Those that HAVE had strong Discover CLI success...

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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I applaud your effort to try to find a pattern to Discover CLI success, but I read this forum as much as you do and have never seen anything to support (a) your "initial hypothesis" that the better CLI's go to Discover's "ideal target customers", or (b) your description of what you believe the "ideal target customer" is.

I believe it's not a "nearly impossible" task, but an impossible task, because the rationality you search for doesn't exist among the Discover keyboard monkeys.

But more power to you. If you find the elusive answer to this question, you will have done a service.

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I don't expect to find a black and white "answer" at all, but do think that some patterns or consistencies could exist.  My approach here is very different than what we usually see, as any time we hear people discuss Discover CLIs (getting them or lack of) they always reference their current profile.  It's common that we see people say "I have 800+ scores, low utilization, long credit history, etc. yet I can't get a Discover CLI!"  My question to them is what did their profile look like when they were approved?  Perhaps they've had the card a short time and that's how their profile looked at the time of approval, which IMO is not the ideal/target Discover customer.  My profile matches the description above, but it didn't match it at the time I was approved ~3 years ago when my file was dirty.  

My opinion of what constitutes a "target" Discover customer is based on my readings on this forum as well as the score range at which the majority of their mailers / targeted offers are received.  That doesn't mean it's a set in stone thing, but I would say that those profiles are definitely preferred by Discover.  Whether or not that equates to greater CLI success, I am not sure... but I'd like to continue to explore that as a possibility. 

I'd also like to again reference Capital One and their "starter" buckets.  It seems in recent years this has come to be accepted as a "thing" where previously cardholders were just mad that they had 800+ scores, had been with Capital One for years and couldn't get CLIs.  When digging deeper back to the terms under which those accounts were opened (less than favorable) it was found that the vast majority of those individuals had weak profiles at the time.  Over time with enough data from members on here, it's generally accepted at this point that Capital One does in fact place individuals into a "starter bucket" if they're approved under less than favorable conditions and that they'll more than likely remain there as long as they possess the account.  As with anything there are outliers and exceptions, but it's a pretty well received theory at this point. 

Again, I'm not saying that the same thing can be determined with Discover, but it is at least worth talking about and considering.

[Kree]

Discover has been great to me.  I had 100+% uti for like 4 years (totally just cut the card, setup autopay and didn't realize autopay was setup for the day after late fees hit)

They ended up waiving several thousand dollars of late fees and iterest.  Then doubled my limit.

A year later they doubled my limit again.  All with 600-700 score range.   Went from 4000 up to 17800.

My UTI has crept back up, it was either CC debt or homelessness, but Discover doesn't seem to care, they even gave me a 400 top off at over 60% uti. (only took 200 because 18000 looked nice.)

I think they classified me as "Too stubborn for bankruptcy, too proud to pay late,- cash cow".

[eriquah28]

I'm pleased with my growth in the short time I've had my card. I was approved in September 2018 with a 513 EX Fico 8 score for $500 SL. At the time I had 2 CO on my account that I was an AU on. I had no revolvers, a CO loan, and a paid loan from 22 years ago. AAoA was 4 years (which none of them were good) and time since negative was 3 years. Since then I've been approved for other cards and one with a higher SL of $3500. I requested a CLI on day 91 and was denied, again on day 120 and denied, but was finally approved on February 25 for $1000. Considering it was 3X my SL and I'm in the rebuilding process I was pretty stoked about it

[Anonymous]

Nice, good to see a Discover approval with a low 500's FICO 8 score. 

Just curious, what did you do with your profile to go from low 500's scores to mid-upper 600's in just a few months time?  It looks like your gains have been to the tune of 150-175 points on average, which is immense considering the short time frame.

[EW800]

Great topic.  I guess I may fall into the bucket of good success with Discover CLI's - currently at $73,700.  

I cannot say for sure what lead to my great success with them, but I guess the stars were aligned just right.  If I remember correctly, I was at about $5,000 with them several years ago when someone (Baller?) discovered that Discover was granting CLI's every 14 days or so.  I really took advantage of that and hit the button constantly during that time.  I received a lot of $3,500 CLI's every couple of weeks.  It was kind of surprising, as at the time I had a foreclosure and a credit card settlement showing on my reports, however I also had AZEO, less than 1% util, no inquiries.  I think this may have also been around the time that Discover had the double cashback points, so I was giving the card a LOT of love, but also paying the full balance before the statement cut.  My scores were in the 710 to 725 range, if I remember correctly.   To summarize, I would say that it was probably a combination of many years with Discover, never burned them, extremely low Util, good usage and payed every dime back before the statement cut.  

I will mentioned that it appears that I have gone as far as I can with Discover at $73,700.  The last two or three times that I hit the love button, I was immediately denied.  The letters that I received afterward all said something about not enough experience at the current credit level or something like that.  Not surprising, as I am only putting about $50/month on the card, but still paying it in full before the statement cuts.  It will be interesting to see if they reduce my current CL, charging just a few bucks each month.  

[SouthJamaica]

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@EW800 wrote:

Great topic.  I guess I may fall into the bucket of good success with Discover CLI's - currently at $73,700.  

I cannot say for sure what lead to my great success with them, but I guess the stars were aligned just right.  If I remember correctly, I was at about $5,000 with them several years ago when someone (Baller?) discovered that Discover was granting CLI's every 14 days or so.  I really took advantage of that and hit the button constantly during that time.  I received a lot of $3,500 CLI's every couple of weeks.  It was kind of surprising, as at the time I had a foreclosure and a credit card settlement showing on my reports, however I also had AZEO, less than 1% util, no inquiries.  I think this may have also been around the time that Discover had the double cashback points, so I was giving the card a LOT of love, but also paying the full balance before the statement cut.  My scores were in the 710 to 725 range, if I remember correctly.   To summarize, I would say that it was probably a combination of many years with Discover, never burned them, extremely low Util, good usage and payed every dime back before the statement cut.  

I will mentioned that it appears that I have gone as far as I can with Discover at $73,700.  The last two or three times that I hit the love button, I was immediately denied.  The letters that I received afterward all said something about not enough experience at the current credit level or something like that.  Not surprising, as I am only putting about $50/month on the card, but still paying it in full before the statement cuts.  It will be interesting to see if they reduce my current CL, charging just a few bucks each month.  

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Fascinating.

Esthetically, it would be a shame if, having elevated you to a staggering 73,700, Discover started taking it away

[eriquah28]

My score increase is very unordinary. Getting approved for the Discover card alone literally raised my score 80-100 points across all 3 bureaus. After that I just cleaned up my report. Had the AU accounts removed and disputed a couple things that were inaccurate which helped boost it as well. After that I just applied for a few more cards and made sure to keep my utilization down and pay on time. I only have one baddie on my report which is due to fall off next year. Applying for the Discover was the first time I had applied for any card in about 10 years.

[Anonymous]

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@eriquah28 wrote:

Getting approved for the Discover card alone literally raised my score 80-100 points across all 3 bureaus.

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I'm not sure I buy that.  Based on what FICO scoring factors did the approval positively impact your scores?  One way I could see it happening would be if you had just a single low (say $300) limit CC with a maxed out balance, then got approved for a $5000 Discover card or something.  That would lower your utilization from 100% to 6%, which could have a huge positive impact on your FICO scores... but it wouldn't be the "Discover approval" that raised your scores, it would be your lowered utilization.  But, the chances of a lender approving you for a [relatively] large CL when you were maxed out on your current card is slim to none to begin with...  If you could elaborate a bit more on what you mean above that would be interesting to hear.

[Anonymous]

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@EW800 wrote:

Great topic.  I guess I may fall into the bucket of good success with Discover CLI's - currently at $73,700.  

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I would say so!  This is a single tradeline limit, correct?  I'm quite sure that was implied, but you didn't actually say I don't believe if it was a single card or if you had two.  Were you ever prompted with IV at any point?  How long have you had the card?  Were those low 700's scores you referenced the scores you were approved for the card with, or were those the scores that you had when you started really pushing for those CLIs?  You mentioned your [long] history with Discover, so I'm curious how long you've been with them and perhaps how long you had the $5k limit before you realized that you had the ability to increase it many times over.  I appreciate your contribution.

[eriquah28]

I'm sorry if you don't "buy" what I'm saying. I'm simply stating my experience/interpretation of what I feel happened with my scores. All I could find going back that far was my CK reporting because my FICO for September I received from my bank in branch. Sorry I couldn't screenshot the screen, only able to copy and paste. As of October 8 CK had my score at 541 which had gone up since September (assuming from things possibly falling off? not sure.) My score went from 541to 648 and the only other thing was my balance on my student loans increased and I don't see how that can be positive. This was from Transunion and it was a huge increase with the other two as well. I didn't have any cards at the time except for two CO cards that I was an AU on. If you can tell me another reason why my score increased that much I'd be interested in hearing your theory. This is just my experience. 

Oct 8

541

648

107 pts

We found 5 changes to your Transunion credit report.

New Accounts

DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVI

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Account Opened

DEPT OF ED/NAVIENT

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Account Opened

DEPT OF ED/NAVIENT

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Account Opened

Balance Increase

DEPT OF ED/NAVIENT

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Balance Increased by $569