After getting denied twice for the BCE the past two months, I decided to apply again today. I actually had talked myself out of applying for the third time this past Wednesday as I thought it might be better to wait to do a balance transfer to my husband’s new Citi Simplicity card, as that would in turn lower my utility and thus increase my chances for approval for the BCE. His Simplicity card hasn’t arrived yet, but we are expecting it within the next week or so (he app’d for it last Friday).
Anyway, I had today off from work and I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it again since I figured I could always apply again in 30 days if denied, and by then my util would be even lower with the balance transfer completed. I applied and received the message that my application is pending further review. Even though I have applied twice before, I could not remember if I received this message in my prior apps. I didn’t take it as a good sign, but went to check my application status online.
Finally – approved!!! (Where is LS when you need a Happy Dance!?!?) Called in to find out the starting credit line – it is $4,000. Works for me. The best part is the backdating to 1989. I think that should at least cancel out the effect of the HP on my Experian FICO score.
One would think I would be happy and stop there. Well, I am happy, but I decided to see about a CLI on my old school Optima Platinum. I have had that card since 1989 and my credit limit has always been $4,100. It never occurred to me to request a credit line increase. But I’ve been reading so many posts on MyFICO about Amex granting 3x CLI and that you can do this via an automated phone call (a big thank you to everyone posting their knowledge about this!). So, I called the number on the back of my Optima card and went through the various prompts and finally reached the menu for the CLI request. I admit I got a little nervous about the amount I should request – a 3x increase would bump the limit up to over $12,000. Being that I just got approved for a BCE with a $4,000 CL, I decided not to push my luck and just asked for a CLI to $9,600 (a $5500 increase). APPROVED!
Time to garden.
FICOs: TU08 842 EQ08 850 EX08 850
My Wallet: Amex Gold NPSL; Amex Optima Platinum $25K; Amex BCE $12K; Apple Card $20K; BofA Travel Rewards Visa Sig $67.6K; Cap1 Quicksilver Visa Sig $10K; CSP $28.2K; Chase Freedom $13K; Chase Freedom Unlimited $21.4K; Citi Costco Visa $19.3K; Citi Double Cash $13.5K; Citi Simplicity Visa $23.3K; Discover IT $50K; Fidelity Visa $25K; NFCU Flagship Visa Sig $40K; NFCU More Rewards Amex $30K; PenFed Plat Rewards Visa Sig $50K; Sears MC $10.1K; US Bank Altitude Go Visa Sig $20K; US Bank Cash+ Visa Sig $26K; Wells Fargo Rewards Visa Sig $14K
Starting Score: 639 (Walmart TU)