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American Express Credit Card Limit Increase Tutorial
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Regularly requesting credit limit increases, if done correctly, can increase your credit score and mitigate the effects of canceling credit cards. This post will explain how to navigate the menus of American Express’ online interface so that you can request a credit limit increase without triggering a hard credit inquiry. I have done this successfully myself several times.
Begin by logging into your American Express account. On the Summary of Accounts screen, click on the link that says “See all Account Services.” It should be located in the right hand side under Manage Your Account. If you can’t find it, here’s a screenshot of how it looks on my account (blue box around the link):
The next screen will list your cards, click on the little yellow arrow to the left of the card. This will expand the account services for that card. Click on the Credit and Balance Transfers tab, it will be the third one. Under the Line of Credit label, there will be a smaller link that says “Increase your Line of Credit.”
After you click that link, you’ll be prompted to enter in the 4-digit security code on the face of your card. Once you enter those digits, you will be faced with this screen:
From here, you just need to enter in your desired credit limit (not the increase, but the credit limit you want) and your income. Click submit and you will either get a screen congratulating you on your new line of credit, available for use within 15 minutes, or you won’t. Don’t abuse this (do it once every six months) or you’ll get a call from AMEX’s Financial Reviews department for further confirmation (according to users of Fatwallet). There have also been reports that it’s simple as long as you keep the limit under $25,000.
Just as an FYI, to get the screenshots for this tutorial I actually requested a credit limit increase. I had a credit limit of $20,000 and was approved for an increase to $25,000 on my American Express TrueEarnings card.
Enjoy!
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I have a platinum, blue cash everyday and starwood preferred guests. I have had the starwood for over a year and never tried this. My limit is $7900 and I asked to increase my limit to 15k and got this message.
Request a Line of Credit Increase
Your request for a line of credit increase has been submitted.
You will receive a written response within 7-10 days.
Doesn’t sound too promising.
Hi Joey,
We all get this message. It doesn’t mean that you were declined the increase. I’ve asked for 3 credit line increases and got this same message everytime– I got the increase approved every time as well! You should check your email and click on the link they send. It literally took 30 seconds for them to finalize each mine of.
Hello I don’t see the CLI option on my account?
American Express has introduced new UI design since this tutorial was written but the information architecture (IA) was close enough that I was still able to find the credit line increase option online.
I was instantly approved for an $8,000 –> $18,000 increase.
One of the keys factors is your self-reported income though. My income has substantially increased since the $8,000 limit was set a few years ago.
Now it’s
Profile & Preferences -> More Options -> Manage Credit Limit
I got instantly approved for a $5000->$6000 limit increase. Maybe I should have asked for more.