Put yourself in their place.
One of your customers has just received a credit card. The credit report shows this customer has recently opened two more cards at other banks. They have made one or two payments to your card. Two months after opening, they request a credit limit increase. What would you do?
Everything Iâve experienced is the opposite (again). My Lines are 80+% maxed out monthly. Amex, Citi and Disc just keep bumping up the CL for me automatically.
I am very grateful for your post and for your mention of churning. Thanks
Here is the definition for churning I found at Nerdwallet:
Credit card churning seems simple in theory, but is somewhat difficult to do correctly. Put simply, credit card churning works like this: you find several credit cards that offer a reward youâre interested in â say, airline miles â and a sign-up bonus. You apply for all of those cards, and once you receive them, you spend enough to get the bonus miles. You then stop using the cards, and cancel them before you have to pay any fees. Then, you repeat the process. This way, youâre able to rack up rewards more frequently than you would if you stuck to just one or two cards.
I appreciate the help I have received on this thread from so many other posters. Thank you all. I want to take this opportunity to assure everyone that I am in NO WAY involved in churning. Do not take that as a criticism of churners. I have no problem whatsoever with those who engage in this activity. NONE!! And I wish them Godspeed and every good fortune.
However churning is not my game and never has been my game. Itâs no big deal, but I wanted you to know, regardless.
I remain at this time on the same course as before, as directed by Argyll. I have already sent payment in full for two of my high-dollar balance credits cards to pay them off. I will be sending the final payment tomorrow for my third and last card. I hope to be able to apply for my new cards by May eighth or ninth, give or take, provided my credit score rebounds . . . . which Iâm hoping it will.
I knew that. Thatâs why I clearly said that although the audience there is for churners,
they are also helpful to those just looking for CC recommendations
This is the thread Iâm talking about. You seem to be eager to learn about the mysterious ways of credit card issuers, so I thought youâd find this a gold mine.
OK, thanks. I will have a look.
Not sure if it is the easiest BUT it is an easy process. 
As Argyll suggested, I would wait at least 6 months for your first increase. If it goes well and youâre so inclined, you could try again 3-4 months later.
P.S. I have noticed that Discover starts spitting out $500 increases only after a few larger bumps. It is probably bumping up against a limit in their methodology. ie they already gave me enough credit per their models.
Circumstances being what they are, I have now given consideration to use of Credit Karma. My decision was most influenced here:
This information on Credit Karma influenced me most regarding signup
To be fair, a lot of those BBB complaints are clearly from people who donât understand how Credit Karma works.
if the reports show smaller balances on your cards, the score will be higher because utilization is typically 30% of the score.
Interim update
Status as of this moment:
In accord with Argyllâs guidance (see up thread) I paid everything down nearly to zero. My most recent statement closure finally came last Friday night (5/4), If you look at the date on the OP here, 4/6, you see my dilemma. That same statement for April had just closed when I posted originally, so I needed to wait nearly a MONTH to clear things up with that CC. That sucks, but I didnât know on 4/4 not to leave a balance.
Anyway, now Iâm anxious to apply for my two new cards. I thought you might be interested in how this is unfolding.
First of all, Discover refuses to disclose which of the three credit bureaus they will use, when I apply, to make their determinations. Hence, I have to be certain ALL THREE are up to date regarding my large payment reported last Friday.
I used the free Discover service to check Experian and, wahoo, Experian already has received notice of my large payment. This means they received that notice within one business day and updated my Experian report promptly. Hence, my Experian report looks great and is ready to be interrogated for granting of new credit.
Next I telephoned TransUnion. The lady at TransUnion was very nice and extremely cooperative. She generously checked my report to see if TransUnion had updated things with the data from last Friday. Sadly, at this moment, my TransUnion report is NOT updated. They continue to show a large balance on the card in question. They do not yet realize I paid off that balance.
Equifax? There is no need to check Equifax, since TransUnion is not clear, and I have not done so.
Bottom line:
I cannot apply for my new cards until all three services have updated my information. So far, only Experian is known to have done so. Hence, I must continue to wait.
BTW, my score at Experian totally recovered after my having received credit for that payment. Score is back up where it belongs because Experian is reflecting only a very tiny utilization of less than 1%.
But that is not true at TransUnion . . yet.
ETA
BTW, like a number of other participants here, I have an Alliant statement closure coming up early next week. And currently I have a huge (albeit as yet unreported) balance at Alliant.
In the spirit of not making the same error twice, I already have taken steps to pay off that Alliant balance before my statement closes and the report goes out. I will be making that payment this week. After all, there is no sense risking making my other credit grantors nervous. 
Shinobi, have you already checked the Credit pull DB? I use it to try to see who a bank will pull.
https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?s=70d2179b7b632c96f12d99637d8a15bf&app=creditpulls
Put your state and Discover in the name if you havenât already.
Many thanks. That is intensely interesting.
It appears to confirm what the Discover rep told me this morning . . . that they use all three of the services and no way can they let me know in advance which service they will consult when I apply. Hence I have to be prepared across the board.
Iâm also struck by the puny, chintzy, Discover credit limits. Those I was seeing would leave me having to cycle to make any real money. My preference is to avoid avoid cycling if at all possible. While I acknowledge many people do cycle with no AA (adverse action), my gut still tells me it is a poor idea. And I most always listen to my gut.
But regardless, thanks again for posting that link. I think it could help a lot of people here, not just me.
No problem. I think the small CLs are a function of the people on that siteâtheyâre rebuilding their credit. I have a $16k line on my Discover card, which when opened 18 years ago had an 3k limit.
Use Credit Karma to check the balances on the credit reports for Equifax and TransUnion.
You can always freeze your TU and EQ reports (or whichever two) and force them to pull the third. Best case, theyâll pull the one they can access; worst case, theyâll request you unfreeze your report so they can continue processing your application.
Thank you, glitch99. Actually Iâm good. Have just confirmed all three reports are now reflecting payment from last Friday, which is all I needed. Everything else is up to snuff. Can report the following:
Discover has advised me they do not use Innovis. Therefore I have not checked or worked on Innovis.
Discover has advised me they do not use or go by credit scores. They do their own evaluation of your credit standing, based on your report in its entirety. I have proceeded on that basis, with less emphasis on score and more on content of the report.
Am now finally ready to make my applications. Am in mode of âdoing the best Iâm able to doâ and âtaking my best shotâ. But after seeing too many paltry credit limits I am not expecting very much. At least i will know, win or lose, that I did my very best.
Well, the results are in. I did poorly, but I did my best so no regrets.
Ended up with $8K at Discover and another $7.2K at Citi.
Sometimes you get the bear. Sometimes the bear gets you.
Anyway, as noted in the OP, at least neither of these cards is a Visa card, and that was the original goal. These days you not only need rewards credit, but you also need it on the right brand of cards. For example:
Yesterday had a wonderful opportunity, but they would not accept my American Express. Lost a few hundred bucks on that one. So it goes. You do the best you can.
Plan is to apply for higher credit lines as the cards age. I have no choice.
Appreciate the help and counsel received here. Thanks to all.
shinobi, Your results at ccâs make me feel pretty good. I opened ccâs with only minimal or no credit ratings. As I said earlier, I have only used that Business cc for years & it gets no rating.
Discover gave me $4K. Citi Double Cash gave me $7K. Alliant Visa the lowest $2500. (& I have been with Alliant CU for 15 yrs)
Terrible! A person who owes no one anything. House, cars, farming property, all paid off & no credit. lol
Itâs a beautiful sunny day here, blue skies as far as you can see.
Agreed. In fact that is pretty much what I already indicated.
But, hey, I did my best. You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out. I cannot make a lot of money based on a measly $15k of credit. But I will do as best I can and, as I already indicated, play the waiting game.
It likely fairly could be said I ought to be cycling. With so little credit as I was offered today I suppose that is what most people would do. Iâm instinctively uncomfortable with cycling my credit line. But I might have to relent and do a bit of cycling, albeit against my best instincts. We shall see how it goes.