Originally Posted by
beltway
IMO yes and yes. It's always possible that Chase has recently changed (or will in the future change) its treatment of the latter activity, but the anecdotal evidence in recent years -- including my personal experience -- is that opening up headroom in your CL is an aid to auto-approval.
A vocal minority in this thread may wellwill inevitably take issue with this, but as far as I'm concerned it's like the flat-earth movement: unable to muster any empirical support for its position, yet doggedly unwilling to admit as much.
I have always decreased credit lines prior to applying for new cards. Across all issuers (including Chase), it has worked (never been turned down in the past several years for a new card), and I apply for lots of cards. The only time it did not work was when I tried to get a second Chase
business card -- that did require speaking with a Chase rep, and I eventually got approved.
However, I have no datapoints on Chase since the policy change.