Requesting increase of credit limit

[Anonymous]

Hi,

  I'm wondering if requesting a higher credit limit will help boost my credit score?  I've had the same credit card for about 20 years.  Five or so years ago, before I had ever heard of FICO, I contacted the company and asked them to lower my limit.  I was leary of someone getting ahold of my card and being able to charge so much....  I could ask them to raise the limit.

  I also have a relatively new card which I use for gas purchase - it gives a cash rebate.  My limit is low so when my balance went from $30 to $80 it negatively effected my FICO.  Would increasing my limit help this?  Any other ways to prevent using this card from hurting my score?

Thanks!

[marty56]

Welcome to the forum.  Best way to minimize the impact of card use is to have the reported balance as small as possible.  To do this you would have to pay the minimum due plus any extra before the card reports to the CRAs.

If your CL is 200, you can charge 200 as long as you pay say $182 before the time the CCC reports to the CRA,  A good bet is to pay before the statement drop date.

Sure you would ask for a CLI but I would be carefull these days.