I would say a card has a toy limit if it doesn't provide enough credit for the customer to comfortably charge and pay-in-full his monthly expenses with one payment.
If we're looking for a reasonably objective definition of "toy limit", I'd say this is it.
There's still going to be some variance based on one's lifestyle and geographic location, but this makes a good rule of thumb.
Could the average single person put all of their monthly expenses other than rent/mortgage on that card and be within that limit? If not, it's a "toy" limit.
For a college kid spending a gap year living in Thailand, that $500 Capital One card is hardly a "toy" limit since her expenses are easily going to fit within that limit.
But for any typical single person living in a mid-size or larger US city, however, the same card is probably a "toy".
As for those who adjust their perception of toy limits as their own credit limits increase, I respectfully submit that perhaps we should have a different term. When your max limit is $9000 and you get a $2000 CL on a new card, that's not really a useless limit, but it certainly feels like an affront.
Ergo, I suggest that perhaps the true bon mot for those situations is: insulting limit. 
TheConductor wrote:I would say a card has a toy limit if it doesn't provide enough credit for the customer to comfortably charge and pay-in-full his monthly expenses with one payment.If we're looking for a reasonably objective definition of "toy limit", I'd say this is it.
There's still going to be some variance based on one's lifestyle and geographic location, but this makes a good rule of thumb.
Could the average single person put all of their monthly expenses other than rent/mortgage on that card and be within that limit? If not, it's a "toy" limit.
For a college kid spending a gap year living in Thailand, that $500 Capital One card is hardly a "toy" limit since her expenses are easily going to fit within that limit.
But for any typical single person living in a mid-size or larger US city, however, the same card is probably a "toy".
As for those who adjust their perception of toy limits as their own credit limits increase, I respectfully submit that perhaps we should have a different term. When your max limit is $9000 and you get a $2000 CL on a new card, that's not really a useless limit, but it certainly feels like an affront.
Ergo, I suggest that perhaps the true bon mot for those situations is: insulting limit.
lol thank you for this.
500 on one cards is too little for me for obv reasons.
i pay about 1000 a month in bills not including regular spendings.
but im just as fine as putting it through debit vs credit but im trying to build credit.
my debit card has a 10000 limit for purchases. so its like an automatic charge card =)
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