TL: DR
I'll start off as saying I assuming cause I was too high velocity. 6/24, 5/12, 5/6. BoA gave me a card with my lowest limit.
$72k Salary
Car loan with $24.3k left
$500/m rent
List of cards and ages/limits:
2013: SECU Visa $16k
2016: Discover It $5.5k
2020: CFU $14.4k > Downgraded CSP 5/23
2022: Schwab Investor Amex $4.4k
2023:
April: United Gateway $9.6k
Amex CS Platinum
May: Wyndham Earner + $7k
Amex Gold
Hilton Amex $16k
In May I moved my IRA to Merril and also opened up a taxable account at Merril, and I opened a BoA checking in June for Preffered rewards.
July 20th BoA Premium Rewards instant denial online, letter asked for PoI and SSA-89, sent those in and was approved 8/9
BoA Premium Rewards $3200
So I am now 7/24, 6/12, 6/6.
Are they just being stingy or what?
Long time lurker, first time poster.
are you plat or plat honors tier+? I wonder if that either held you back (for not having it) or got you the approval if you were
given the recent credit 5/6 at the time of the app, and their need to POI you prior to approval, I don't personally think they're just being stingy
I would have predicted a denial unless you were plat honors if I saw the stats prior to you having applied
does your credit report have history of statement balances where you would need more than a $3200 limit?
I feel the card will grow, so I wouldn't put too much stock in the lower limit
Im Gold honors right now but once I drop my CS platinum and Schwab Investor ill move my taxable from Schwab and be at Platinum Honors level.
TBH I almost never post a balance, If I do post a balance its usually sub $100 just depends on how the statement falls. Also recently I havent been posting much of a balance because of focusing spend on my Platinum and Gold for the SUB's. I know I need to start letting at least a bit of a balance post on my non Chase cards.
Welcome to My FICO Forums, @swankytiger. 
It was a combination of velocity and probably relationship. Bank of America is a relationship bank, and they warm up more to you the longer you are a client and/or the more of your business you give them (investments, banking, credit card charges, etc.) In your case, you're a very new client with only about three months history. And this was your first credit card with them. They do have some rules for approving cards and you wouldn't even have been approved at 5/12 if you hadn't opened the deposit accounts. (Their rules are said to be under 3/12 for non-banking customers and 7/12 for banking customers.) So your banking relationship allowed the approval but your velocity, length of time as a customer, and only being Preferred Rewards Gold instead of a higher status all probably played into your starting limit.
Also, I added up your TCL not counting NPSL and you're at $72.9K with an average across 7 cards of $10.4K. So yes, it was a little lower than your average and slightly below your lowest limit of $4.4K, but it wasn't too far from the general ballpark. As @GZG said, give them some time and it will probably grow well as you build history, especially if you sweeten the deal with elevated Preferred Rewards status. Use the card well, develop a good payment history, and you will likely be pleasantly surprised. In general, I wouldn't call them stingy but I would say their first cards are often modest approvals anyway.
Your salary should easily support a higher limit once you gain some history. You're only at about 4% of income.
The Premium Rewards is a great card, especially with the Platinum Honors status in Preferred Rewards. Congrats on that approval!
Yes im going to transition to a mostly cash back focused set up. With the Premium Rewards card as my main card just for ease of use with my Discover as my rotating category card. I was using my other cards that way already. I'll just garden for a while after I close my Gold and Platinum as the coupon book isnt really working for me and my spend for the annual fee.
@swankytiger wrote:Yes im going to transition to a mostly cash back focused set up. With the Premium Rewards card as my main card just for ease of use with my Discover as my rotating category card. I was using my other cards that way already. I'll just garden for a while after I close my Gold and Platinum as the coupon book isnt really working for me and my spend for the annual fee.
The original ($95 AF) Premium Rewards can be a great daily driver, especially if at elevated Preferred Rewards status. I posted about the "Ultimate Two Card Combo's" before with a core card and supplemental, and the Premium Rewards combined with a Customized Cash Rewards at Platinum Honors status is a very powerful and simple combo.
... with just (2) cards, you would earn:
- 5.25% on selected category of gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings.*
- 3.50% on grocery stores and warehouse clubs.*
- 3.50% on dining and travel, uncapped.
- 2.625% on everything else, uncapped.
- *$10K annual cap ($2.5K quarterly cap) on combined selected category-grocery-warehouse.
... and just one $95 AF that is completely reimbursed with TSA Global Entry credit ($100/4 years or average $25/year) plus $100 annual airline fee credit. Effectively, they are paying you $30 a year on average to carry the card!
Yes, I agree the AMEX "Coupon Book" is a difficult system for many of us to use advantageously. The Platinum was never a fit for me so I had no desire to even try it. I thought the Gold might be manageable, but in the end I decided it wasn't working out like I had hoped so I closed it.
yea i am still unsure on the whether the Elite version is worth it or not to me. I know I can get the streaming credit, and the usual United Travelbank shenanigans for the rest.
I know the Custom cash is good to pair, im just feeling like using only 1 card for the time being. Of course keeping a token amount of spend on my cards im keeping and all that.