I 'think' with Citi the procedure is to call the ordinary CS rep and ask. If the front line CS rep has the authority to instantly grant the request it is a soft pull because it is already preauthorized in their system. If the front line CS rep says they will have to submit it to the credit department or someone else, tell them never mind and cancel the request because it would be a hard.

Also I 'think' $2,000 is the maximum amount of that kind of increase and alas, don't count on a CS rep to know the difference between a soft pull and a hard pull despite what they may tell you.

No guarantees on that info. That's just what has worked for me.

I personally have never had any luck with Chase without a hard but you can reallocate with Chase so opening new cards for bonuses and then reallocating lines is a better option for increasing limits with Chase.