Request a CLI or apply for a new card?

[jamie123]

Here's the answers to your questions:

1. DO NOT CLOSE ANY OF YOUR CURRENT CREDIT CARDS, ESPECIALLY YOUR OLDEST CARD! Closing CC accounts will not help your scores at all and will actually have a negative effect both short and long term. Closing an account will decrease your available CL and increase your UTI. You want to develop a thick file with many open accounts.

2. You can request a CLI at least every 6 months with most lenders. Some lenders will actually allow you to request an increase every 3 or 4 months but I would suggest doing it every 6 months to a year.

3. Call up all your credit card companies except for Discover and ask for CLIs. Do it now! Ask for $5000 CLs across the board. They will counter with the highest they are allowed to give you but...you might get $5000 CLs.

4. Wait for 2 months after you get your CLIs before applying for the Freedom. This will give your CC companies time to report your new CLs to the CRAs.

5. Yes, AMEX is the only company that does backdating.

I personally think you have the history to be granted $5000 CLs.

Yes, inquiries are not great to have on your report but they are a necessary evil. They drop off after 2 years and having 4 or 5 on your reports isn't really that bad.

[Anonymous]

Jamie,

Thank you for your response.

Yes, I definitely know how to cancel any old accounts, especially for someone like me with a short credit history / AAOA.

I know that I technically can request increases every 6 months or so, but is it really beneficial to do so? Like, say I receive one half the time (or even more), is the additional $1,000 increase on my CL worth more to my credit score (in the short or long run) than a hard inquiry, since all my credit issuers (outside of Discover, who has been giving me auto-increases) have said that they can only do CL increases with hard pulls? I feel like the tradeoff of slightly higher limits may not be worth having sevearl hard inquiries at all time, but I'm certainly no expert.

I'll call up State Farm soon (not sure if I should do it now or wait until after July 5th, since I know I have one hard inquiry that occured 07/05/2012) and request the CLI to $5,000, which was my plan anyway...only thing is I'd like to apply for the Chase Freedom sooner rather than later, both because Q3 it the best rotational quarter for me (I spend a lot on gas) and especially because they are running that $200 promo right now. Do you think applying for this in mid-July (since I'm guessing CLIs take a week or two to process) would be enough time?

I seem to see recommendations to apply for an AmEx sooner rather than later, so I'll probably do that before the 2014 is out...Blue Cash Everyday, or any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone.

[jamie123]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Jamie,

Thank you for your response.

Yes, I definitely know how to cancel any old accounts, especially for someone like me with a short credit history / AAOA.

I know that I technically can request increases every 6 months or so, but is it really beneficial to do so? Like, say I receive one half the time (or even more), is the additional $1,000 increase on my CL worth more to my credit score (in the short or long run) than a hard inquiry, since all my credit issuers (outside of Discover, who has been giving me auto-increases) have said that they can only do CL increases with hard pulls? I feel like the tradeoff of slightly higher limits may not be worth having sevearl hard inquiries at all time, but I'm certainly no expert.

I'll call up State Farm soon (not sure if I should do it now or wait until after July 5th, since I know I have one hard inquiry that occured 07/05/2012) and request the CLI to $5,000, which was my plan anyway...only thing is I'd like to apply for the Chase Freedom sooner rather than later, both because Q3 it the best rotational quarter for me (I spend a lot on gas) and especially because they are running that $200 promo right now. Do you think applying for this in mid-July (since I'm guessing CLIs take a week or two to process) would be enough time?

I seem to see recommendations to apply for an AmEx sooner rather than later, so I'll probably do that before the 2014 is out...Blue Cash Everyday, or any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone.

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Okay, I looked a bit closer at your original post and would change my suggested asking CLI to be $6000 and not $5000. Your highest card is already $3300. Lenders seem to have a ceiling at doubling your existing credit line without too much trouble but beyond that they will counter offer. That is why you want to do it every 6 months to a year, they might be willing to double your CL every 6 months until you get north of $5000.

Reasons supporting high credit lines...

When you app for your Chase Freedom this is how it will go from the lender's side:

Does he have high enough scores? Yes

Does he have at minimum 1 year of history managing at least 2 cards? Yes

What is his highest credit line so we can try and match it? $3300 (Don't you want that to be $5000 or $6000?)

Most times lenders try and match the highest current credit card's credit line. You want to have high credit lines so you never have to worry about UTI taking your scores down.

And yes, the AMEX Blue Cash Everyday is a good card. And yes, backdating rocks! There are people on this forum that have received new AMEX cards that have been back dated to the 1980's. That does wonders for their AAoA. AMEX is the only company that is allowed to backdate because of an agreement that they have with FICO that was signed in the 1960's when FICO was just starting out. Twenty years from now wouldn't it be great to have the option of picking up a new AMEX card that comes with twenty years of history? (Don't ever burn AMEX, they have a looooong memory!)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info, Jamie.

So you are recommending the following three actions (which I was highly considering doing all three of anyway):

1) Request a CLI to $6,000 on my SF Visa.

2) Apply for a Chase Freedom (which I would like to do sooner rather than later, given the $200 bonus special going on right now).

3) Apply for an AmEx Blue Cash Everday (which I should definitely do in 2014).

What order would you recommend I do these in (obv the CLI first, but then what)? And more improtantly, given that I have that hard inquiry from 07/05/2012 (which is when I got my SF Visa) that will fall off in about a week, what kind of a timeframe would you do these things on? Maybe apply for the CLI today (or wait a week), then a couple days and apply for one of the cards, and then a few months later apply for the other card? From what I understand, CLIs and new cards appear on credit reports as soon as they are approved / issued, but maybe this is bad information. I could also request the CLI and then a few days later, apply for both cards at the same time...but not sure if having 3 hard inquiries (possibly more, depending on how many CRs each card pulls) would be excessive.

Just trying to time this out optimally to benefit my score the most and also give me the highest limits possible.

[jamie123]

You have it right!

1. CLIs as soon as possible. (For ALL your cards except Discover. Ask for $6000 on the SF Visa and $5000 on the others.) CC companies usually report CLIs at the same time they report statement balances and some CC companies can actually be slow at getting the new CLIs to CRAs. They are definitely not immediate or always reported special.

2. The Chase card. If it were me I would wait until I was sure my new CLIs reported before apping for the Freedom card but it is totally your decision. All you have to lose is a the higher CL you might have been granted if you wait for your new CLs to report and they might give you a high CL anyway. Your call on this...

3. The AMEX card doesn't matter as long as you get it this year. I might suggest apping for it as soon as you are approved for the Freedm card. Like...2 minutes after you are approved or else wait until November so you have some age to the Freedom card before apping for the AMEX card.

Quit obsessing about the HPs! They are not that important! The 1 HP you have on your report is nothing!

Report back here after your adventures with the CLIs and we can see where you stand at that point.

[leegreen]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the info, Jamie.

So you are recommending the following three actions (which I was highly considering doing all three of anyway):

1) Request a CLI to $6,000 on my SF Visa.

2) Apply for a Chase Freedom (which I would like to do sooner rather than later, given the $200 bonus special going on right now).

3) Apply for an AmEx Blue Cash Everday (which I should definitely do in 2014).

What order would you recommend I do these in (obv the CLI first, but then what)? And more improtantly, given that I have that hard inquiry from 07/05/2012 (which is when I got my SF Visa) that will fall off in about a week, what kind of a timeframe would you do these things on? Maybe apply for the CLI today (or wait a week), then a couple days and apply for one of the cards, and then a few months later apply for the other card? From what I understand, CLIs and new cards appear on credit reports as soon as they are approved / issued, but maybe this is bad information. I could also request the CLI and then a few days later, apply for both cards at the same time...but not sure if having 3 hard inquiries (possibly more, depending on how many CRs each card pulls) would be excessive.

Just trying to time this out optimally to benefit my score the most and also give me the highest limits possible.

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This seems  like a plan...if SF requires a hard pull for your CLI ask if they can CLI both of your CC's on the same HP.  I realize you don't plan on using the other one but it will not hurt to ask. Also, with the AMEX BCE definatly do the 61day 3x CLI request as it can really build quickly. For instance if they approve your BCE for $1000 on the 61st day of your account ask for $3000, they will probably grant it then wait 181 days and ask for another 3x this time ask for $9000...ect.ect. untill you get it to 25k. The amex CL's can build really quickly if you take care of your accounts.

[Anonymous]

I called State Farm today, and they told me that it would be best to call in tomorrow to request the increase...so I'll do that. The guy also said that they report CLIs to credit bureaus immediately, but I'll verify that tomorrow as well. So that's good, assuming that's the case. And great tip on asking about both cards leegreen, since I know it is a HP.

Once I confirm that that has hit, I'll probably submit apps for the Chase Freedom and the AmEx Blue Cash Everyday simultaneously, and then I'll be perfectly fine gardening (just learned that term, haha) for awhile...as I have essentially been for 1.5 years now.

For the record, I did a conversion on my Discover Open Road to the brand new Chrome card yesterday...I realize that for most people, the IT would be preferable, but I pretty much only use my Discover for food anyway, and since I'll be applying for the Freedom, the rotating categories will be largely the same as the IT would have been anyway.

I may ask Bank of America for a CLI as well, though I'm also considering waiting to see if they auto-increase it based on what SF, Chase, and AmEx give me (especially if they all give me > $3,000, since then I feel that B of A won't want to be my lowest rate and will def give me an increase).

Sound like a plan?!