Weird Credit line increase ending (Shell)

[bdhu2001]

I have had a Shell card for over 16 years, but rarely use it.  My children are in their 30s and I allow them to use it.  I'm trying to get a new house and discovered that the Shell low credit limit is affecting my utilization score & FICO.  So I clicked the button for a Credit Limit Increase and got an immediate response that my limit was increase to 1200 instead of the 1100 I requested. After I  did the request, I paid off two credit cards to counteract any negative affect the inquiry might cause.

It's been a month, but the increase doesn't show on my on-line home page.  I called customer service & they have no record even though the message center shows it was approved.  None of the people in customer service can access the message center to see their own reply.  Nor can they advise me of whether or not they'll do a softpull to redo it.  

I just got my FICO bankcard scores over 800 (2 mos straight) and I've gotten my FICO mortgage scores  over 760.  I don't want a hardpull to mess this up. I want to bask in the glory of 800+ until a new mortgage utilization brings it down.  Barring a new mortgage, I don't want anything else to negatively affect my FICO score.  

I only have 1 credit card balance left for $800 on a $12,800 card.  Everything else I pay in full as soon as the charge hits the card. In my effort to ensure my score doesn't go down while a search for a new house.  I'm not willing to take another risk of a hard pull just for a gas card at this point.

Your thoughts?

[madmann26]

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@bdhu2001 wrote:

............discovered that the Shell low credit limit is affecting my utilization score & FICO.

Your thoughts?

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Completely false.

FICO cares about 2 things;

1. Utilization

2. Payment history

There is some debate as to whether utilization per card plays into your score but opinions differ greatly on this subject. Basically, if you use 1% of 10k or 1% 100k, when it comes to scoring it's all the same.

You're scores are high enough for what you want to do with buying a house. I wouldn't worry about the Shell card unless it's reporting extremely high utilization.

[coldnmn]

Who backs the card?

[madmann26]

Looks like Citi.

[coldnmn]

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@madmann26 wrote:

Looks like Citi.

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Ok I was going to suggest backdoor numbers but not sure if citi cobranded cards can be handled through normal Citi numbers.

[bdhu2001]

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@madmann26 wrote:

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@bdhu2001 wrote:

............discovered that the Shell low credit limit is affecting my utilization score & FICO.

Your thoughts?

---

Completely false.

FICO cares about 2 things;

1. Utilization

2. Payment history

There is some debate as to whether utilization per card plays into your score but opinions differ greatly on this subject. Basically, if you use 1% of 10k or 1% 100k, when it comes to scoring it's all the same.

You're scores are high enough for what you want to do with buying a house. I wouldn't worry about the Shell card unless it's reporting extremely high utilization.

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I probably should have mentioned that my current Shell limit is $700 so the card goes to 40% utilization whenevr it's used for vacation travel.  Any other time, I see the kids have used it when I log onto "Mint"  & I pay it off.

With paying off all the other cards, I'm not as concerned, with the Shell limit.  But it irks me that I took the risk on the pull, got their message of approval, their message is on their website listing the approval, but they can't see it. 

[coldnmn]

I suggest calling back and get someone who cares enough to open their eyes. If they still don't see it escalate to the next level. Your the customer and they should be helping not passing it off that they can't see it!

[bdhu2001]

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@coldnmn wrote:

I suggest calling back and get someone who cares enough to open their eyes. If they still don't see it escalate to the next level. Your the customer and they should be helping not passing it off that they can't see it!

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Thank you. I thought I was being petty for feeling like "really this is your answer." Especially when you consider that for over 16 years, I've always paid off entire balance & have never requested an CLI, in fact, I've verbally been turning CLI down for years. I wouldn't have even asked for the increase if I hadn't discovered that utilization is per card and not just overall.

[madmann26]

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@bdhu2001 wrote:

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@coldnmn wrote:

I suggest calling back and get someone who cares enough to open their eyes. If they still don't see it escalate to the next level. Your the customer and they should be helping not passing it off that they can't see it!

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Thank you. I thought I was being petty for feeling like "really this is your answer." Especially when you consider that for over 16 years, I've always paid off entire balance & have never requested an CLI, in fact, I've verbally been turning CLI down for years. I wouldn't have even asked for the increase if I hadn't discovered that utilization is per card and not just overall.

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With your scores, I wouldn't worry about it honestly.  A few more points won't be a game changer for you.

[bdhu2001]

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@madmann26 wrote:

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@bdhu2001 wrote:

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@coldnmn wrote:

I suggest calling back and get someone who cares enough to open their eyes. If they still don't see it escalate to the next level. Your the customer and they should be helping not passing it off that they can't see it!

---

Thank you. I thought I was being petty for feeling like "really this is your answer." Especially when you consider that for over 16 years, I've always paid off entire balance & have never requested an CLI, in fact, I've verbally been turning CLI down for years. I wouldn't have even asked for the increase if I hadn't discovered that utilization is per card and not just overall.

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With your scores, I wouldn't worry about it honestly.  A few more points won't be a game changer for you.

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Thank you everyone.  I have an update.  Before my rant, since they said they couldn't see the message, I replied in their message center showing they had approved it & asking for an explanation as to why no-one could see their response from their own site.  I also printed off the message, from their message center, and faxed a copy to their customer service center-with the same statement- then I got on here & started the opening post.

I got a call from Shell, approximately 10 minutes ago, saying that I have the requested increase and that they are updating my records. Explanation: because theirs an alert on my account, they had to call the number on file to verify it was me before they did the increase.

Okay, seems like when they had me on-line chat and on the phone (I tried both) they would have been able to see where I was calling from or advise me that they would call.  Instead of giving me the fax number to customer service for me to send a copy of the message.

Anyway, after the e-mail, I'll believe it when I see it on line.