Got approved for a Barclaycard today!

[budgetgal]

My FICO score is 661. I received two pre-selected offers from them that were identical. 0 annual fee and 22.9 interest which is fine because I don't plan to carry a balance. $2000 credit line. This is my second credit card since being discharged in oct. of '11. My first card was a Household Bank MasterCard with a $1000 limit. $39 annual fee on that one and no interest first year and 14.9 after that. Oh and Barclaycard is No interest for 6 months. Hope this additional card will help me continue to bring up my score. Just wanted to share!

[justbroke]

Just use it sparingly and keep your usage below 30% at all costs (below 10% if you really can). The model likes higher credit limits as it shows how you do with having more money available. The lower credit card limits (below $500) actually "hurt" a little (but I don't know how much). I had a "reason" on one of my scoring models that my score was lowered because I had a low limit credit card. The card was used to re-establish my credit after the bankruptcy.

[budgetgal]

Thanks. My 661 was with a little over 200 reporting on that 1000 limit card. 22% utilization. I want to shoot for under 10 percent going forward. I pay in full but they report that amount when the bill is generated it seems. Was pleased I got a higher limit on the Barclaycard. Wasn't sure how that would go but figured it was time to get another card to continue the building process. I hope to get a car in about a year and would love to be in the 680-700 range for that.

[Amy26]

Congrats! Nicely done... if you use the card sparingly and have it generate a statement six months in a row and I believe Barclay will give you an automatic increase.

[reben]

Amy26 is correct. I got $1000 automatic line increase from Barclay after 8 months.

[flowerchild]

Congrats budgetgal and like justbroke said, use it sparingly and keep that utilization under 10% and you should see your scores start to increase.

[budgetgal]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. This site has been an invaluable resource!

[TwentyTwelve]

Congrats! So far I am really enjoying the Barclaycard. I've been using it to pay bills and generate reward points and I've heard they're really good about giving increases.

[budgetgal]

Glad to hear you have had a positive experience with them! I'm planning on using it for bills too. Cool to get points for things I have to pay anyway.

[ValleYum]

Amy26 is correct. I got $1000 automatic line increase from Barclay after 8 months.

I have had my Barclay's card for 6 months. I just received a letter in the mail a few days ago giving me a $1,000 credit limit increase "for responsibly using my credit" with them. I will note that I have used it and carried a (small) balance on it off and on for the 6 months. It will be paid in full today, one week prior to my due date. There was no interest during the past 6 months so it cost me nothing to do this. My credit score just went up due to having more available credit.

[MBeach222]

I got a Barclay promo in the mail. I signed up online, and was approved for $750. Before they decided on approval, they asked my if I planned to use the card at ATMs. Yes/No/Maybe. I said maybe. They also gave me an option for balance transfer, with a min of $100. I chose $120 to be over the min. They asked if I wanted online billing instead of paper. I said yes. Since they asked these questions before deciding, I assume it is part of the decision because all of these are profitable for Barclays. I was approved in seconds online, so I do not know yet if they did a hard or soft pull.