Credit card limits question

[Anonymous]

I have Chase Freedom with 20k; Citi with 15k;
American Express with 15k and another with 32K
When I opened up a Chase sapphire I got 12k SL. And Discover for 4K and someone said that most Discover card start with a small SL. So I was surprised to get 4k.
So, yes, having a higher spending limit on other cards helps.

[jamesdwi]

High limit cards beget high limit cards, but no, having a low limit card or a few low limit cards will not effect your ability to get high limit cards. 

I have a $200 limit target card that won't grow, also a capital one card stuck at $750.  But I still routinely receive cards with 5k, 10k, and even 20k SL. If you have decent income and a clean report, future lenders don't know why some of your cards have a low credit limit.  You may of reduced them your self, you may not use the card much, you only keep the card because someone is an AU on the card and you keep the limit low on purpose, or any number of reasons. So future lenders can only look at your whole report and see, high limit cards in good standing, low UTL and paid on time, and then decide do we want to match those limits, or exceed them so the customer will like us and use us more. Lenders know if we give someone a card that isn't inline with existing high limits cards, the card may get used for a few months to receive the signup bonus if any and then migrate to the sock drawer or the back of the person wallet and will see little use, so they are compelled to give decent limits, if your report and income vs current obligations support it. 

Note if you had recently done an AP spree or have other things happening on your report the lender may decide to give you a card, but with a toy limit like $500 to $2000 when you have other cards with high limits, I think of these cards as a warning, okay we want you as a customer but we don't trust you, show us you can be trusted and we may grow the card slowly over time. These low limit cards probably won't grow for the first couple of years, and if these cards are from lenders that require a HP for a CLI, I wouldn't worry about growing them, just use lightly and put in sock drawer and try for another card from the  lender when you haven't done an APP spree or other issues such as high UTL or a recent late payment.

[K-in-Boston]

Lots of great answers here.  From my own experience, I know that my SLs became much larger as the number of $10k+ cards reporting became greater in number than under-$5k limits.  On the other end of the spectrum, a quick search through this forum for "low limit hell" will quickly show you what typically happens when someone has a drawer full of $300-$700 cards.  I've had concerns and still can't convince myself that even though I have like 8 cards reporting $20k+ limits and another 10 reporting $10k+ limits, somehow the $2300 Target MC and Kohl's $3000 limits (and now my AmEx Blue since I moved all but $1k to my SPG) have been harming me in some way.

[Anonymous]

Greater limits on cards in your profile may help obtain greater SLs for new applications, yes.  Many have reported this once they have a few larger limit cards in their wallet.  However, it's important to recognize that at some point the opposite can happen.  Once can obtain "too many" [relative to their profile/income] high limit cards that their exposure is spread thin.  At this point a creditor that may have otherwise approved someone for a $15k limit could approve for only say $5k, simply because they see all of those other high limits and may either not feel competing is worthwhile or feel you've already got too many high limits to warrant another one.