Which card will offer me the largest CL?

[HFD]

I've been trying to organically grow my score for the past 5 years by only getting credit limit increases with the 4 cards I currently have. I'm a net zero card user but I've come to discover that because I only carry around $15K in available credit it's hurting my score. I don't care about rewards or APR or balance transfers or anything like that, I'm just looking for whichever card might grant me the largest CL. My FICo is currently 698. Thanks for your help.

[DrZoidberg]

It's what your score and history qualifies you for. But Comenity and CUs seem to be the most generous.

[Themanwhocan]

First you need to improve your FICO score. Polish it a tad. Read this post for the details:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/How-do-I-play-the-1-9-Utilization-Game-Please-Help/m-p/...

After that, well, if all you are concerned with is a high credit limit, then probably getting an American Express Blue Cash Everyday wil work. You will be able to request a 3X credit limit increase after 61 days, and then every 6 months after that. Assumig your income and assets justify a large credit limit, and you use the card, it should grow.

[user5387]

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@HFD wrote:

I've been trying to organically grow my score for the past 5 years by only getting credit limit increases with the 4 cards I currently have. I'm a net zero card user but I've come to discover that because I only carry around $15K in available credit it's hurting my score. I don't care about rewards or APR or balance transfers or anything like that, I'm just looking for whichever card might grant me the largest CL. My FICo is currently 698. Thanks for your help.

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Typically CUs are a good choice for this.

Credit limits have no direct effect on score.  The scoring issue with them is the utilization one, discussed in many threads here.

[HFD]

Every credit report I pull says that "Your Available Credit Limit" is affecting your score. I don't carry balances on any of my cards.

[user5387]

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@HFD wrote:

Every credit report I pull says that "Your Available Credit Limit" is affecting your score. I don't carry balances on any of my cards.

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Credit limits have no direct effect on scores.

The effect they do have works like this.

Suppose that you have a $1000 limit, and spend $975 a month, and let the statement cut before paying off the balance.

In this case you will pay no interest, but the card will appear to be maxed out, and hurt your score.

If the $1000 becomes $10000, then the score hit is much diminished.

It's in this sense that a higher limit will raise your scores.

If you pay the $975 before the statement date, then raising the limit on the card will not benefit your score.

Many people pay their balance down or off before the statement date, and higher limits typically won't help such people.

[HFD]

I actually pay off my balances before they report - is this hurting me? I understand the usage you are referring to and never go over 25% but my score has been stuck in neutral for a long time.

[meehan22]

I had two secured cards of 500 and 350 a piece and a AU on a 12k card and hit a 702 on TU. 

Credit limits have nothign to do with your credit score. History of the card and UTL does. 

[user5387]

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@HFD wrote:

I actually pay off my balances before they report - is this hurting me? I understand the usage you are referring to and never go over 25% but my score has been stuck in neutral for a long time.

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There are lots of threads around here that say you should let one CC report a balance of 1-9% of its limit, before paying it off to avoid interest.

In my own experiments with this, the gain is around 10 points, as compared to all cards at $0.   It might be different for someone else.

[Revelate]

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@user5387 wrote:

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@HFD wrote:

I actually pay off my balances before they report - is this hurting me? I understand the usage you are referring to and never go over 25% but my score has been stuck in neutral for a long time.

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There are lots of threads around here that say you should let one CC report a balance of 1-9% of its limit, before paying it off to avoid interest.

In my own experiments with this, the gain is around 10 points, as compared to all cards at $0.   It might be different for someone else.

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The higher the score the worse it is vis a vis any "negative" typically. 

HFD: not certain where you're seeing that lack of available credit is hurting you, but it's probably from one of the freebie-FAKO (non-FICO, non-Vantage score for that matter too) sites and the advice there should be absolutely ignored.  The other posters are right, limits have zero impact on FICO score, and user5387's suggestion is one that generally is close to optimal for a lot of people.

Flatlined scores aren't usual: I have complicated pet theories on this one but a lot of people have their scores which don't budge at all unless they play games with their reported utilization for months on end.  The score I care the most about has been pretty much flat for 15 months, and that included even getting a new tax lien tacked on to it, so both improvements and derogs can be near zero-sum in the FICO algorithm when you hit a plateau because of a bucket boundary or whatever.