit LImit Increase ability since then as well. I hit it the other day and the response in the denial was that I had " garnishment, attachment, foreclosure, collection action or judgment."

Anyone with any experience that knows if as long as a collection is on my report that no matter what I will not get a CLI? Just curious, first denial I've ever gotten that suggested the only reason was this.

Kevin86475391 · ‎05-16-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I have had my Citi DC card since Oct 2015, and had the SP Credit LImit Increase ability since then as well. I hit it the other day and the response in the denial was that I had " garnishment, attachment, foreclosure, collection action or judgment."

Anyone with any experience that knows if as long as a collection is on my report that no matter what I will not get a CLI? Just curious, first denial I've ever gotten that suggested the only reason was this.

I'm sorry to hear you had this problem. Unfortunately I can't say whether or not a collection will always result in a denial with Citi, but a collection certainly is a serious derog, so I wouldn't be surprised if it did. To me at this point it sounds like a regular denial reason just like, "too many recent inquiries," "a recent late payment," "too much available credit," etc. Except that I do think a collection/judgment will be viewed as more serious. You may or may not want to call Citi and directly ask them if a collection/judgment will always result in a denial. You may want to because it would be good information to have and of course they would be able to tell you about their policies better than anyone else could. On the other hand you may not want to because it could potentially put you more on their radar and conceivably expose you to AA. I'm sorry you're in this tough situation and good luck getting it resolved. Unfortunately I probably would expect the worst (but certainly hope for the best) as long as you're dealing with this collection/judgment issue.

CluelessJohn · ‎05-16-2016

I had a similar situation. Got the DC Jan 2015; spent a HP to get them to bump my CL to $10K as this was going to be my general spend card. The baddie hit my CR in the spring of 2015. I tried a SP CLI in the summer of 2015 and again in fall 2015 getting the same message you received. I had been using the DC heavily and always PIF. After the second denial I switched my general spend to CapOne QS leaving Citi with only my Netflix bill to keep it alive. I have had no problem getting 2 SP increases each from them and Discover since the baddie hit.

I never called Citi to get insight on their denial but that that is probably the right thing to do. I'm guessing it is a passage of time thing but you won't know until you call. I didn't value the card enough to do that.

BOA (platinum rewards): Unlimited Visa ($25K), CCR1 ($15K), CCR2 ($24K); Chase: Freedom OG ($15K), Freedom Flex ($9K), Amazon Prime ($8K), Freedom Unlimited ($15); USAA Signature Visa ($20K); AMEX BCE ($30K); Citi: Custom Cash 1 ($20.5K), Custom Cash 2 ($5K); Discover It ($7.5K); USBank Cash Plus ($15K); WF Active Cash ($8K)
FICO 8 ~825+

Anonymous · ‎05-16-2016

Got my card in July 2015, tried the sp cli 2x a month every month. Always denied. The denial letter stated judgement was the reason. Well it came off my reports in March. I immediately tried for a cli, and finally approved.

Anonymous · ‎05-17-2016

Thank you for the responses. It does seem like being that's the only reason listed that as long as it's on there, it will automatically deny.

You mentioned calling in for HP CLI, I wonder if that would help or if it would be a waste, as the paid medical collection was present when I was approved.

CluelessJohn · ‎05-17-2016

I called and took my HP right after my first billing cycle ended and had immediately PIF. That got me an increase from $2400 to $10K. To me, that was worth it. The baddie didn't hit my CR until a couple months later. My SP attempts were about 3 and 6 months after the baddie hit. I was trying to grow the $10K thru SP CLI's so just bailed when I saw that wasn't happening. My only problem with DC is their rewards redemption system. Other than that it is an excellent general spend card.

If you really want to grow the card CLI, I would give them a call. Spin your story in the most positive manner, play up the medical debt angle, tell them how much you love the card, and see what happens. Since they approved you with it on your record, it would be worth a conversation to hear what they have to say before committing to a HP.

BOA (platinum rewards): Unlimited Visa ($25K), CCR1 ($15K), CCR2 ($24K); Chase: Freedom OG ($15K), Freedom Flex ($9K), Amazon Prime ($8K), Freedom Unlimited ($15); USAA Signature Visa ($20K); AMEX BCE ($30K); Citi: Custom Cash 1 ($20.5K), Custom Cash 2 ($5K); Discover It ($7.5K); USBank Cash Plus ($15K); WF Active Cash ($8K)
FICO 8 ~825+

Anonymous · ‎05-17-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I have had my Citi DC card since Oct 2015, and had the SP Credit LImit Increase ability since then as well. I hit it the other day and the response in the denial was that I had " garnishment, attachment, foreclosure, collection action or judgment."

Anyone with any experience that knows if as long as a collection is on my report that no matter what I will not get a CLI? Just curious, first denial I've ever gotten that suggested the only reason was this.

Sorry this is happening to you. Was the collection/judgement on your credit profile when you were approved for the DC? If yes, then I would try and recon their decision. If it's new, then I would leave it alone and do a pay for deletion letter to the creditor.

Anonymous · ‎05-17-2016

It's worth mentioning that denial reason codes are auto-generated and may or may not be the actual reason for the denial. It could be that Citi blocks CLIs for anyone with a judgment, but it could also be that your score and/or income are too low and Citi is just passing along a boilerplate FICO excuse.

Anonymous · ‎05-17-2016

@CluelessJohn wrote:
I had a similar situation. Got the DC Jan 2015; spent a HP to get them to bump my CL to $10K as this was going to be my general spend card. The baddie hit my CR in the spring of 2015. I tried a SP CLI in the summer of 2015 and again in fall 2015 getting the same message you received. I had been using the DC heavily and always PIF. After the second denial I switched my general spend to CapOne QS leaving Citi with only my Netflix bill to keep it alive. I have had no problem getting 2 SP increases each from them and Discover since the baddie hit.

I never called Citi to get insight on their denial but that that is probably the right thing to do. I'm guessing it is a passage of time thing but you won't know until you call. I didn't value the card enough to do that.

Thanks for sharing your data points. Were the denials from Citi the only negative things that happened after the derog hit your credit profile?

Anonymous · ‎05-17-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for the responses. It does seem like being that's the only reason listed that as long as it's on there, it will automatically deny.

You mentioned calling in for HP CLI, I wonder if that would help or if it would be a waste, as the paid medical collection was present when I was approved.

Since you were approved with the negative on your credit profile, I would recon. Make sure you tell them about your excellent payment history with them and your other creditors. I would hold off on doing a HP since you were denied with a SP.

Do you plan to pay the collection/judgement? If yes, try to do a pay for deletion. Best of luck to you!