The best way to get high limit credit cards

[ngerasimatos]

I dont like to use debit cards as there is too much fraud as of late. I have multiple CCs, its just the UTIL factor that stresses me. I dont like having anything ever higher than 20% UTIL and when it gets any higher than that I have a panic attack. Literally. I am not joking. I have OCD when it comes to my finances and credit. Im sure my life span is gonig to be short since I stress so much of money and credit.

*sigh*

[tengtengvn]

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@ngerasimatos wrote:

I dont like to use debit cards as there is too much fraud as of late. I have multiple CCs, its just the UTIL factor that stresses me. I dont like having anything ever higher than 20% UTIL and when it gets any higher than that I have a panic attack. Literally. I am not joking. I have OCD when it comes to my finances and credit. Im sure my life span is gonig to be short since I stress so much of money and credit.

*sigh*

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Just use them like debit cards. Make multiple payments a month before the due day to keep the utilization low.

[fused]

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@ngerasimatos wrote:

I dont like to use debit cards as there is too much fraud as of late. 

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You're right! When I posted, I didn't think about that. And, I should know better, my debit card number was stolen about a year and a half ago.

[ngerasimatos]

Unfortunatley I have had my debit card "ripped" twice in the last year.

I think both Both times resulted from using my debit cardto obtain cash at small non-branch atms.One was in Vegas on the strip, and the other was at a small Mexican food place for lunch.

I should have known better but thankfully Chase has an alerts systems so anytime a purchase posts thats greater than $75 I get an email. In both instances, thats what saved me from huge financial damage. The crooks got one charge in and I saw the charge come through and called the bank and shut down the card immediately.

[john398]

You actually can set Chase up to notify you anythinbg over a $1, thats what I do....fraud is scary thing

[happy0510]

I'm in the fraud club with my debit card too! A few times in the past couple of years actually!!

[sgtm7]

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@happy0510 wrote:

I'm in the fraud club with my debit card too! A few times in the past couple of years actually!!

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There is a way around that.  Or at least to limit your exposure.  I have to accounts at the same bank, each with it's own debit card.  One has my salary going to it, the other stays empty most of the time.  I only transfer money to one account when I want to use it for internet purchasing or for when I am traveling.  I can check my accounts online whenever I travel, and if I were to see any suspicious activity, I can transfer money back out of the account, and then have the card cancelled. 

[haulingthescoreup]

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@ngerasimatos wrote:

I currently have a handful of credit cards, most of them have low limits between 1500-3000. I have been trying to get a good card with a large CL but every bank when they provide an offer wont go any higher than my highest CL currently or they advise they can only start me at 3000 and then review the account within 6 months and grant a CL icrease at that time. They say they need a history to review.

I am frustrated to say the least. My scores are all in the 700s so I dont see why I dont qualify for a large CL credit card. My util is low, dti is low.

Oldest reporting account is 9 years, 10 months. AAoA is 3 years. No recent baddies, except my auto loan which is showing INCORRECTLY due to Lexus being a bunch of morons and that is nearly 10 months old.

ANy idea what I should be doing? FICO says to simulate my best action is as follows for raising my score. I dont know why it says that considering my util is 6%!?

Best Action - Pay Down 90%-100% of Your Credit Card Balances - Over the Next 24 Months

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I'd say that because of your unfortunate ID theft problems, "needing more history" means exactly that --they want to see more months of uncomplicated usage and payment. Sometimes you just have to sit back and wait. With an AAoA of 3 years, how long have each of your current cards been open? I wouldn't be surprised if these days, they want to see 18 or even 24 months of history.

As for the sim, what it's really saying is to keep on keepin' on. It's not so much paying down balances from your 6% as simply continuing to pay on time every month. (This is a wonderfully confusing message that trips up many of us at one point or another.) In other words, it's just saying that you need more current revolving history.

You can go back to the sim and keep entering 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, etc to see if there is a sudden hop in projected scores. That might indicate a point at which your AAoA will go up enough to make a change.

In the meantime, I wouldn't open any more accounts. All that will do is keep lowering your AAoA, making things worse.

Just hang in there and let time do its healing. Frustrating, I know, but sometimes that's about all that you can do.

If you have recently pulled a FICO score, look at screen 2 with the positives and negatives, and check the negatives. These are the factors influencing your scores, with the biggest problem (or weakness, or whatever) being listed first. If the first-listed is short history, then there you are.