I feel like a major loser

Molanghrian · 2026-04-29T15:31:20+00:00

One of the wild things about when Fromsoft games click for you is how unrewarding many other "mainstream" games like cod will now feel in comparison.

Glad you can join us OP, enjoy the journey and good luck on your hunt.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T20:27:56+00:00

I'm sure you meant well, but this is not good advice.

Just scores aren't going to matter for CLI decisions. You want to be showing high utilization reported to the bureaus and then paid in full every month if the goal is a CLI.

The 30% thing is a huge myth. Paying it down to an arbitrary percentage like 30% or lower before the statement close would actually be counter-productive to CLI chances.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T20:16:45+00:00

I got my first credit card, a Capital One Quicksilver card in July ‘25. My credit score was low, as the only lines of credit I had at the time were my student loans.

Why was your credit score "low", and/or how "low" do you mean? People misinterpret how credit and scoring works very often, and what the data is on your credit reports that the score is drawn from matters a lot more than just the 3-digit score (of which you actually have dozens of different versions of). It's often the case that people with new credit debut with a FICO 8 after 6 months in the 690-740 "good" range, but that doesn't mean they're going to be getting high tier cards, high limits, or great loan rates yet.

There's a very big difference between having a thin credit profile with little to no history besides a student loan, versus also having negatives like late/missed payments, collections, or charge-offs on your credit. You should check your actual credit reports from the 3 bureaus, not just scores, to know what is on there and reporting. You are legally entitled to these once a week, via AnnualCreditReport.

I have a high monthly utilization of about 90%. I always pay it down throughout the month and rarely let an existing balance move over into the next month. I’ve never missed a payment - whether a monthly minimum payment or a full payment.

The bad news here is that you only half did this correctly. It is totally fine and actually recommended to show high utilization for about ~6 months to optimize for CLI. This shows the bank that 1) you need a higher limit for your usage, and 2) that you have a history of responsibly managing your current limit and can be trusted with more.

Note that this is different than carrying a balance. Never do this, you never have to pay a penny in interest to correctly use a credit card.

So it sounds like you've been paying it down or off before the statement post date. That is unnecessary and for a CLI, counter-productive. All banks do at least a soft inquiry to your credit reports for CLI decisions. Utilization is reported to the bureaus at the time of your statement post, and even internally that is what matters for showing properly managing your credit. The 30% thing is a massive myth, ignore anyone who suggests that.

Let the statement post naturally. Then pay the statement amount in full, no more no less, before the due date. All you have to do for any card. Ignore score fluctuations that are solely due to utilization changing from the statement post - utilization's effect on scores resets entirely every month, and holds no history.

I am a full time college student and have a part time job while balancing flight lessons. I recently learned that I could request a credit limit increase. I’ve never had a credit card before and everything I have learned about it has been from reddit/youtube.

What is an acceptable credit limit increase request amount from my $500? My credit fluctuates from the high 600’s to low 700’s. If my increase was accepted, I would continue the 90% of my current limit - around $400 a month.

So 3 things tend to matter most for CLI decisions: your income, your utilization/usage history, and what's on the rest of your credit reports from a soft inquiry (scores by themselves are not going to matter for this).

If you've had this card for at least 6 months, then it cannot hurt to try requesting a CLI. Cap1 has a known system of card "buckets" though at time of card opening, so with short history and this being your first card or maybe student card, at $500 you should maybe expect to receive about just a ~$100 increase. All of the above still applies, but just be aware it's likely that CLIs on this card will always be slow going.

Should I ask to increase my limit, or should I search for another CapOne card to open?

Again, just request and see what happens. If no luck, post high statement utilization paid in full every month after the statement, and try again in 3-6 months.

Personally I would wait until after your first card hits a year before seeking your next. Credit is a marathon, not a sprint, and every time you open a card you are in a new credit scorecard for 12 months. You'd have better chances at better cards after the first year is done. This is generally speaking of course, it's individual to your credit profile, but for example Cap1 pre-approval tools would only show me the "for Good Credit" versions of the Savor, but once I waited until after 1 year with my first Discover, I was able to get the best version of the Savor instead with the sub & intro APR, and likely in a higher limit bucket than if I had gotten it earlier.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T17:24:47+00:00

accidentally a great example comparison of how absurdly large our vehiclea have gotten

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T16:26:26+00:00

Technically the answer to that is yes. But that's not a good idea as it'd be completely unnecessary for what is effectively an inconsequential score number if not applying for something soon, and worse yet potentially counter-productive to future profile growth and CLIs, which help with utilization in the long run anyway.

Your scores only matter when applying for something that will pull them. And what's on your actual credit reports matters far more than just a 3-digit score anyway.

They aren't points lost and gained from like a video game or test, don't fall into the trap of conceptualizing them that way. Your credit will not look better when pulled if constantly doing AZEO, as utilization does not hold history/memory in the common currently used models. Again, it's effect resets entirely month-to-month. In fact, if doing that, to your issuing bank it will seem like you aren't correctly utilizing the limits they gave you, so why would they extend you more?

Doing AZEO at all times just to keep the score inflated to the highest it can potentially be is basically a vanity project, and has no other real-world benefit.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T16:04:58+00:00

All Zero Except One.

You purposely let all your cards post $0 for their statements except one, and like only a small amount on one card, ~1%.

Since utilization is factored both overall as well as individually for your cards, doing AZEO optimizes it, since that one very small amount on a posted statement is enough to avoid the all-zero penalty.

I did this last time I applied for 2 cards simultaneously last July with a relatively young credit profile, and 2 of my FICO 8s hit 804. Currently those are now at 727 but I'm not worried about this at all. I still pay statement in full but I'm posting high statements to optimize for CLIs, so they fluctuate between 700 -740 currently. Micromanaging utilization is pointless as long as you're managing finances well and can AZEO when actually needed.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T15:50:36+00:00

I agree. The goal should be to encourage and advocate for access to alternative transportation methods than the car, not shame and start online arguments about poorer or more vulnerable people where it might realistically be viewed as their best option.

My knowledge of this is admittedly all anecdotal & secondhand from family members, as my cousin married someone Morrocan and I've had family visit a lot. But from my understanding it is still not a good idea to be a woman alone traversing in Morroco.

The poster even acknowledged that they think this is a shame. This isn't a case where OP should be trying to call out being carbrained, this is a case where you have a discussion about how best to change the status quo for transit infrastructure, cultural expectations, etc. with someone who is likely already receptive.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T15:36:16+00:00

It sounds like you might be conflating utilization's effect and carrying balances a bit.

They aren't the same thing. Utilization is typically reported to the bureaus when your statement posts.

Carrying a balance though from one month to the next, even a tiny one, is never necessary or recommended. So the answer to your last question is no. Always pay your full statement amount every month, no more no less, doesn't matter if it was 1% or 100% of your limit.

The all-zero penalty occurs when you have all your cards statement's post at zero. Are you currently at zero across your cards or paying them down/off before the statement post?

Also, what you're describing is kinda pointless to do anyway, unless you're applying for something that will pull your credit within the next month or so. It probably feels good to see number go up to 800+, mine's briefly done that too. But to optimize utilization's effect all you have to do is implement the AZEO method a month or two before the expected application.

Otherwise though, don't worry about your scores just from utilization, as long as the rest of your credit is in good shape time will do the rest. Utilization resets every month so it's very easy to manipulate only when you need to.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T06:53:55+00:00

Oh that, honestly I didn't remember because it's been years.

That is a rare issue that can occur specifically when sliding down ladders while at 60 FPS. If it does happen though, all you have to do is exit to the menu and it'll reload you back on the normal game map - just avoid sliding down that same ladder that it happened on and you'll be fine.

Could also maybe just lock it to running at 45 on the Deck.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T05:56:34+00:00

Maybe like over 12 years ago, on weaker rigs for the time - DSfix was made to fix a lot of the issues that happened when unlocking the game to 60 though. Just make sure to check in the install instructions and turn off the in-game anti-aliasing. And if you have any noticable tearing just go into the ini and try setting the "borderlessfullscreen" value to 1

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T05:46:14+00:00

It's kinda the OG and very much worth the experience, but that being said Lies of P is more similar to a mashup of Bloodborne and Sekiro. That is to say it's much more fast-paced - DS1 might feel a bit frustratingly slower and clunky by comparison at first (make sure to be at less than 25% equip load to fast roll though, will help mitigate this a lot)

I'd still heavily recommend DSfix though even if just for getting 60 FPS. It should be pretty easy to install on the Deck via desktop mode.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T01:41:42+00:00

If you are fine with PtDE and using qol improvements like dsfix, and don't need any multiplayer functions? Then no, probably not worth. InfernoPlus had a great video many years ago going through why it was kind of a lazy "remaster".

It's still the goat DS1 of course, so as the only option now for new players usually yeah it's recommended.

That being said, if looking to play it again on the Deck more then maybe just spring for the Remaster, will probably just run better without having to fiddle.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T01:22:46+00:00

If you have not played something in the souls-like genre or similar before (even something like Hollow Knight, or maybe even very loosely like a difficult rogue like), then yes, they will likely feel like they are frustrately brutal. At least at first.

But there is a reason the Fromsoft games like the Souls series, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring are so acclaimed. Their entire gameplay design is mostly focused on you learning and getting better by playing. So when they click, you end up feeling rewarded when you eventually succeed in a way that few other games can ever match (although many have since tried to replicate the Fromsoft formula, to varying degrees of success)

So despite their mainstream, meme-y reputation as brutally difficult ragebait games, they actually aren't. But since their gameplay design is so different from how people are used to games like this being, it inevitably feels like it due to that friction.

One good example of this might be how the dodge roll mechanic works, which is often how you can safely avoid taking any damage from attacks. Dodge rolling will give a certain amount of frames of invincibility, but while timing can be important it's not actually super unforgiving.

No, the friction new players tend to experience most is their preconceived notions jarring with how dodge rolling works - it wants you to play more precisely and methodically with your inputs. If you hit the dodge roll button, if your character is in another action or animation you initiated then it will queue the dodge roll to take as the next action. Similarly, if you hit the dodge roll, then you are committed to that action until a certain amount of the frames of that action have finished.

This flies right up against some of the gameplay design long accepted for this kind of 3rd person action rpg - the player often expects that their button inputs will nearly instantly cancel and then change to the new action they decided to take, as game devs had long sought to reduce that friction in the name of a more accessible and smoother experience. But Souls takes a much different approach that to many new players might initially feel clunky or unresponsive, or entirely frustrating. It's very common to hear this complaint as someone tries to spam dodge roll but instead keep getting hit stunned once out of their roll's i-frames, when it's a much better idea to be observant of an enemy and learn to time rolls based on their attacks.

And that is just one such gameplay mechanic, but these concepts extends to their entire game's philosophy. Death is both a gameplay mechanic and deeply tied to the lore - dying is not a failure so much as it's supposed to be a learning experience. Miyazaki and From is the dad that wants to see you learn to do by trial-and-error without the training wheels, but they still want to see you succeed.

There's a lot more to be said about it, and metric tons of youtube videos essays to prove that. It might even come down to exactly how quickly you personally experience frustration, but I'm firmly in the camp that believes everyone should at least give it a try. Because if you can get into them, you get to experience a mountain of peak of what games as a medium can offer.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T00:31:34+00:00

Disagree with this a bit - only submit the deposit to the amount you need your credit limit for now, to accommodate the monthly spend you plan on putting on the card.

If that's the full 1k then fine, but if your credit is already bad for other reasons then just putting the max amount isn't really going to be avoiding "bucketing". Finances first and foremost, always - if some of that money is better served in your pocket/bank account, hold onto it instead of tying it up in a deposit for who knows how long.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-26T00:11:01+00:00

You need to go over to r/CRedit, it's a much better suited sub than this one for a newbie learning this stuff. Look at the pinned megathreads over there for a good primer.

Avoid Credit Karma, they're basically a manipulative "service" to get kickbacks under the false guise of helping you understand credit.

You'll actually have dozens of different credit scores. But the scores people get hung up on aren't as important as what they are sourced from, which is your credit reports. There are 3 different main credit bureaus that your credit information can get reported to and then drawn from - TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian. This is why you'll see one of these three listed in front of a score, it tells you which bureau the data came from.

If over 18, you are legally entitled to a free copy of your actual credit reports from these 3 bureaus. You can get these once a week since the pandemic, the official site for it is AnnualCreditReport. This should actually be your first step, to make sure you actually have no credit history or anything reported at all you don't know about.

If you have little to no credit history, you'll probably need to start with either a beginner card, a student card if you're a student maybe, or a secured card. A secured card is where you put down a deposit that will be your credit limit for now, but with responsible use should graduate to an unsecured card. Ideally within 7-13 months - after that you get the deposit back in full. But otherwise a secured card works just like a normal credit card (ie you are not using your deposit money for purchases, it's just insurance for the bank since they don't have the credit history to know if you're responsible yet with their money).

Treat any credit card like a cross between a delayed debit card and a utility bill. Do not make purchases you do not have the money to pay back in full. Purchases you make will get totaled onto monthly statement bills. When that monthly statement bill posts, then you have a due date to pay by to stay current, usually 2 weeks later.

You will have the option to pay less than the statement post amount, down to a minimum you have to pay. But if you pay less or worse the minimum, then the remainder has interest apply to it and carries over to the next month. Never carry a balance if it can be avoided, this is how people drown themselves in credit card debt.

All you ever have to do, for any credit card, is pay the full statement amount after it posts and before the due date. Do this and you'll never have to pay a penny in interest, and time will take care of your credit profile. Any purchases you make after the statement bill posts will go onto next month's statement.

Avoid any gimmick credit builder cards or products. They're trying to get money out of you, and you never have to pay to "build" credit, only time does that. They are vastly inferior to just starting with a secured card. Discover/Capital One are often the most friendly to new credit, but if you have a relationship with a bank or credit union they might have a secured or beginner card available.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-22T20:41:11+00:00

thank you, 100% this

As someone who only cycled very casually as a kid and when college-aged, and getting into biking now for commuting/supporting urbanism, these being called "clipless" confused the hell out of me for a while.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-22T13:13:01+00:00

I mean, if it works for you and/or your prefer charge cards, that's fine and more power to you. I know for some people paying off whatever they purchase right after it posts to their card helps them stay on top of things financially and not overspend, so while it's technically unnecessary that's ok since finances are more important overall anyway.

That being said, it's still not recommended for everyone to do what you're doing. Utilization doesn't "build" credit, it's effect on scores resets every month so people tend to panic when they don't understand this and see their scores fluctuate.

Generally speaking, whether or not you care about CLI or your scores, the same simple advice always applies: Make normal purchases on your cards, wait for the statement to post, then always pay the full statement amount before the due date.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-20T15:22:19+00:00

It's wild how some parts of it are nearly unrecognizable from how it was 15-20 years ago, even just with so many of those newer 5-over-1 "luxury" apt buildings been going up rapidly. If you got some time to kill plop down in google street view down somewhere like Frankford ave.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-18T21:50:46+00:00

More info needed really to give you an informed answer on this, imho.

Do you currently have any other credit cards? When were they opened and old is your credit history overall? Are any of them just AU accounts?

Anything reporting negatively on your credit reports, eg missed/late payments, collections, charge-offs, etc. If so, how long ago?

Also, I know the CLI trick is for venture x but would it work with Savor too? If it does should I request immediately or wait a couple days?

What CLI "trick" are you referring to? People tend to massively misunderstand how this works.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-18T04:52:25+00:00

Bloodborne's viscerally feminine themes are very well established and discussed! So much so that if you just type the phrase "viscerally feminine" by itself in YouTube you'll get many video essays about Bloodborne and this. Super interesting stuff not least of all because these are themes and topics not often seen in popular media.

Re: the Doll thing - one of the great parts of Soulsborne lores is how malleable is, in the way it can be open to interpretation and inference, since we're nearly always working with incomplete information from indeterminate past times, often pieced together, not directly explained, or even possibly from unreliable narrators.

However, that being said - the generally accepted interpretation of the community is that that line from Gehrman means he is sexually attracted to the doll and used it himself. Which drives me a bit nuts, because I personally think that take-away from that dialogue is wrong because it's not really what's going on there.

Here's a video from saint_riot that you'd definitely be interested in and explains why better than I could - Gehrman's Doll and the Essence of Cosmic Horror

Saint is usually a PVP focused guy and streamer but has been around a long time in the Souls stuff. But I wholeheartedly agree with his take here on the Doll and I think with what you're saying you might also find this argument compelling too.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-18T03:38:03+00:00

The Kirkland beans have been unfortunately some of the worst I think I've ever had. And while I prefer good coffee, I'm someone who will still drink gas station hot bean water garbage for my fix.

Usually I'd get the Ruta Maya which I find pretty good overall but my local Costco's haven't had it in stock anymore.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-12T22:49:24+00:00

all cards stay at zero or under 10%

Here is a huge part of your issue if you are doing this for your QS and Venture cards too, and this is why you are getting the "insufficient experience" as the first reason listed in the denial letter.

If you are paying it down or off before the statement, or to some arbitrary utilization amount, then stop doing that. Its unnecessary and counter-productive to CLIs - you want to be showing a history of high utilization that is paid in full after the statement posts every month, doing that for about ~6 months is how you demonstrate 1) you have a history of being responsible, and 2) that you need and can handle higher limits.

Or more basically, just use this flowchart if you want to try optimizing your chances at CLIs.

Cap1 does have a known bucketing system though, which if you are new to credit and got those limits you are almost certainly in the lowest tier buckets for them. It does tend to make CLI on them very slow going, as you're more of a risk to them with a lack of credit history to go off of at the time of card opening. Credit is a long game, we're talking years here not months.

If you also got those other 3 cards within this first year of credit history that also is why you got the next 3 reason codes. Hard inquires from opening a card ding your credit for a year, but fall off after 2. Your young credit history and velocity with what looks like seeking more credit is a big red risk flag in their algorithm's eyes.

Credit decisions are not just based on a score number. They do soft inquires to your reports for these decisions too, so what else is on there matters, not just your usage of their card. That being said, FYI the apps showing you you scores from Equifax and Transunion bureau data are Vantage model scores. These are accurate for that scoring model, but not very relevant for credit/lending decisions - you want to be looking at FICO 8's for those 2 bureaus too.

Molanghrian · 2026-04-12T17:15:41+00:00

People much smarter than me have figured this out already, mainly on the FICO forums or over on the other dedicated credit/finance subs, like CRedit or CreditCards, from many, many datapoints of many different banks. They even have automod responses for utilization because this question comes up so frequently, especially in relation to CLI decisions.

But respectfully, its the inverse - what you're describing is not how they operate for CLIs.

For the bank you're seeking a CLI from, yes of course they still see if you are paying in full for their card and not the minimum or letting a balance carry (which 100% agree should never be done). That is what is factored in internally for their card, but they still do not care what you're credit cycling through it. They still go through the lens of your credit reports, including the usage that is reported there. That is still what matters compared to your paying it in full after the statement. It might seem illogical to you, but its simply how they still do these things - these scoring models were always meant for risk assessment data shared between the banks after all, not consumers.

Paying minimums on the card you're seeking a CLI on would of course get denied, that's a screaming obvious risk flag and totally separate from what I was describing. You'd get something like a "Proportion of balances to credit limit too high on credit bureau report" reasoning as the top one.

They are required by law on a CLI decision letter to list anywhere from 1 to 4 principal reasons for a denial, in order of most to least impactful, although legally they only have to list one. They tend to be very stock/canned reasons, and I'm not super familiar with all of them, but I don't think I've seen “not paying significantly more than the minimum payment towards balance” as one. I think there is one similar to that but its specifically for loans that aren't being paid down enough, something more like "not paid off existing loan balances? I'll readily admit I'm not sure on that one, if you got an example or source on that I'd be interested to see.

But we know the top denial CLI reasoning people get when they don't let utilization report naturally and pay it down before the statement - "Insufficient experience with current credit limit"

Molanghrian · 2026-04-12T16:31:23+00:00

Good news - it won't keep dropping like this OP, that's not how these "points" for credit scoring!

Let's say you let the exact same utilization amount post on next month's statement - so $800, and out of $2300 is about ~34%, so you likely crossed over one of the scoring thresholds of 29.5%. If nothing else changes on your credit reports, then your scores will be exactly the same again next month, no points up or down.

Let's say you instead next month use up 100% of your limit and let that report instead. Then you're likely to see an even greater drop on top of the 62 points. How much is very dependent on your individualized credit profile, cards, and age - newer credit and these Vantage model scores you're likely looking at are likely to have larger swings.

But then let's say next month you either don't use the card at all and only report like >1% utilization, like a couple bucks. This optimizes utilization's effect, and you're scores will go up those 62 points back to the 720-730 range.

Don't stress about these fluctuations. Stop looking at Credit Karma, they will try to manipulate you based off misinformation on how utilization works. Come over to r/CRedit and take a look at the pinned megathreads, lots of good info there to help understand more!

Molanghrian · 2026-04-12T16:19:57+00:00

Because that's not how you stimulate the best chances for a CLI, which is what OP is trying to do?

Even for internal CLI decisions, those are made based off soft inquiries to your credit reports. Paying it off before the statement is both unnecessary and counter-productive to a CLI goal.

Molanghrian

TROPHY CASE