2025 Approvals and CLIs thread

[hdporter]

CLD Citi/Home Depot:  $20k -> $5001

 

Just past 20 yrs of age.  No use since Jul 3 2024.  (Obviously should have transacted modest purchase to hold the line.)

 

I don't envision a large purchase anytime soon.  Will seek CLI when/if I anticipate one.

 

 

[PhoenixDown]

Approved for AMEX Gold (August - 730 FICO) and AMEX Platinum (September - 720 FICO). 

[hdporter]

On 9/18/2025 at 6:43 PM, PhoenixDown said:

Approved for AMEX Gold (August - 730 FICO) and AMEX Platinum (September - 720 FICO). 

 

Scratching my head a little as to why you would want both of these. 

 

(Of course, my situation is such that Amex Blue Pref is worth more to me than either of these cards ...)

[MP80]

5 hours ago, hdporter said:

Scratching my head a little as to why you would want both of these. 

I didn't mind having a $75 annual fee on a "Gold Card" back in the '90s; I remember American Express charging $55 for personal cards. In my opinion, those annual fees are reasonable given the current market sentiment in the credit industry. 

 

However, things have gotten better, with more credit card issuers and a wider selection of lenders, rendering many primary issuers obsolete and unnecessary.

 

I'm carrying the AmEx Green Card, struggling with the annual fee of $150, and renewing or increasing the annual fee to refresh the Charge Card will be the potential demise of many cardholders.

 

Sorry to sidetrack the approval thread topic.

[hdporter]

Briefly, my post wasn't about the respective card fees themselves.  I just don't grasp having both Plat and Gold cards.  If you hold Plat, do incremental Gold benefits justify the added Gold annual fee?

 

 

Edited September 25, 2025 by hdporter

[supern8ural]

Costco Anywhere Visa was opened as a Citi Diamond Preferred was $500 opened 7/29/23 denied 2/27/24 "Serious Delinquency" denied 3/28/24, 4/30/24, 5/31/24, 6/30/24, 7/31/24, 8/30/24 "your account hasn't been open long enough to be considered for an increase."  PC’d to Costco Anywhere Visa 9/19/24.  Denied 10/8/24 "your account hasn't been open long enough to be considered for an increase." Approved for $1000 11/5/24.  Approved for $2000 5/4/25.

 

Today I did possibly the most credit geeky thing possible, I woke up at about 11:55, saw the calendar notification on my phone, so I hit the button at 12:01 and was approved for $4000.  Yes I set another notification for the next request

 

Looks like Citi will not ever go over 2x your current credit limit which means it'll be another full year before I get over $10k with this one (and my Double Cash which is coming up for a CLI at the end of this month and is also $500 -> $1k -> $2k).  Such is life I guess, at least I'm back in Citi's good graces.  Double Cash would be such a good catch all if I didn't have to watch the limit though.  Even having picked up a BCE which takes some spend away from Citi I'm consistently putting $4-600 a month through the Double Cash and maybe $300 through the Costco card, and for example recently I bought a new pair of cats for my Jeep which I would have put on Double Cash but had to use BCE instead because of the limit.

 

I have been hitting the button religiously the last day of every month for Discover and I apparently am stuck at $10k with them forever.  I haven't bothered to post as they're just denying me every month.  No big loss I guess, their recent categories haven't been working for me and honestly I wouldn't miss the card if it closed on me. The one real advantage of the card which is no FTFs didn't work for me the one time I tried to use it.

[StarkRaven$]

Approved for United Explorer card today. It comes with a 60K miles upon spending $3K in the first three months. I just got my first passport in the mail yesterday and am planning a trip to Quebec with my brother next year. I need extra leg room on the long flight back east from CA so those miles will cover most of the airline ticket.

[MP80]

On 11/13/2025 at 4:38 AM, StarkRaven$ said:

Approved for United Explorer card today. It comes with a 60K miles upon spending $3K in the first three months. I just got my first passport in the mail yesterday and am planning a trip to Quebec with my brother next year. I need extra leg room on the long flight back east from CA so those miles will cover most of the airline ticket.

Have you cancelled your Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card and transferred the credit limit to another Chase Bank credit card?

[Sidewinder]

Was going through an pile o' mail and discovered a letter from U.S. Bank that due to the "exceptional" way I've handled my account (uh, paying my dam bill on time is "exceptional?"), my limit is increased from $3,000 (the limit the now-defunct State Farm Bank gave me when I opened the card 12 years ago) to $6,000.

 

Meh.

 

[StarkRaven$]

18 hours ago, MP80 said:

Have you cancelled your Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card and transferred the credit limit to another Chase Bank credit card?

I did cancel the Southwest card. Its CL was only $8K and the new United card is $12,300. So I end up with a gain of over $4K.

[supern8ural]

On 5/31/2025 at 7:17 AM, supern8ural said:

Citi Double Cash opened 8/30/2024 $500, approved 12/1/24 for $1000, approved 5/31/25 for $2k

 

 

Called in today, thinking that might get me more than going through the app, but it did not.  Approved 11/28/2025 for $4k.  Was told that there was no ability to request recon for a higher limit.  Asked about off cycle reporting (as I'm actively looking to buy a house) and I'll have to call back for another department as the rep I talked to only handled CLIs.

 

Guess my CFU just became my catch all (1.5%) instead of the Double Cash (2%) as I don't want to take the utilization hit - currently my balance is at $1400ish and I'd rather have the higher FICO scores right now than the cash back.

 

It appears that Citi's rules are hard and that they are only going to approve a CLI after 180 days and will only give you 2x your current CL so it'll take me another full year to get my limits up to where they ought to be on my Citi cards.

 

Unsurprisingly, Discover denied me again so I'm stuck at $10k even though I've actually been using it this quarter for Amazon purchases.

[supern8ural]

AmEx BCE opened 6/4 at $10k.  CLI 9/6 to $20k.  Today was 91 days and sure enough I requested again, requested $40k, approved for $35k.  Here's the thing though, they are asking me for bank statements and/or temporary access to my bank records.  Should I let them see?  I haven't so much as fibbed about anything but I'm obviously nervous now.  I'm actually happy with $35k (that would be my second highest CL) is there any risk that if I let them see my finances they would go lower?  If I do nothing can I just keep the $35k and move on with my life?

[ShawnPY1972]

19 hours ago, supern8ural said:

AmEx BCE opened 6/4 at $10k.  CLI 9/6 to $20k.  Today was 91 days and sure enough I requested again, requested $40k, approved for $35k.  Here's the thing though, they are asking me for bank statements and/or temporary access to my bank records.  Should I let them see?  I haven't so much as fibbed about anything but I'm obviously nervous now.  I'm actually happy with $35k (that would be my second highest CL) is there any risk that if I let them see my finances they would go lower?  If I do nothing can I just keep the $35k and move on with my life?

 

With Amex if they request financial records you might not be able to get around it.  They could put you in financial review over this and if you don't supply the records they could close you out.  Therefore, if you didn't FIB you have nothing to worry about.  I lost my account many years ago over financial review because I did not want to share my bank account records.

[supern8ural]

On 12/6/2025 at 5:27 AM, supern8ural said:

AmEx BCE opened 6/4 at $10k.  CLI 9/6 to $20k.  Today was 91 days and sure enough I requested again, requested $40k, approved for $35k.  Here's the thing though, they are asking me for bank statements and/or temporary access to my bank records.  Should I let them see?  I haven't so much as fibbed about anything but I'm obviously nervous now.  I'm actually happy with $35k (that would be my second highest CL) is there any risk that if I let them see my finances they would go lower?  If I do nothing can I just keep the $35k and move on with my life?

 

So I did give them access but am "stuck" at $35k, that's OK.  That's I think both appropriate for my income and also gets me where I wanted to be limit and utilization wise.

 

I called today to see if they'd do an off cycle report, apparently the team that handles credit bureau reporting only works 9-5:30 EST on weekdays.  Useful info: the direct number for that team is 1-800-874-2717.  I want to do this as I am looking to buy a house and a report now would improve my credit scores, but my statement date was just last week so that helps me not at all immediately.

 

I also asked about re-evaluating my APR but I'm in a promo until September and I don't think the nice lady understood, she thought I was angling for another 0% deal which I don't need now, but really I just wanted to lower my normal APR, I'll worry about that later I guess.

[hegemony]

Elan Fidelity 3% card CLI 40k to 60k 

[supern8ural]

On 12/7/2025 at 11:27 AM, supern8ural said:

 

So I did give them access but am "stuck" at $35k, that's OK.  That's I think both appropriate for my income and also gets me where I wanted to be limit and utilization wise.

 

I called today to see if they'd do an off cycle report, apparently the team that handles credit bureau reporting only works 9-5:30 EST on weekdays.  Useful info: the direct number for that team is 1-800-874-2717.  I want to do this as I am looking to buy a house and a report now would improve my credit scores, but my statement date was just last week so that helps me not at all immediately.

 

I also asked about re-evaluating my APR but I'm in a promo until September and I don't think the nice lady understood, she thought I was angling for another 0% deal which I don't need now, but really I just wanted to lower my normal APR, I'll worry about that later I guess.

 

Follow up: the direct number is useless as I was unable to get past the automated phone tree to a rep.  None of the spoken options applied to my situation and "early report" and "off cycle report" weren't recognized by the bot.  However calling after 9 and explaining my situation to a regular CSR got me to the credit reporting team where a very nice lady understood what I wanted immediately and according to her it's already done (as of yesterday morning).  Just waiting to see it pop up on my reports.  Waiting for a payment scheduled to post today to my one Citi card to make that under 10% util as well.  (see a few posts back, Citi Double Cash has a $4k limit, so I'm paying more than my statement balance this month to get it under $400.  In the meantime now I'm using my CFU for day to day non category purchases to keep my scores up as that card has a $26,500 limit and 1.5% cash back.)  We will see where I end up once that reports, will I be >800?  Let's find out.

 

Before anyone asks, I have my eye on a house and it's already had two price reductions so I'm scrambling to pull together insurance and also get my credit polished before making an offer.  When I prequal'd my middle score was ~780 I think?  But no sense taking chances, now we aren't "building credit" we're in optimization mode.  Now is the time that all the monkey motion I've been doing with credit cards over the past ~2.5 years hopefully pays off.

[supern8ural]

Well shoot, that literally changed my score not at all.  I find that hard to believe that increasing my TCL by $15k and also bringing util below 10% on one of two accounts that wasn't did nothing, but here we are.

 

Let's see what happens when Citi reports...

[supern8ural]

Citi won't do an off cycle report apparently, so I am going to have to wait until the 16th, and just hope that my scores are good enough in the meantime if I need to move faster.

[supern8ural]

On 12/10/2025 at 10:00 AM, supern8ural said:

Citi won't do an off cycle report apparently, so I am going to have to wait until the 16th, and just hope that my scores are good enough in the meantime if I need to move faster.

 

797 Exp, 787 Eq, dammit now I'm going to have to go AZEO again just to see if I can break 800.  I figured this should do it...  (all accounts reporting a balance, but <10% util, ~4% reported overall util, but that's apparently still not good enough.  One account ~6 mos, a couple hard pulls reporting, everything else is squeaky.)

[TheVig]

Because at this point in the game, why not. Lol

 

Rakuten Amex $16,000. Instant approval. Soft pull. 
 

They do a soft pull on Transunion to see if you prequalify. They show you your credit limit before you commit. 
 

BEFORE you accept go back and freeze Transunion to avoid the HP. Numerous videos on YouTube regarding this. 
 

 

 

 

[ShawnPY1972]

4 hours ago, TheVig said:

Because at this point in the game, why not. Lol

 

Rakuten Amex $16,000. Instant approval. Soft pull. 
 

They do a soft pull on Transunion to see if you prequalify. They show you your credit limit before you commit. 
 

BEFORE you accept go back and freeze Transunion to avoid the HP. Numerous videos on YouTube regarding this. 
 

 

 

 

 

 I just applied for the rakuten Amex card unfreezing and refreezing my trans union report and they approved me for $8,000.  Thank goodness for no hard pull inquiry!  

 

Crazy thing is a few months ago they pre-approved me for only $2,000 and now they gave me $8,000.  🥰

Edited December 22, 2025 by ShawnPY1972

[ShawnPY1972]

22 hours ago, ShawnPY1972 said:

 

 I just applied for the rakuten Amex card unfreezing and refreezing my trans union report and they approved me for $8,000.  Thank goodness for no hard pull inquiry!  

 

Crazy thing is a few months ago they pre-approved me for only $2,000 and now they gave me $8,000.  🥰

 

Hey Vig, know of any other similar hacks?  😁

[TheVig]

14 hours ago, ShawnPY1972 said:

 

Hey Vig, know of any other similar hacks?  😁

If you want a really useless card. You could probably do the same hack for the Fetch Rewards Amex. That card like the Rakuten Amex is also from Imprint with First Electronic Bank as the backer. 
 

Do a YouTube search for soft pull credit cards. Probably will find all kinds of cards. Mostly trash cards though. 
 

Do you mind me asking what current credit cards you have?

[Sidewinder]

Got an email this morning from American Express that my SkyMiles Platinum card's limit has been increased to $26,000.

 

See, the previous limit was $22,700.  I wonder if they heard that US Bank had upped my Platinum Visa limit to $24,000 and refused to be outdone.

 

[ShawnPY1972]

On 12/23/2025 at 10:05 AM, TheVig said:

If you want a really useless card. You could probably do the same hack for the Fetch Rewards Amex. That card like the Rakuten Amex is also from Imprint with First Electronic Bank as the backer. 
 

Do a YouTube search for soft pull credit cards. Probably will find all kinds of cards. Mostly trash cards though. 
 

Do you mind me asking what current credit cards you have?

 

I currently maintain accounts with Bank of America, Citibank Double Cash, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s American Express, Navy Federal, BECU, and First Tech Credit Union. I also have several Synchrony accounts, including Amazon, Chevron, Ashley, CareCredit MasterCard, and Walmart One Pay MasterCard, along with an account with Truist Bank and a few others. I was recently approved for the Rakuten American Express card. I previously had Capital One and Discover accounts but have since closed them.

 

As of today, I have zero inquiries on TransUnion and six inquiries on Experian, which will all be at least one year old by July. My current utilization is around 20%, and I’m working on paying down additional balances by the end of 2026. I’m very proud of the strong credit profile I’ve built and my goal is to qualify for both Barclays and Chase by then. Chase has already pre-approved me for auto loans and Home Loans several times, and I’m hopeful that once my inquiries age and my utilization improves further, I’ll also be able to secure one of their credit cards.