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I have had 4 accounts with GEMB for about 3 years : Walmart, JC Penney, PayPal, and Amazon. JC Penny was the only CL that went above $1000.00 before a few months ago - when GEMB stopped giving me those $25 then $75 CLI. Last month, finally got the other three above $1000.00. My paypaly went from just a few hundred to $1800.00 a few weeks ago. Two weeks ago tried for a CLI with Amazon, which was at $1050, but I was declined. I went to pay my Amazon bill today and saw that my CL is now $2300.00!
I am so happy that I finally started rebuilding my credit 3.5 years ago - when I found this site. Had I not, I would still be using credit cards with $300.00 CL and $59.00 anual fees. I still have some mess to clean up, but ... it is getting so so so much better. I have not hit the $5000.00 CL mark on any card yet, but last month - Discover let me back into their world with $1500.00 - something I did not think would happen at least until my bankruptcy falls off in two years. It feels great... Thanks, thanks, thanks... for this site and all of those who have helped motivate me with encouragement and their own stories. All the newbies, hang in there - It does get better!
congrats on your CLI and becoming good with discover again. It feels so good when your heading to the right directions and knowing that all the things you learned here may have a large impact in how we view and handle our credit. keep it up!
Thank you Sonson -
Yes, it does feel great. Currently, I am working with 2 Cap 1 cards - MC $3350 and Visa $1800 and HSBC Disc $1990 and Discover $1500. MY GEMB cards are JC Penny $1900 Walmart $1950 Amazon $2300 and PayPal $1800. Before a few months ago only the JCP card carried a decent line - I could not get more than a $75 CLI on the others - Then suddenly I got a $1500 CLI on Paypal -
It really shocked me - I think I was at $280 before then... and I was there or below for about 2 years. It is funny how the other three are now catching up and the JCP has not moved in about 18 months, then again - I have hardly used it in that time.
Going forward, I am very much looking to the day when my major cards all carry at least a $3000 CL - I see the potential for getting there with my Visa and the Discover within a year. The HSBC Discover stays open only for utility purposes and because it is the first card I received when I started rebuilding 3 years ago, so as my oldest - it also helps with my credit score - but other than a small CLD two years ago - it has never budged. Both Capital One cards started with a $500 CL. GEMB is really helping my utilization these days, and I am very appreciative of that!
I just hit 4 months of statements and tried the luv button last week on my 2 GEMB cards, Amazon and Walmart.
Wal-mart was a $500 CLI to $1400, that was nice
But Amazon was a denial still at $1900. I just got the letter and the reasons stated are kinda weird.
Oldest Retail Account opened too recently -- That would be amazon opened in may, wierd wal-mart didn't have that problem both are the same age.
Oldest Credit Account opened too recently-- That would be my student Loan, 13.8 years of perfect history.
Percent of revolving accounts in 12 months too high-- I'll give them that, opened 6 accounts in the last year, but they didn't have that problem with walmart card's CLI
No Installment loan-- Guess my Student loan and Car loan don't exist to them.
maybe I'll have better luck in 4 more months.
Amazon is the stingiest, so don't take it personally. I got CLIs from about 3 GEMB cards but Amazon was a big "NO." The reasons given are bogus, so don't take them seriously.
Get this: I got three denials for CLIs from GEMB sent to me in the mail, and they quoted an Experian score of 695, 695, and 685. How did one of them generate a score 10 points lower, all on the same evening?
*oops, it may have been Transunion. I already shredded the letters. The point is, it was the same credit bureau. Three letters, different reasons on each letter, and the same credit score on two letters and a score ten points lower on the third letter. Go figure.
Amazon GE is very conservative for whatever reason but on JCP GE they are pretty generous. Same bank but I guess different lending approaches with various portfolios.
GEMB gave me a credit increase of 2,300 about 2 weeks ago. I did use that card heavy from the moment I had i, almost to the point of maxing out; in my defense I had some emergencies.. Insane APR but it has helped my fico score and definitely will again this month when it reports the increase.