How Not To Improve Your Credit Score – AND Lower Your Self-Esteem!

Before this starts to sounds like a lot of whining, I should explain that recently I've been focused on improving my credit score.

I had fallen below the 760 level over the last six months because of a ton of new inquires and new accounts. So my goal was to prop my score back up to at least 760 - if not back into the 800 territory.

Why? Pure vanity. There is no other logical reason. I'm not buying a house anytime soon and I have all the consumer credit I could ever use. So since there are no dings on my credit history - why should I care right?

I'm a numbers guy, I get fixated. It's my vice.

So in looking through my cards I noticed that my Old Navy Card had a limit so low it was dragging my average card balance down substantially. It has a $600 limit.

So I called Old Navy and asked them to bump it up a little bit. I've been an account holder for years now and I've faithfully paid my bill in full every single month (average balance is like $60). I assumed they'd be falling over themselves to give me a $10,00 line of credit for board shirts and tank tees!

Wrong.

I was denied and I got this letter in the mail explaining their decision:

"Dear Thrifty Expat,

GE MONEY BANK has reviewed your recent request to increase the credit line on your Old Navy credit card account.

Your request has been denied for the following reason(s):

Insufficient information to determine bureau score

Our decision was based in part on a credit scoring system that was used to predict your creditworthiness. The reason(s) listed above indicate the credit characteristics where you did not score well in relation to other customers.

Some information used to make this decision was obtained from the credit reporting agency listed below. This reporting agency did not make this credit decision and is unable to provide you with the specific reason(s) for our action.

Equifax
1550 Peachtree Street
Maildrop H -13
Atlanta, GA 30309
1-800-685-1111

Sincerely,
GE MONEY BANK "

I have so many questions:

1. What does "Insufficient information to determine bureau score" mean and why is that my fault? Doesn't that sound like a computer glitch?

2. Why do they repeatedly write GE MONEY BANK in capital letters?

3. Why do I feel like I'm the last kid on the playground to get picked for kick-ball. I mean - I have an open offer for an American Express Platinum Card and Old Navy Credit won't give me more than $600 to spend in their stupid-store?

Bitter? Yes I am.

The sad part is I will keep this card because my wife keeps buying stuff from them once a month and they give $10-off coupons when I spend like a million* dollars - which is very very difficult to do $600 at a time.

* approximately