voter01

I don't know whether or not they report AUs, but you could always call and ask...

Looks like the $95 purchase did trigger an update as planned-- my account (opened in 1999) is no longer "too new to rate" with a $200 CL. Now it's "pays acct as agreed" with a $1k CL. I'm so happy that the LUV from Victoria's Secret is finally showing up! And, as it turns out, my girlfriend decided she didn't want the $95 worth of Vic Sec stuff, so I'm off to the store to return it. Happy days! V

The deed is separate from the loan. Can you give us a little more information? E.g. who will own the house.

What is that "certain amount"? Do you mean if I went over 80% the rate would be worse, or is there another threshold to which I should be paying attention? Does the $70k I’m not touching in my example above take care of that?

This seems like a silly question, but I feel like I’m missing something... I’m looking into getting a HELOC for some home improvements and a bit of debt consolidation. I see on rate sheets that the larger the HELOC, the better the rate. Is there any reason to not take a line close to the max (well, the max for 80% LTV)? I only need to borrow about $30-35k. If I took a $100k line, and used $30k of it, that would be better for FICO (with regard to utilization) than taking a lower line, right? What about non-FICO considerations? Besides the interest rate, are there any other things I should be thinking about? ALSO... Am I thinking about these numbers correctly?: If, for example, comps were coming in at $350k, then to keep 20% equity in the house I would have to not touch $70k, right? So I could potentially access $280k. If my current mortgage were at $150k then the max HELOC line I could take (leaving 20% untouched) would be $130k, right? i.e.: $350k - $70k = $280k $280k - $150k = $130k Thanks for the help!

Well, not entirely "free"-- it would cost her an inquiry on her report(s), right?

Here's an AMEX Financial Review thread, which probably has the info you seek: AMEX Financial Review (please post if you’ve been under rev) http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=61896&hl=

DISCOVERCARD NO CITIBANK MAYBE PROVIDIAN PROBABLY NOT JC PENNEYS NO <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have to disagree, given MY experience (BTW, all examples below were done without hard pulls, and via regular CSRs and managers, not Retention): DISCOVER YES My notes from a call made late last year: "Changed from 15.74% to 10.74% by calling (single operator went through 15.74-> 13.74-> 11.74; 'is that the absolute best offer?'-> 10.74)." CITI DEFINITELY Again, my notes: "This had been grandfathered into a permanent forced rate of 20.99% (based on EQ score), changed to 15.24% by speaking with a manager." Then the next call 2 months later: "APR lowered to 10.65% by speaking with a manager (CSR dropped it from 15.74 to 12.15, then mgr dropped it an additional 1.5 percentage points)." PROVIDIAN YES And they will also give a promo APR for a period of time prior to the lower regular rate going into effect. For example, last time I called my account was at 20.49. I got it reduced to 3.99 for 3 months, after which it went to my new regular rate of 11.99. I have no experience with Penney. Hope that helps some. Make sure you talk to a supervisor after you get the best rate you can get out of the CSR.

When I called in to try to get a CLI via the phone (1-4-1), I got a message that said "According to our records, a line of credit increase cannot be requested for this card." Has anyone else gotten this message? What does it mean? I was able to do one phone CLI at 6 months (a few months ago) without any problems. That is the only other time I have called.

I am unable to pull new reports, but I never got an email from PG regarding termination of my account or anything. For the record, I had NEVER done anything other than pull my report once a day. I don’t even know what the Thing is! I guess I need to call and cancel my subscription. How aggravating!

Congrats! And best of luck with avoiding the dreaded FR!! Probably won’t help much, but if you want to see what has triggered FR for others, here’s a thread (which you could use in conjunction with a basic search of CB): http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=61896

BOA Gold: 0% for life of BT, no BT fees Discover Platinum: 0% for life of BT if I make a purchase every month after 6 months (purchases can be of any amount, so once that starts I’ll only be charging a buck or so a month) Citibank Platinum (Select & Dividend- I can't remember which is which; running right now): 2.99% for life of BT, with CL increase if I do a BT 4.99% for life of BT, also with CL increase

It’s all about util for me and unfortunately I need it bad!

I am at 6 months with Amex Blue. I just clicked on the “request a credit increase” link on my online statement, and it’s saying I’m auto- approved for a $1,600 increase. Should I take it, or should I decline it and call in to see if I can get a larger increase? My current CL is $10k. I was certainly hoping my 6-month increase would be better than $1,600. What should I do?

How much more time do you need before you can pay whatever you won't be able to pay by the due date? Amex charge cards usually have a little window after the recommended payment date (the date on your bill). (At least my platinum charge does, 5-7 days; I assume it's the same for all the charge cards.) If you only needed a few extra days, you'd probably be fine. They'll tell you when they would consider you late if you call and ask.