FIRST USA now BANK ONE gave me a "PRE-APPROVED" (NO HARD) $5,000 but when I did a BT months later...THEY DID A "HARD" HOW STUPID!!!
I've noticed that (other than BofA-- which has been very generous) my limits have remained rather static since I adopted my "pay everything off before the cycle closes/carry no debt" policy. I am almost done (completed refi--now new car) and then I won't have to be so obsessive/compulsive about my score. (Don't get me wrong-- I still want the highest scores possible, I just won't mind temporary fluctuations while I test out various strategies) I'm definitely going to try the strategy suggested here-- similar to what I used to do, although I never let my balance-owed stay above 50% usage for over a month because of ratios. I also have a new theory that I'm anxious to observe regarding large(ish) mortgages. In my biz I see a lot of credit reports and I've noticed that people with large mortgages maintain very high scores even with large(r) debt balances. Ya know how FICO "moves you" into a separate scoring model depending upon certain factors? I think that the scoring model for people with large mortgages allows much larger debt without penalty. I wonder also if CC companies give larger credit lines. It will be interesting to see. C
Actually an interesting theory! I am wondering if my scores are lower than normal not JUST because of new cards but because my personal mortgage is showing paid off and the new one isn't reporting. We have a construction loan but the balance is only like 50% of the entire loan.
When you are going up to 1k of the limit is it effecting your score because of ultilization? I just got a personal card from Union Plus and they are really pushing me to do a bt. My concern is I'll kill my score before I get other lines. I don't have any other balances to transfer too so they'll send the money to my checking account. BTW...Union plus is real easy to get.
Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases Pay it OFF in 3 months...YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE 12 MONTHS TO PAY IT OFF What interest rate???
Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases Regular interest rate is about 14.99 and 0 annual fee. Not great, but I'll take the tradeline. BT rate is 4.9 until 2/04 or 8.9 until it's paid off. They give you the choice. CL is 2900. They pull EQ.
Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases amex will give you an increase every XX months (i forget) from 1 of all of your accounts . This is without a hard-one.
Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases yes I agree you will.....get that biz credit first then BT. What's union plus? (you knew I had to ask!)
Re: Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases Amy, Union Plus is a card that's offered through Household. Go to the Household website and should be the bottom card. You only need about a 620 to get approved. There is one catch though. You have to put down that you are in a Union. They give you one to pick from. The good news is so far they don't check to verify it. Try to pick one thats related to your industry. If you're a chef and tell them you're a Teamster it might get looked at. One other thing. If you get approved apply for the GM and Corvette card too. You only get 1 INQ for a shot at 3 cards. Some people have gotten all 3, but most get 1-2.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases Ok here's your reply about the union card. Here's the thing about household, besides that they stink as a bank. I got the bestbuy card and they did a second inq to give me a $500 household card, which I told them to forget. Are you SURE you only got one inq?? I had to *b* their inqs and that takes time, (obviously not as much as the long way! What kind of card limits did you get, and which cards? I wanted the GM card, for no good reason, I don't really care about union unless it was a business card.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases Do you know what they consider to be a LARGE mortgage? And is it based on original loan amount or current balance?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases Amy, I only got 1 INQ...I have heard of a few people that got more than one INQ. If it's within 30 days it's easy to get it removed by calling the EQ and telling them it's a duplicate. My limit is 2900. I hinted for more when Iactivated it, but they didn't budge. GM and Corvette turned me down for insufficient accounts. I'm gonna ask for reconsideration. I don't know if the Union card has a business card.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases Looks like they do: https://www.unionpluscard.com/up/CustomerCare?cmd_Redirect=FaqCard#40 wajaba
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases THEIR HIGH CL IS 4,000 AMY AND APR SUCKS NOT A CARD FOR ME....
GM's card is 4k tops??? Yuk. I don't care for household. I really just want to focus on biz credit. What biz credit do you have g?
These are my cards that have always said yes to an increase without an inquiry: Bof A (very generous) Nordstroms (The best Dept Card IMHO) Amex Delta/Starwood/Optima (but you have to wait 6 months in between requests) 2 other cards I don't have but have seen consistently raising limits (automatically-without! requests) are: ATT Universal and (as others have attested) Amex Blue Is is just me, or has Citi gotten stingier than they used to be with their increases??
Re: Re: Best Cards for Limit Increases Amex Delta (but you have to wait 6 months in between requests) Amex Blue 4 YEARS (NONE) AS OF OCTOBER 2003!!! UYGF
Amex will give you nice increase without inq. every 6 months. Bank of America is the same. Citi will give you small pre-approved online increases every 3 months. If you need like $10K-$15K more they have to pull hard. Chase pulled hard on me always. MBNA pulls hard always. But who cares about hard inq. If you already have cards and terms that you like and you don't plan to apply for anything more serious in the near future I would let them pull hard. On the other side we all have managed how to remove those inq. So folks, let's enjoy credit card game.
Anybody know how Discover is on increases? We've had them for over a year but I'm wondering if they do any hard inquiries for CL increase?
