@SouthJamaica wrote:I've tried pretty much everything with Discover, been with them almost 3 years, and have perfect payment record, etc. When I first got the card my scores were probably in the neighborhood of 650. Since then my scores have risen as high as 811 on TU and the 790's on the other 2. Almost every CLI I got was $300. The highest I ever got was $500. I've come to the conclusion that their CLI practices are determined by a room full of monkeys on keyboards.
Hear hear! 
@Anonymous wrote:As with everything, there are exceptions. What I stated though IMO, however, will give someone the best shot at a CLI with Discover if they haven't had good luck. Judging from your sig, it looks like you've got quite a deck of cards, something that Discover doesn't like seeing. They very much like to be your #1, or if they're not, only to see a handful of competition in your wallet. If they are seeing a ton of large CL trade lines on your report, they are probably just opting not to compete, so I agree there's probably nothing you can do on your end to overcome that. I don't think this is the case with the OP however, nor is it the case for many people who don't have a ton of cards.
I wonder if it ever occurred to them that by giving someone a toy limit, it does exactly the opposite of what they hope to achieve. I put some pretty heavy use on my DiscIt over the holiday season, but eventually decided it made more sense to hit the $5000 spend requirement on my Uber card to get the $50 credit towards Amazon Prime first. Plus with a higher limit the Uber card requires less maintenance, and points post immediately instead of monthly. As such right now I'm only using It for the 5% category, and once I hit the $1500 cap I won't even bother keeping It in my wallet.
Yeah I get this kind of behavior is exactly what they don't want to see and will probably result in tiny (if any) CLIs. But I'm a very quid pro quo kinda guy, and if I feel no love from a CCC then I show little to no love back (or just enough to prevent AA).
@Anonymous wrote:Just denied for another CLI with Discover -- graduated in September or so, every month denied. But...they get a TON of usage from me, my first year cashback will probably be $600 or $700. Then when March 14 comes around, that card will get all of $1.99 a month.
THAT is likely when they'll CLI me -- when the card is no longer useful for rewards.
It's a calculated method from them for sure. They're making some money on my swipes, but zero on interest, and this first year they're giving me 2%-4% back on every swipe plus Discover Deals, so they're probably losing money on me. No need to CLI me until they can make money, I guess.
No doubt. Although we joke about monkeys throwing darts, I'm sure they have some sort of internal score/algorithm to predict our "profitability" so to speak. And for a perpetual transactor like me, I'm probably at the bottom of the bin. Oh well their loss.
@Remedios wrote:I think maybe they also consider usage outside the 5% (w/wo) cashback match. Maybe those who use it outside those categories see higher CLIs as it indicates higher future usage (daily driver) and not just for the bonus.
Like BBS said, they might be trying to entice those who do not have a lot of cards to choose from.
@Anonymous of the brief 'gravy train' period, which lasted a year or less, Discover CLI's became a big subject on the MyFICO Forum. The Discover CLI thread started by @baller4life was huge fun. It was strictly because of that thread that I got a Discover card. But the gravy train ended right around the time I got my card, and since then I have seen countless theories as to how to optimize one's chances of getting a CLI from Discover, and countless examples of CLI's which defied every theory. Some people got huge CLI's from sock-drawering the card, some by using it heavily for purchases, some by using it regularly but lightly. Some people got good CLI's from using the balance transfer offers. Sometimes it seemed like a TU FICO 8 of 740 or so was the magic door, regardless of usage.
Others got nothing good, like myself, despite trying out everything.
It's my lowest credit limit credit card.
I've come to the conclusion, after reading countless posts and data points, and trying out pretty much every tactic... that there simply is no tactic, because there is no 'policy'. There's just the monkeys.
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Remedios wrote:I think maybe they also consider usage outside the 5% (w/wo) cashback match. Maybe those who use it outside those categories see higher CLIs as it indicates higher future usage (daily driver) and not just for the bonus.
Like BBS said, they might be trying to entice those who do not have a lot of cards to choose from.
@Anonymous of the brief 'gravy train' period, which lasted a year or less, Discover CLI's became a big subject on the MyFICO Forum. The Discover CLI thread started by @baller4life was huge fun. It was strictly because of that thread that I got a Discover card. But the gravy train ended right around the time I got my card, and since then I have seen countless theories as to how to optimize one's chances of getting a CLI from Discover, and countless examples of CLI's which defied every theory. Some people got huge CLI's from sock-drawering the card, some by using it heavily for purchases, some by using it regularly but lightly. Some people got good CLI's from using the balance transfer offers. Sometimes it seemed like a TU FICO 8 of 740 or so was the magic door, regardless of usage.
Others got nothing good, like myself, despite trying out everything.
It's my lowest credit limit credit card.
I've come to the conclusion, after reading countless posts and data points, and trying out pretty much every tactic... that there simply is no tactic, because there is no 'policy'. There's just the monkeys.
In your case, I'd just use the card for the 5% and not swipe one penny extra on anything that doesn't earn 5%. Quid pro quo I say.
