119574

Whatchu talkin bout?

Hello! I am here for some advice: After a long journey (thanks CB!), I have recently had some good luck with approvals from both Amex and now Chase. I was just received my new Chase Slate in the mail with a $4K limit. This is my biggest limit at the moment (2nd biggest is $1.5K from Cap One). I have heard stories before of people having good luck asking for a CLI at activation time. I am moving soon and I will have a lot of expenses. My cash flow is pretty good so I'll be able to pay it off in short order but I don't want to jack up my utilization. Has anyone had any luck with Chase? How do you do this? Most of the time the activation phone number is computerized. Do you call the "back door" number? Is asking for $8K being super greedy? Thanks for your advice!

This is good info--Thanks. I've always heard rumors that certain cards (certain Barclay's and certain Cap Ones) just won't grow--That my scores were A LOT worse than jds's when I applied and because of that my card won't increase no matter how much better my scores are now. If that is the case, I'd be better off closing the card and looking elsewhere. Do you think there is any truth to this thinking?

Wow! Was any of this auto CLI? or did you have to request? Were there hard inquiries?

As my title says, I'm wondering if the Barclay's iTunes card will EVER get CLIs? I got this card back when it was the Juniper iTunes--It was my second rebuilder card and, at the time, I was very happy to get approved for a $500 limit. In over 3 years, I have never been late and have never gone over the limit. I have been a model customer. However, there has never even been a HINT of a CLI. My first rebuilder card, an unsecured Orchard has grown from $300 to $1,100. Two years ago I got a Cap One that is now $1,500. Is it time for me to fire Barclay's? Anyone have long-term experience with this card? Thanks!

Yeah, I have jack attacked these every three months for the last two years--these aren't going anywhere. I was planning on starting my offers at more like 10%, and stressing in my certified letters that since these are out of SOL this is all they are likely to get. Will some creditors do a PFD for MUCH LESS than the full amount in circumstances like this? Also, just to make sure that I am understanding you: You are confirming that settling does not change the DoFD? Thanks for your opinion.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I have DV'd all of them plus I KNOW that they are mine. I really do. I'm in a situation where I don't have a lot of time to play games with these. The reason I ask is that I had seen some information on this forum that settling something DOES change the "last activity" on the account such that it lowers your score but DOES NOT change the "Date of First Default" that determines when a trade line falls off of a credit report. This particular point is what I am trying to confirm--I need to do something about these accounts for a manual review but I don't want to, if at all possible, delay when they will fall off of my report.

I have several cards that charged off in 2004. I live in California so the SOL past in 2008. However, for most of them, they will not fall off of my reports until about this time next year. I have a situation coming up that will involve manual review of my credit reports. Since these are all past SOL, I think that most of these accounts can probably be settled. Almost all of them are now with CAs (that report every month and CANNOT be nudged off of my reports--I've tried every dispute attack in the book) rather than OCs. In my situation, the ability to show some effort towards paying is much more important than a hit to my FICO. On the other hand, I would still like these to "age" off my report in a year, as I had anticipated. So, I know that settling old accounts CAN bring the age of last activity more recent resulting in a hit to my scores. BUT, my question is: Would settling these old accounts change the date that these "fall off" my report? That's still based on the DoFD, right? Thanks for any advice!

Thank you for the head's up. Good luck with your disputes!

I have been trying to get EX to delete a bunch of my old addresses so that disputing some old accounts will be easier. The trouble is that they always write back and say that they can't delete the addresses because they are associated with the old accounts. Arrrrrgh!!!!!! Anyone have a way to get out of this Catch-22? Thanks!

Breeze and everyone else, Thanks for responding. You're right, my judgments are fresh enough that even if they are verified it's not likely to have much more of an impact than they already do. So, I feel like I am going to dispute them this week. I know about WhyChat's letter but I want to ask what the thinking is on disputing judgments: Is it better to just ask for it to be deleted or is a "jack attack" pick it apart approach better? Also, from reading CB, it seems like people have pretty good success in getting judgments off of their reports ( of course it could be that the people who aren't so successful are just quiet about it). Does LexisNexus or whoever have the same 30 days to respond and if not it's removed from the report? I guess I'm just really curious about the mechanism by which judgments either stay on a report or are deleted. Thanks again for any thoughts anyone might have on this topic.

Interesting. Thank you. That being said, are there any potential negative outcomes ("unintended consequences" is practically the motto for this forum) that can occur from my disputes? Can it be "verified" as more recent thus impacting my score more seriously? Any other negative outcomes that you can think of? Thanks for your help.

Hello, I have two judgments on one of my reports and only one of them on another. I am considering disputing them with the CRAs but I'm a little bit afraid because I am wondering if the judgment holder (CA/JDB) is notified of my dispute or if they ONLY contact the courthouse itself. I ask because both of these judgments are a couple of years old and the CA has either not located me or hasn't tried. I don't have the money to pay now so I am really afraid of waking them up. So, my question is: Does a disputed judgment result in the judgment holder being contacted? Thanks!

Hello, I read through the big Amex/Oasis topic that's going around and I had a weird and specific question to ask: I had an Amex Green charge and a student blue card. In 2004, both were closed by Amex for being delinquent. I owed a total of about $1000. I was receiving notices from NCO but I was slowly paying off directly to Amex. I eventually paid both off in 2006. I tried applying for an Amex charge card about six months ago and was denied. The stated reasons were a collection on my account (they'll start dropping off in about a year and a half) and a late payment on my student loan about a year ago. I just called up Amex and asked them to confirm both of my cards were paid in full. A nice woman confirmed for me that they were but that they were both closed. I then asked about the Oasis program and she said that she couldn't offer it there but suggested that I contact NCO directly to ask about it. I have not yet called because, frankly, I'm spooked to call a collection agency on the phone--even if I no longer owe anything. Secondly, has anyone ever gotten into the Oasis program this way? Already paid off to Amex, three years ago? I appreciate any thoughts on this.

A little history: Orchard unsecured was really my first rebuilder card after my disaster year of 2004. I had a $500 limit. 2008 was the year that I went out of SOL on almost everything and started to get more aggressive about repair. In february Orchard gave me a $200 increase (to $700 total) without me even asking. Today, I called the Backdoor number: Orchard: 800-395-6090 I asked for a CLI. They did a soft pull and offered me $200 for a TWENTY DOLLAR FEE. I countered that this was really disappointing since I had had the card for three years and had a flawless payment history. She said that there was a regular review for no fee. I told her that these weren't happening frequently enough. Plus, the fee was disappointing since I had never heard of another card charging a fee for a CLI. I then told her I was considering making another card my main card. She paused and said that she would override the system and give me a $400 increase (to $1100 total) for NO FEE! Anyway, I just wanted to share that the backdoor number does work. Just be insistent about what you want!