jspector

Hi all,

So I just cancelled three cards I had with citi (it was time to drop the AA cards), dropping my available credit down quite a bit. I now have only the cards that I want for regular point earning, SPG from amex, Forward from citi, and Sapphire Preferred from chase.

To try to protect my score, I want to recover some of the credit line that I lost on the cards I cancelled. But if I need hard credit pulls, maybe just better to pick new cards with new sign up bonuses instead. Do citi and chase have any mechanism for increasing credit with no hard pull? I got the sapphire preferred ~4 months ago at a fairly low limit vs. my cards from other issuers, and have been putting a TON of spend on it (spending and paying off the full limit roughly 3 times a month). I'm hoping that their systems may notice this and increase the limit or something.

Thanks!

longhorn11

It probably would have been better to consolidate your credit lines before you closed your accounts. Most if not all cases I've seen involved a hard pull for a CLI request from both Citi and Chase.

EDIT: maybe this can only be done when applying for new credit. They've moved credit lines around to get a card approved in my experience. I'm sure I remember reading others having success as well.

Slybone

I haven't had any luck getting a CLI from chase w/o a hard pull...

AggieTraveler

When I applied for the CSP, I also called back a little later the same day and asked for a CLI on my Freedom. They did a hard pull for both, but only one pull showed up on my CR since they were on the same day.

In the past, I've had Chase give me CLIs without even asking (and no hard pull), but it hasn't happened in the past few years.

penner42

I have no experience with Citi, but when I wanted to make a purchase on my Chase Amazon Visa that was larger than the credit limit on that card, I called them and they gladly moved credit from a different Chase card I had instead of doing a credit pull.

I first asked for the credit increase over the phone, and was told that would require a credit report and she asked if that was okay. I said I'd rather not, and asked if it was possible to move the credit from a different card instead. Pretty painless.

jspector

Hmm ok, so I think I will apply for the United MP explorer to bank the 50K there and then call to ask for a CLI on my Sapphire Preferred at the same time.

jspector

So, interesting update that just confuses me further...

I applied for the Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer card on the 50+10K offer and asked for a CLI on my sapphire preferred within an hour of each other a few days ago to use one inquiry for two moves.

Odd thing - they declined my request to increase my CSP credit line by ~4K but then just yesterday approved me for the new card with a 20K credit line. Go figure...

longhorn11

It is strange. I remember reading other posts on here saying the same thing. I'm not sure what kind of formula they use, but it's an odd one.

worldiswide

There are definitely separate credit policies for new account acquisition and portfolio management (credit line increases and/or decreases). Although it seems odd, it can be more difficult to override the credit policies for existing customers which could be no credit line increases in the first year, or within x months (in which case it is not a credit decision per se, but a bank policy decision) than to apply and be granted a new line of credit. You should look at the letter that was required to state the reason for the decline of the credit line request and see if a credit reporting agency is referenced, in which case the decision was based on a credit review. If there is no mention of a credit reporting agency, it was a bank policy decision and no credit information was obtained.

DC777Fan

Data point: Initially (last month) approved for 5k line on Ink Bold. I'm at 4900 of actual business spending (may or may not help cause) and called to see about a CLI. CS rep told me it's flexible spending but they'd transfer me to lending dept and I reluctantly agreed dreading a hard pull.

Guy asked me a couple questions about the business, did a soft pull and increased it to 7500--said that good payment history and normal charging will allow it to naturally flex upward without any inquires hard or soft.

FreeBird2k

I recently applied for a few cards from chase/citi. Even if they do 2 pulls if it's the same day it will only get reported as 1 pull.

DC777Fan

Further data point: Chase again approved upping my Ink Bold limit from 7.5k to 12k with just another soft pull. Business spending has been a bit heavier than expected this month (though the card is relatively new and they've upped the limit from 5k to 12k after only ~50 days with the card).

worldiswide

How do you know these were soft pulls?

thexfactor

Incorrect - or certainly incorrect to the extent your proclaiming a blanket rule.

apk123

Who do you call to reallocate credit at Chase? General Customer Service?

EDIT: To answer my own question, I called the united explorer (the card from which I wanted to transfer credit) CS number. The CSR understood right away what I wanted to do and did it without a problem.