Citi sensitivity to Citi Retail cards/exposure

[CBetc]

Hello all,

No prior experience with Citi directly as a bank, but I'm looking at possible BT options to help shuffle debt around, and I keep getting offers for the Double Cash and Diamond Preferred popping up. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger, but I'm a bit inquiry and new-account sensitive, so I'd really want to make them count (approved w/ a meaningful CL) before doing so. 

My concern is that although I have no background with Citi, I have three cards managed by/through CitiRetail: a HD card (age: 17y, $8K) and a Macy's and Macy's Amex (each $25K; store card 27y and Amex 10y), All three balances on them are 0. My overall debt utilization is high (~50%), so there's a chance I'd be denied on non-Citi utilization however. FICO8s are 715-750 and trending upwards. Income is now high (which is why I'm interested in high-BTs so I can work on getting other balances down ASAP).

Does anyone have any experience with too much Citi Retail exposure blocking approval for regular Citibank cards? I know $25K is the normal limit for the Macys cards (without further inquiry), so I'm wondering if $50-58K total exposure might be too much for them here. 

Secondly, any recent DP/DC data points on typical credit lines? I'm more focused on BT at the moment (but am fine with 18m instead of 21m), but if the CL is likely to start out <$10K and stay there through the BT window it might not be worth the ding, and I'd look more strongly at other options. I'm also not sure how reliable the pre-qualification tool might be in this situation; Should I perhaps open a small checking account with them first and apply once I have online access through that?

TIA for any tidbits!

[mgood]

I don't know.

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@CBetc wrote:

 . . . if the CL is likely to start out <$10K and stay there through the BT window it might not be worth the ding. . . .

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I can share my experience but it is anecdotal. No way of knowing if your results will be similar to mine.
I was approved for the Rewards+ (no longer available) primarily as a BT card. SL was $9.9k. I wanted to transfer a balance of $7-something-k, so that worked for me.
I already had a Custom Cash with a $15.9k limit (which has since increased to $17.4k)

I was recently denied a CLI on the Rewards+. The reasons given were:

• You already have the maximum amount of credit we allow without pulling a credit bureau report
• We currently do not have your consent to pull a credit bureau report

Does that mean the $9.9k on the Rewards+ is the max? More likely it means the $27.3k total exposure is as far as they're going to go for me without a HP.
Stated income is $81k, though it would be hard to prove more than about $72k.

[FicoMike0]

If your utilization is 50%, I think that will hurt your chances.