Time for a Renaissance

[wingwalker]

Hi everyone,

 

It's been a while - since mid-2009 to be exact and I've missed being here. Long story short, I lost 90% of my self-employment income in a 3-day period, which led to losing my car, credit, and eventually my house, which I loved. It was my first house. I had just peaked 700 on my mid-score too, but had no savings. It's been incredibly humbling.

 

So, I'm taking baby steps back into re-establishing credit after five years of being pretty much cash-only and off the grid.

 

I got a preapproved CapOne invitation in the mail and thought, why not? All they can say is no. Yay, I got the usual $300 CL, same as when I was re-establishing myself after my divorce. After 5 months of on-time payments, they'll do a CLI. It won't be a problem, but I was wondering what the current CLI is for these types of starter cards. I'm sure the landscape has changed since the last time I was here.

 

Thanks, everyone, and it's really nice to be back.

 

[mizliz1011]

Welcome back. I SHOULD have been here in 2009 but I stuck my head in the sand for a long time. I still here $300 for starters. but you can use and PIF several times a month. good luck. same thing happened to me... just didn't deal with it well.

[wingwalker]

Hi MizLiz,

 

Good idea - I was thinking of doing a couple of PIFs per months ... especially since the CL is so low.

 

Dealing with financial calamity well is exceedingly difficult ...especially when it's truly unexpected. Lesson learned: more savings, less debt. I simply did not see the massive financial collapse on the horizon. The only upside is when I talk to underwriters, etc., they know it wasn't an isolated incident.

 

If anyone has recent experience with the started Cap1 CLI, I'd love to hear from you.

 

Nice to be back!

[cv91915]

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=500738

[wingwalker]

Thanks, CV! I'll read the thread.

 

I should start a pool - my guess is between $750-$1000 if I PIF or pay more than the minimum each month.

[mendelssohn]

Thanks, CV! I'll read the thread.

 

I should start a pool - my guess is between $750-$1000 if I PIF or pay more than the minimum each month.

PIF every month. You only want to let a small balance report of $2+ and then you PIF.

[wingwalker]

Thanks, Mendelssohn. That makes sense. I'll do that.

[HoustonLynne]

For reference, I was approved by Cap1 last December for the same program -- they call it Credit Steps. The letter I received told me exactly what increase I should expect after 6 months: $250 (to $750 from my initially approved line of $500.)

 

However, a LOT changed on my credit reports between December 2013 and June 2014, so they auto-increased me to $2000 instead. I contacted the EO in July and asked for a product change to something with rewards as well as a CLI to $10K. They changed my card to QS1 with a promise to refund AFs this year and next year, and my limit was raised to $3K. Granted, it's a far cry from the $10K requested...but it is no longer my lowest limit. (My highest are 2 cards with $25K limits; lowest is $2K from a CU that will remain unnamed out of spite.)

 

Points of interest:

1. I can count on one hand the times it has been used. (Highest balance listed as $40.)
2. Cap1 lost about $5K in COs from me in 2005 -- I had 2 of their cards at the time.
3. Only 1 HP for initial approval, because the other 2 were frozen.
4. No HP for the CLI request last month.

As always, YMMV. The key for me was that my reports were completely cleaned of remaining derogs in those 6 months.

 

So the moral of this story is this:

Make good use of your rebuilding* time and focus your energies on cleaning** your reports for a huge comeback...probably much sooner than you imagine. As a refresher from you 2009 days, as well as for posterity to anyone who later reads this thread, I've added a key below.

*Recommended rebuilding profile: 2-3 cards; 2 reporting $0 monthly; 1 reporting $1-2 only. Pay BEFORE statement cuts to achieve these reported numbers. Secured cards can be good choices, if needed.

**For optimum results, "cleaning" should not include the following activities: B*, shopping-cart tricks, store-card mania (see shopping-cart tricks warning), or joining PenFed...did I mention B*?

 

One last thing...humility is a tremendous asset, painfully earned. Congratulations and condolences are in order here. Welcome back!!!

[wingwalker]

Thanks for your detailed reply, HoustonLynne! I appreciate the tips. I'm not planning to do anything crazy, don't worry.

 

I looked through the initial offer, and the card is a platinum card. It doesn't specify a CLI, except that it will (probably?) happen after five on-time payments. I highly doubt that my report will improve tremendously in the next five months. I have a few baddies to get rid of, and it may not be clean by then. I have to check to see if any are still in SOL, too.

 

I'll be sure to update my progress when it happens.

[HoustonLynne]

Thanks for your detailed reply, HoustonLynne! I appreciate the tips. I'm not planning to do anything crazy, don't worry.

 

I looked through the initial offer, and the card is a platinum card. It doesn't specify a CLI, except that it will (probably?) happen after five on-time payments. I highly doubt that my report will improve tremendously in the next five months. I have a few baddies to get rid of, and it may not be clean by then. I have to check to see if any are still in SOL, too.

 

I'll be sure to update my progress when it happens.

Sounds good -- keep us posted! My card was the "Platinum" card, too. And if I recall correctly, I received a letter after I'd had the card for a week or two that outlined the Credit Steps Program and the fact that I was "pre-approved" for a CLI of $250 at the end of the program. I don't know if that's SOP or if it was just as afterthought in my case. Maybe they wanted to give me fair warning not to get too big for my britches and expect a miracle overnight. We did, after all, have a "history" together.

[trap11]

I started with the Cap 1 credit steps in November with the 300cl and i was hoping to get at least 1k but wasnt expecting much. In may I got the congrats email with an increse of 3k to 3300. So that was cool and not a lot had changed on my cr. When I used the card I paid most of balance when the balance posted. So I was making a few payments a month. When I only had the 300cl I never charged more than 200 in any given month.

 

Last week I requested an increse through the luv button and was denied. I emailed the EO and got a call back and requested 10k... after sending some financials they increased my limit to 5k. Before I did that though I did upgrade to the venture rewards card. And I was able to do all of that without a HP.

 

I also applied for a Barclays card and intially got denied... I called recon and was approved for 500cl.

 

Hope this helps and good luck. I wouldnt have been able to do any of it without this board

[wingwalker]

 

Thanks for your detailed reply, HoustonLynne! I appreciate the tips. I'm not planning to do anything crazy, don't worry.

 

I looked through the initial offer, and the card is a platinum card. It doesn't specify a CLI, except that it will (probably?) happen after five on-time payments. I highly doubt that my report will improve tremendously in the next five months. I have a few baddies to get rid of, and it may not be clean by then. I have to check to see if any are still in SOL, too.

 

I'll be sure to update my progress when it happens.

Sounds good -- keep us posted! My card was the "Platinum" card, too. And if I recall correctly, I received a letter after I'd had the card for a week or two that outlined the Credit Steps Program and the fact that I was "pre-approved" for a CLI of $250 at the end of the program. I don't know if that's SOP or if it was just as afterthought in my case. Maybe they wanted to give me fair warning not to get too big for my britches and expect a miracle overnight. We did, after all, have a "history" together.

 

Thanks for the info... I'll see what comes in the mail and report back.

[wingwalker]

I started with the Cap 1 credit steps in November with the 300cl and i was hoping to get at least 1k but wasnt expecting much. In may I got the congrats email with an increse of 3k to 3300. So that was cool and not a lot had changed on my cr. When I used the card I paid most of balance when the balance posted. So I was making a few payments a month. When I only had the 300cl I never charged more than 200 in any given month.

 

Last week I requested an increse through the luv button and was denied. I emailed the EO and got a call back and requested 10k... after sending some financials they increased my limit to 5k. Before I did that though I did upgrade to the venture rewards card. And I was able to do all of that without a HP.

 

I also applied for a Barclays card and intially got denied... I called recon and was approved for 500cl.

 

Hope this helps and good luck. I wouldnt have been able to do any of it without this board

Thanks and congrats on the CLIs! I'll be sure to do that and see what happens. My first statement cuts at the end of the month, so I'll have a jump on it with a short cycle. CB is *awesome*!