AmEx CLI Denial: Insufficient Income

[Adidas]

 It has been 184 days since my last CLI request on my AmEx which is over the 6 month / 180 day recommended wait period so I applied for an AmEx CLI today. The 180 day wait has worked well for me in the past. Last time I applied I was approved for a CLI from $9,000 -> $23,100. That CLI was kind of crazy considering my total CL across 5 cards at the time was $25,400 before being approved.

Today I considered sticking to the 3x CLI because its worked so well in the past but chickened out and applied for a CLI to $50k. I was denied (got the 7-10 day wait message) so I called in and the CSR from the credit department confirmed I was denied. I asked for a reason and she said because "Your income is insufficient for your credit limit or your debt to credit ratio (may have been debt to income ratio) is insufficient". Considering I have no debt (always PIF) my assumption is insufficient income for my CL. I was a little surprised because I've never been outright denied a CLI from AmEx I've always gotten a counter offer if I requested too much.

I tried a quick search and it seems very few people discuss being denied based on income by AmEx. I was actually a little surprised she told me that as a reason because I thought they alway make an excuse about the time with the limit or something even if it has to do with income. Also I'm curious whether I should quickly re-apply for something smaller like $30k now to see if it goes through, wait 6 months to try apping for $30k, or just stop applying for CLI's on AmEx until my income is substantially higher.

Now this denial seems pretty reasonable because I earn in the 30-40k range but I was curious what others' experience has been. At this point I'm not upset nor do I NEED the credit but I would like to grow my total limits more to avoid any UTIL spikes above 10% when I need to make big purchases.

Any help would be appreciated!

Adidas

[Gramz]

I'm not an expert.

But from what I can see I don't know why you are surprise you got denied.  You stated that your annual income is between 30-40K and you already at $43,500 in credit cards.  I would have been weary as well in granting more credit. A creditor want to extend/lend money to a consumer in regards of receiving it back.  If you do not have the finance to cover those payment, then why would they lend you more money?

I would have just wait and get my income up before even try reapplying for credit, or like you stated just try and get a lower tier card.  I would be grateful that AmEx that I was credit worthy to lend me that huge limited.

I know someone in this forums will shine more light on this.  Sorry for your denial

[Peteyglad]

I have never been outright denied for a CLI from Amex. It is a counter offer or 4506 form request. Typically my amex credit limits have been around 35-40 percent of my stated income so I would say you are doing very well at your current Amex limit and can't see you getting much higher.