Why wont they approve a CLI

[Anonymous]

I do NOT expect any CLI from Discover.  About a year ago, they gave me 1200 when my other SL was 9k to 29k.   Now at 2700.   My reported income is top single digit.  And fico8 somewhere 760-770.   For whatever the reason, they stopped tiny 500 CLI six months ago.  I am just waiting for 5+5% back next month.

[FinStar]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I understand it's a marathon.... I also am not taking it personal, it's just business. Just as they expect me to make timely payment, in turn I expect to be rewarded for those timely payment along with a decent monthly spend. Is it wrong to look at it like that? If Amex and Navy fed are giving me CLIs, why would I want to give their business to Discover with nothing in return? Might need to keep spending for a few more months for the cash back match though.

---

There's no "reward" for timely payments OP.  That's expected with any balance you carry on the card (i.e. a revolving loan on plastic).  By the same token NFCU and AMEX are not Discover.  Bottom line, all lenders are not created equal and not all grow at the same pace - some are more generous than others.  The point being, as your profile lessens the blow with the slew of new accounts/inquiries over time, your scores improve, then Discover *might* losen up a bit given the current usage on it.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Why won't they approve me for a CLI??? My transunion score is 687 (experian is 719). Six figure income, 1.8 year average credit card age. I do have 5 new accounts in last 6 months (maybe that's why?) 22% UTI
The 4500 was my start.inng limit opened back in Jan.
Accounts
Navy fed 15k
Citi double cash 7k
Discover it 4500
Usaa 2500
Usaa 2500
Cap 1 1450
Hilton Amex 1000
Amex platinum

---

Because your profile suggests "credit seeking behavior" so Discover does not want to assume additional risk.  Look at it from the lender's perspective... you have a relatively low average age of accounts, 5 new accounts, and reasonably high utilization (ideally aggregate utilization should not exceed 8.9 percent), yet reporting a 6 figure income which would put you in the top 20% of income earners in the U.S.  Any competent lender would be at least a bit concerned about that combination of factors.  Remember the old adage that banks lend money to people who don't need it.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Why won't they approve me for a CLI??? My transunion score is 687 (experian is 719). Six figure income, 1.8 year average credit card age. I do have 5 new accounts in last 6 months (maybe that's why?) 22% UTI
The 4500 was my start.inng limit opened back in Jan.
Accounts
Navy fed 15k
Citi double cash 7k
Discover it 4500
Usaa 2500
Usaa 2500
Cap 1 1450
Hilton Amex 1000
Amex platinum

---

There's the culprit. You must garden---5 new accounts in the last six months is a sign of unhealthy credit-seeking behavior (not that I am accusing you of anything). 

Nice card lineup.

[UpperNwGuy]

If I were a bank, I wouldn't give you a CLI after all those new cards.  You need to take a break from both new cards and CLIs for the rest of 2018.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Why won't they approve me for a CLI??? My transunion score is 687 (experian is 719). Six figure income, 1.8 year average credit card age. I do have 5 new accounts in last 6 months (maybe that's why?) 22% UTI
The 4500 was my start.inng limit opened back in Jan.
Accounts
Navy fed 15k
Citi double cash 7k
Discover it 4500
Usaa 2500
Usaa 2500
Cap 1 1450
Hilton Amex 1000
Amex platinum

---

Don't feel bad. I'm in a very similar situation to you (see my sig), and I'm in a gardening phase for the rest of this year. There's a point at which you really need to step back, take a breather for the next few months and just let your existing accounts mature. 22% aggregate utilization isn't terrible by any means but it's not ideal so I recommend you work on getting it down as much as you can. I assume your Navy Fed card has a decent APR so you might consider doing some BT's of higher-interest cards to consolidate your bills, if nothing else (I'm planning to do that myself).

To refrain from new accounts for the next six months or so will also help your credit profile by allowing your hard pulls to age; HP's stop having an effect on your credit score after maturing to 1 year and drop off your reports entirely at the 2-year mark. If I can push my gardening out to next March (9 months, actually) I'll have several HP's drop off my TU and EQ reports completely and most of the rest age to 1 year or more; I actually only have 4 HP's on my EX and two of them are already a year old.

One further note: as others say, you really shouldn't expect a "reward" for making your payments on time. That's simply holding up your end of the agreement that you made with the issuer. Several of your issuers might give you auto-CLI's at a certain point, but that's entirely up to them and will be based on a number of factors of which your payment history will just be one. While I'm not to be telling you to hold off pushing the luv button entirely, given that I'm checking it once a month or so myself on cards that customarily do SP for those, I do think it's a good idea to hold off on CLI's from issuers that do HP's for those until your accounts have had more time to mature.

[xaximus]

Your AAoA, the new accounts, and the multiple inquiries are what's holding back CLI's. Give your accounts some time to age, sit back, pay the cards off, do PIF and AZEO, and the CLI's will come. From what it looks like, lenders are going to see 5 new accounts with a short history span and from the looks of it, havn't done anything (as of yet, be careful as if they deem that it is credit seeking behavior, they can close or CLD your accounts). I would sit back, garden and build age and history. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I understand it's a marathon.... I also am not taking it personal, it's just business. Just as they expect me to make timely payment, in turn I expect to be rewarded for those timely payment along with a decent monthly spend. Is it wrong to look at it like that? If Amex and Navy fed are giving me CLIs, why would I want to give their business to Discover with nothing in return? Might need to keep spending for a few more months for the cash back match though.

---

I understand how growing limits on existing cards can sometimes be frustrating OP. But you also have to consider that timely payments is expected of you, and this is by every lender. Since that's their money that they allowed you to borrow. Majority of the experienced people that I have learned from through this forum knows that Discover is a conservative lender. But as a company offering cc products, they have a lot to offer. Just like you, I was getting upset with them for months because I was not getting the growth I want on the card, it was nearly 10 mos. without any increase from them and I have made threads such as this to air out my disappointment. My frustration however was mostly because, I wanted to use it more, not because I felt they owed me that increase. Eventually they did give me that auto luv a year and two months later, and gave me a modest increase to jumpstart the relationship again, but that never stopped me from using the card just because of that. Your card is fairly recent, and it was opened with a decent credit line so I wouldn't sweat it much, it will grow. Not as fast as AMEX, but it'll grow.

[joltdude]

Op,

Yeah its the new accounts thats probably doing it...

Let things age a bit..

Theres also a thing called Bust Out fraud....

And some CRA offer a number , based on likeliness of bust out fraud... which does incorporate inquiries and new accounts... 

Its quite possible this is also affecting your CLIs...

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Bust-Out-Score/td-p/5116259

Keep this in mind....

As to Miss Discover. shes not the most predictable.. but stick with it... your other option is after having the card a year,  app for a new one... esp if your scores and profile have dramatically changed since you apped... even though you seem to have had the card for awhile have your scores increased dramatically since you originally apped... Been seeing cards getting stuck like Cap One lately... Discover does also use ABS .... even though i wouldn't call them a subprime card or as strict as Cap One... 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Credit-Card-Asset-Backed-Securities-ABS-and-w...

Iv basically kept up my scores and they have plateaued in the 770s.. Also dont CLI every month or two months or even three months these days... 

-J

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I understand it's a marathon.... I also am not taking it personal, it's just business. Just as they expect me to make timely payment, in turn I expect to be rewarded for those timely payment along with a decent monthly spend. Is it wrong to look at it like that? If Amex and Navy fed are giving me CLIs, why would I want to give their business to Discover with nothing in return? Might need to keep spending for a few more months for the cash back match though.

---

I understand how growing limits on existing cards can sometimes be frustrating OP. But you also have to consider that timely payments is expected of you, and this is by every lender. Since that's their money that they allowed you to borrow. Majority of the experienced people that I have learned from through this forum knows that Discover is a conservative lender. But as a company offering cc products, they have a lot to offer. Just like you, I was getting upset with them for months because I was not getting the growth I want on the card, it was nearly 10 mos. without any increase from them and I have made threads such as this to air out my disappointment. My frustration however was mostly because, I wanted to use it more, not because I felt they owed me that increase. Eventually they did give me that auto luv a year and two months later, and gave me a modest increase to jumpstart the relationship again, but that never stopped me from using the card just because of that. Your card is fairly recent, and it was opened with a decent credit line so I wouldn't sweat it much, it will grow. Not as fast as AMEX, but it'll grow.

---

And, as I feel the need to remind people from time to time, CLIs aren't often a meaningful reward, in that getting one really changes nothing.   The exception is if the CL is too low to use conveniently (e.g. a $500 CL when you want to spend several thousand a month) but that is rarely the case for those who keep asking for CLIs.

If the CL covers your spend, you are OK.   If you are apping, you can PIF before statement close if needed, if you are not apping, the UTIL hit doesn't matter.