How to get better Credit Lines or a CLI

[LiveLife88]

Hello,

I have been following these forums pretty closely taking advice, and learning as I read. However I am fairly new to credit cards, and have some questions to ask. Currently I have 3 credit cards:

Bank of America ($1,500) opened 2007

Navy Federal ($1,000) opened 2009

Capital One ($1,000) opened 2008

Right now they are all pretty much all close to 80% Utilization. However I plan on paying all of them off this month. My question is this... If I paid them all off at once, would I have a better chance at getting a CLI on anyone of these cards? I have never been late on making payments on these cards at all. Also would paying all of them off boost my FICO score?

Thanks!

[cdtotten]

First let me say you should never request a CLI when you have a balance. You are almost guarenteed to be turned down, and more often then you would hope they will take action against your account (CL decrease, closure, etc.). This is because a CLI with a balance indicates you may be struggling.

Once you have paid your balance in full, you have much better footing to request an increase. Some cards make the process easier than others, with a LUV button you can simply click on (soft pull usually), others are not so easy (Chase) and always require a hard pull. 

You are doing the right thing to pay your balances, hopefully down the road you will be rewarded with better limits.

[fused]

For max FICO points and to save money, pay off the two credit cards with the highest APRs. Leave a small balance on the third card...< 9% of the card's CL. What are your current FICO scores?

[LiveLife88]

My current FICO scores are EQ (678) and TU (684)

[fused]

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LiveLife88 wrote:
My current FICO scores are EQ (678) and TU (684)

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If you pay the cards like I said, I bet your scores will be well over 700. CLIs will be easier to get. Good luck!