What made you start seeking better and/or high limit cards?

[Razeus]

I felt I wasn't doing much of a good job staying on top of my credit and let my student loans drag on and missed a few car payments.  This was the reason I was stuck in sub-prime world for so long with my $1300 Cap One card that never CLI even after a decade, but yet charged me an AF and my $500 Barclays card that would never CLI even after several years.  So thus I became to clean up my act and get myself together on that front.

I think the most powerful thing for me was peer pressure.  I was at a friends house and she had a CC statement laying around.  I glanced at it and it had a CL of $5k.  I remember thinking "how in the world are people getting these kinds of CL's?"  It bothered me, that I had a measly $1800 between 2 cards.

The final straw is when I went to lunch with a co-worker.  She pulled out her Gold AMEX, and I literally thought "**bleep**?".  I knew she made wayyyy less than me, her credit was kind of spotty (just by the conversations we've had) and that was pretty much it.  I was determinted then.  Spent a 1 year cleaning my CR's up, saved money, bought a house and that's when Prime land opened up for me.

I know I shouldn't be comparing myself to others, but sometimes it's needed to have something to look at to let you know you can do better.

[takeshi74]

Nothing specifically.  Doesn't everyone do so even from the outset?

[enharu]

Purely out of convenience. I don't have to pay multiple times each month if I'm using more than the CL they gave me, or that I don't have to use spilt payment methods for an expensive charge.

[GaTech]

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@Razeus wrote:

I felt I wasn't doing much of a good job staying on top of my credit and let my student loans drag on and missed a few car payments.  This was the reason I was stuck in sub-prime world for so long with my $1300 Cap One card that never CLI even after a decade, but yet charged me an AF and my $500 Barclays card that would never CLI even after several years.  So thus I became to clean up my act and get myself together on that front.

I think the most powerful thing for me was peer pressure.  I was at a friends house and she had a CC statement laying around.  I glanced at it and it had a CL of $5k.  I remember thinking "how in the world are people getting these kinds of CL's?"  It bothered me, that I had a measly $1800 between 2 cards.

The final straw is when I went to lunch with a co-worker.  She pulled out her Gold AMEX, and I literally thought "**bleep**?".  I knew she made wayyyy less than me, her credit was kind of spotty (just by the conversations we've had) and that was pretty much it.  I was determinted then.  Spent a 1 year cleaning my CR's up, saved money, bought a house and that's when Prime land opened up for me.

I know I shouldn't be comparing myself to others, but sometimes it's needed to have something to look at to let you know you can do better.

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When I saw my mom get an offer from AMEX in the mail about applying for PRG Card with 75,000 MR points and annual fee waived.

The gold glitter just looked all shiny and I wanted a card like that ever since, until I discovered the BCE card. Took me 11 months from NO credit to obtaining one

[HiLine]

Emergency access to money mostly. I no longer need a higher credit limit just in order to obtain a loan or other credit cards.

[recordaras]

I think for me personally it's a sort of vanity. It's not about showing off in front of friends or impressing the cashier at a supermarket, but about proving to myself that I am doing something right. I started out with zero, and it was quite a journey. The very first secured card, the very first denial for a "real card", first mistakes, then lots of research and now finally I've gotten to the point of pleasant firsts. First instant approval, first Amex, first Signature Visa...

Do I have a vital need for more credit? Nope. Could I live without all the rewards? Sure. Does it feel good to know that I have other options? Definitely!

[sccredit]

I stumbled into it.  I had just closed on a house and applied for a Discover card.  At the time I had a total of about $4k in credit lines, the highest being Merrick at $1900.  I called into Discover, aswered a few questions and the rep said, "I am going to approve this with an initial credit limit of $10,000, does that sound like it would be enough?" I mumbled something in shock, said thank you like 4 times.  From there it was just seeing who else I could get to match it!  

[Laugh]

Myfico.com is the reason.

And also what other posters are saying.

[jamesdwi]

It was mostly because I wanted into primeville, so I could have cards that met my spending needs, no more having to pay a credit card off weekly because of a 500 limit and lower APR's, and an AP addiction. And freedom just to charge what I need and not worry about cash flow limits, no more payday loans because the electric bill is due and they want there money 4 days before my paycheck hits the bank.

I was happy to get into primeville with 3k limit, then I started to look at the rewards potential and got serious about gardening and requested CLI's when they were due from various creditors and my total CL grew by leaps and bounds, after 5.5 months I apped for the cards that had the rewards I wanted and honestly I got freaked out by the starting limits they were giving out and how fast it grew my total CL accross all my cards. My total CL is 90% of my current gross income. My oldest credit card is only 4 years old. Its crazy. I honestly think I have enough credit now, but pushing the luv buttons and getting CLI's is so much fun.

[Stralem]

I want higher limits because low limits are a freakin' hassle. I'm sick of having to pay multiple times a month just to keep relatively small balances from causing high utilization, which will wreck my credit scores. Two weeks of breakfast/lunch, commuter fares, the occasional utility bill, and other miscellaneous purchases could push one of my low limit cards well past 40% util. When that happens (and it often does) I have to SD it and use another card as I pay it down.

I basically have no buying power and It **bleep**ing sucks.

Unfortunately, only time (and a higher income) can fix that.