Historical balance won't impact CLI decision but open credit availability and number of cards will depending on your score, income and history, imo.
Personal Cards: Amex Plat | Amex Delta Res | CSR | Citi AA Exec Business Cards: Ink+ | Amex BGR
That $100k high balance is helping your AMEX internal score, so that's a good thing.
What bank were you calling to ask for a CLI? What card? CL asked to go from what limit up to...?
What other cards do you have, and their limits? This is all relevant because it puts your file in perspective of what the U/W saw. Depending on the bank you are talking to, it may just be a matter of policy how difficult a CLI is to obtain.
And I doubt many others here could equal a $100k single month high balance on a charge card. That's a whale of a high balance, kudos for having it on your credit report.
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi, I have looked around for an answer to this question-- I was recently denied for an increase on an account that really surprised me. I have been denied before but it's been many years and I was younger and just didn't have much credit history. To be honest, I was shocked to be outright denied. Anyway, I asked to speak to a supervisor and while they couldn't tell me "why", they made gestures to the fact that it wasn't so much about how much debt I have, but rather how much debt I "could" have if I maxed out everything. And yes, I do have large credit lines. I "could" spend them all. However, this has never stopped me from getting credit anywhere else, though I do know they take this into account. Then she asked me a puzzling question-- she asked if I had any charge cards that I paid in full every month, like an American Express account she could see where I had previously had a balance of around 100k. I mean, she asked me, but surely could see for herself since she named the account. I did have a historical high balance of around 100k almost a year ago, when I made some large purchases, but of course, paid it. I actually have a 0 balance on that account now. And to be clear, I paid that large balance months and months ago, on time, and it was reported as such; I checked at the time. So it got me thinking-- is having a historical high a bad thing? Particularly for a charge charge where there's no limit? Will they use my historical highs to create a hypothetical scenario in which I spend to my historical high on every account? I actually had assumed that having a historical high was a good thing, because it's the only indicator on the report of volume. So I actually always run up my new accounts to their limits early on, pay in full, but do so specifically to get a high historical high for future creditors to see. Have I done myself a disservice? And more specifically, is that Amex hurting my score or hurting my chances at new credit because of how much I am potentially able to spend? Thanks!
It doesn't hurt your score; it actually helps your score.
But credit decisions are based on things other than score.
Basically it seems you are someone who has vastly higher borrowing ability than you would ever legitimately need, which makes some lenders and their algorithms nervous about piling on more, since one of the things they worry about is "bustout fraud".
They can probably tell you're not a candidate for that, but their algorithms can't... and they're probably too chicken to go against their algorithms.
