@Anonymous wrote:
When I see some of you guys and gals with 6 figures worth of credit on here it makes me wonder if you're all neurosurgeons, lawyers and CEO's or if it's more dependent on your history and score more than your actual income -- Can anyone (who has great credit history) obtain this much credit or are all of you extremely high paid individuals?
Just curious if you're all highly successful or just managed your credit like a boss, I'd assume a combo of the two.
I've never been asked to verify income, seems like you can type in any number you want.
This is one of those YMMV topics. There's not necessarily a correlation between high income and high credit limits. There are many folks on here that have high incomes but low/mediocre scores, just as there are folks here with middle class incomes (< $100K income and frequently in the <$50K range) that have stellar scores. You cite 3 occupations (whether tongue-in-cheek or serious) that are far above what the average wage earner makes.
Those of us with high scores (800+) frequently have very thick files. Some of us have credit histories that go back 30 or more years. In my case, my history is 40 years; no, not all of that shows on a credit report. But folks who have long histories may have made some mistakes along the way (I certainly did) and learned from those mistakes. Those learning experiences contribute to current good financial habits and decisions. Having a thick file was probably contributory to my getting high limits.
As to income...I've never reported more than $80K ever, and in the last years of my employment (now retired), my reported income was ~$65K. This was individual income, not household income, which some folks utilise.
As to applying for and getting credit, I've been very fortunate. Having close to $200K in credit limits is certainly beneficial, but somewhat artificial, as $50K of that is from Diners Club on a near instant approval. That was my most recent aquisition and was mind blowing that they would grant me that much credit -- all on a hidden tradeline. That said, I'm certainly not going to turn it down. I simply manage it and other accounts judiciously. And because of that, my scores have increased over the years to where they are now, with and without hidden TL. The scores were what drove the higher credit limits, rather than the income. Almost all of my credit cards were instant approvals, or approvals after less than a week and a goodly number of the current cards were with limits at $5K or more to start. CLI have also been forthcoming, with and without requests. Just recently, I was bumped up a couple grand on my Discover IT account, and didn't ask for it; was just automatically granted.
So...is it income based, or is it history based? In my case, it's probably history based, as I have a substantial history of managing credit. But I also have glitches along the way. Fortunately, those no longer show up on my reports, hence the 800+ scores. In my case, the positive credit management resulted in getting high limits to start, and better results with CLI approvals.
