Unexpected Credit Limit Increase

[shipo]

Those are good points. I do not recall if the secured card required a hard pull. At the same time, we asked ourselves, which is of more value/use to us: the $5,000.00, or a higher credit score which will get reduced, then recover. Good news is, we now have the three credit cards total; now to use them appropriately, and let them 'season' over time.

Good attitude. I was stupid after my discharge and racked up something like 18 hard pulls over the next nine months; after a year they no longer factor in FICO scoring, and after two years they fall off one's credit reports entirely. A year ago I didn't have any HPs on my reports, but buying a new car (October 2022), agreeing to a new Chase Sapphire Preferred card (December 2022), and then taking the bait for a new Chase Freedom Unlimited (earlier this week), I now have three to deal with. For a number of reasons, my wife and I have put off buying a new home until early next year, by which time I'll only have this week's HP dinging my scores.

[Zombie13]

NFCU just bumped me up $4K with a soft pull. I love NFCU.

Nice!

[Zombie13]

Understood, and I also understand different financial institutions operate under different rules, but yeesh, under the assumption you got hit with a hard pull when you opened the secured card, a second hard pull is not exactly ethical in my book (and yes, I also understand I don't run a bank ).

Those are good points. I do not recall if the secured card required a hard pull. At the same time, we asked ourselves, which is of more value/use to us: the $5,000.00, or a higher credit score which will get reduced, then recover. Good news is, we now have the three credit cards total; now to use them appropriately, and let them 'season' over time.

[justbroke]

NFCU just bumped me up $4K with a soft pull. I love NFCU.

[shipo]

true, but, we converted the secured credit card to unsecured and got our cash back.

Understood, and I also understand different financial institutions operate under different rules, but yeesh, under the assumption you got hit with a hard pull when you opened the secured card, a second hard pull is not exactly ethical in my book (and yes, I also understand I don't run a bank ).

[Zombie13]

Annoying.

true, but, we converted the secured credit card to unsecured and got our cash back.

[shipo]

Hey shipo. It was a hard pull. Got it, and the t shirt.

Annoying.

[Zombie13]

Hey shipo. It was a hard pull. Got it, and the t shirt.

[shipo]

Zombie13, last year I was worried about the rebucketing issue as well, turned out to be a non-issue as my scores shot up into the 800+ range. Regarding how long to wait before asking for a graduation for your secured card, I'm not sure there is a good answer, if they're going to hit you with a hard pull I'd be a tad less sanguine about asking. Do you know if they have an automatic review process which, as I understand it, typically does not entail a hard pull?

[Zombie13]

Making good progress GL57months!
We have a secured card with our credit union, opened in march or so of last year. When I inquired about converting to an unsecured card, they said they would run a credit check / hard pull. That sounds like, it is not an automatic process for us. I will call them again to confirm. My question is, when is a good time, after the bk discharge, to attempt the conversion? PenFed reports one of my scores as 760. I figure, may need to do it before the 2 year anniversary of the discharge occurs, since then, our credit scores may drop due to re-bucketing. I think I need to create a new thread for that, to avoid 'overtaking' this thread.

[GL57months]

Update on my Key secured M/card, opened in Feb 2022, in Oct 2022, the security funding in my savings account was released. I got an email 3 or 4 days after I noticed the funds becoming available on their mobile app. Sweet! I did not request this action, the decision was based on a planned review after six months of perfect payment history, small charges monthly, and under 10% of the credit line balance. About a month later, I received a call from the local branch offering an upgrade in card and increasing the $400 limit to $1000. I was pleased and interested but decided to wait for the one-year anniversary of my discharge. Glad I did, as my credit union also released my security deposit on that secured card, and raised the limit to $1000 as well. The rep said they would keep the same account to maintain my payment record for one year, and I could use my same card instead of waiting for a new card that Key was going to issue.

Both were positive outcomes, just one slightly better than the other. The Key process would have required a trip to the branch, not a big problem, but the credit union was all completed over the phone. FYI, this was Ohio based Credit Union.

[shipo]

Yeah, I'd go in and inquire in person; their secured card gets good reviews, but I think there is a fair chance you'll qualify for an unsecured card or two.

[Carmella]

Yes, shipo we live close to 5th 3rd Bank. Would we go to the bank and inquire in person? That's what I was thinking. I would like to get my husband a credit card and secured would be fine. It's too hard to keep paying everything in cash. We only have one debit card for each bank account, and it would be a pain to manage two of us using a card from the same account, so he has continued with cash. Hopefully the secured card wouldn't gouge with interest. The plan would be to pay it off monthly, but just in case I don't want to deal with 25% or higher interest like on the Ollo Card.

Speaking of the Ollo Card (now run by Ally) I got it while our BK was still active, but didn't use it until after we were discharged. I think I have only used it 3x and paid it off in full. 5 months after the discharge they upped our limit from $1,500 to $2,400

[shipo]

Hey Carmella, if I recall correctly you live in the area of Fifth Third Bank; if so, I still hear good things about their credit card offerings, so they might be worth a look.

[Carmella]

Well that's something shipo I totally forgot about this conversation. It's a good reminder.

I want to get my husband some sort of card. I wasn't thrilled with Ally for the auto loan and don't really want to have another high interest credit card. Though he probably should have a credit card in his name maybe this is the route to go.