Comments on: Requesting Credit Line Increases

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:51:05 +0000

I have a question. Made some mistakes last year and had my credit limits decreased. Between November 2008 and February 2009, I paid all balances ($6,500.00) down to $0.00. In January 2009, a month after paying off AMEX, I booked a hotel room online using the account. The next day they sent me an email reducing the limit further to $500.00 (down from $14,000 then $2,100). I use the account for gas and grocery purchases and pay it off every month, as I do with my others. Is it too soon to seek an increase? My credit scored suffered and is now 670. Thanks in advance.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:04:57 +0000

Just a comment about asking for increases.

I know this article is old but just wanted to give some more recent advice:

TRY TO STAY LOW

Depending on the issuer, asking for increases can be a big red flag for your account. Amex recently has been slashing limits on certain consumers asking for too many increases.

When you ask for an increase at Bank of America, the analyst takes that opportunity to scrutinize your account in full. Many consumers have reported asking for an increase, speaking to an analyst and instead of getting an increase or a flat denial they are getting immediate credit limit reductions and in some cases the analyst flat out says, “sorry we’re closing this account.”

That’s not to say they are not approving many increases.

Just try to stay low and only ask for increases if you are doing all the right things(low utilization, increased FICO score etc. etc.)

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:01:37 +0000

There are plenty signature type cards that have limits well in excess of $200k. Amex certainly has given such size limits out as well.

Once you hit a certain threshold however, you would be required to produce documented income.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:39:11 +0000

It will probably go down a few points because of the inquiry, as for the limit, I don’t know what the limit is on one card but it would be difficult to get a card with a limit as high as $30k.

By: john

john — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:03:09 +0000

Do you guys know what can be max limit for a credit card limit? 30k? 50k? or even more?

Secondly, I have score better than 800, how much my score decrease if I apply a new credit card?

By: jim

jim — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:36:37 +0000

Each one of those requests will likely include a credit request which will negatively affect your score.

By: andy

andy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:34:45 +0000

Hi! I have an American Express credit card. When I applied that credit card, I just have 2000 credit. I have been using that credit card for about 5-6 months. Since I am planning to let my family members to use my credit card, i requested an increase of my credit limit for like 3 times for the past few months. But, they all got denied. My question is that if I request an increase of credit too often, will that hurt my credit score? Thankz!

By: yelekeri

yelekeri — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 21:02:19 +0000

Savvy,

Your comments really helped me much. Two weeks back I called Amex to verify whether my credit will be affected if I request for a line increase, he said yes. Then I kept quite.

But as you mentioned I tried myself online, never came up with anything line of pulling the credit file, so submitted and instantly credit line is increased. thanks a bunch.

cheers

By: Savvy Samurai

Savvy Samurai — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 20:04:15 +0000

Citibank and American Express are cool in that you may get instant credit line increase through their website. If you get the long form that requires a hard-pull then its probably not worth it. Especially if you are planning to apply for new credit cards I would hold off on the request for credit line increase since creditors might see it as too many inquiries and decline your applications.

By: Rob Carlson

Rob Carlson — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:57:11 +0000

@Bubbers:

If a person has fiscal self-control, any strategy that raises their credit score increases their ability to get debt under control by lowering APRs, which can lead to quicker principal repayment. Also, the credit card issuers are more likely to throw out some of those nice no-fee 0% APR for 12 month checks to lure them back in. Used properly, they can be a powerful tool.

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:59:46 +0000

Bubbers, I’m pretty sure he’s not advocating that someone increase their credit when they already have problems living within their means.
Your analogy of the alcoholic works the other way as well. If someone who rarely drinks sees vodka on sale 6 months before a party they are planning, wouldn’t it be in their best interest to buy it then?

By: Bubbers

Bubbers — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 10:33:24 +0000

I disagree with this! Anyone who is trying to get debt under control should not be increasing their capacity to borrow! That is like an alcoholic buying and storing bottles of vodka because they’re on sale.

By: Cleophus

Cleophus — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 23:45:53 +0000

Too bad FICO’s (and others’) algorithm for coming up with a person’s credit score is proprietary , or we could have an objective anwer to this!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:24:03 +0000

I also thought that having too many high limit credit cards could hurt your score. My understanding is that there is a happy medium, enough but not too much. Where that is is anyone’s guess!

By: Golbguru

Golbguru — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:39:59 +0000

I have heard people say that high credit limit will affect your credit score. However, I don’t buy that. “The potential” that you could spend huge amounts doesn’t look like a valid point to reduce someone’s credit score especially if that someone has a spotless credit history to date.

Tough higher credit limit doesn’t harm your credit score, it is possible that some mortgage lenders get nervous looking at your credit limit (I don’t know why they would…but they do it anyways). So people who are looking for mortgage should dig a bit deeper into this before going all out on increasing credit limits.

Personally, I like to see high credit limits…not because I use any of those but just for my ego satisfaction purposes . Typically I use like 3% of my credit limit but it has only improved my credit score over the years.