Why should I care about credit line increases?

[happypill]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I feel like a lot of posters weigh credit lines on par with card benefits.  I honestly could care less if all of my cards were set at $1000.  Am I missing something here? 

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$1k is definitely too low for me.  My monthly spend is in the $8-10k range.  I'm relatively comfortable with a $5k limit, but it obviously means that if I want to focus my spend on one card I have to make multiple payments in a month.  Also, with a $1k limit I wouldn't be able to book some airline tickets & hotel stays that go over that amount.  The other factor is that charges & payments don't post instantaneously, so if you've got $500 in charges 3-5 days in a row (not too unusual if you're traveling), you'd have a heck of a time getting charges & payments to post in time to make more charges.

Ultimately, I think my comfort level would be have high enough CL so that my monthly spend would put me within the 1-9% utilization threshold.  Then, I wouldn't have to worrry about making additional payments to avoid limits and keep utilization low.  Obviously, that varies with how much each person spends and I'm on the "I need more" bus at this stage.  I can definitely see where a lot of people could be set with just 3 cards and lower limits.

[heyitsyeh]

I'm done with manual CLIs unless there are easy SP routes (such as the Discover one that's popped up in the recent months). Just about the only thing I might consider is bothering Barclays for another SP increase on my Sallie Mae (because I know they've done it before) and also for Citi to up my DC limit (it's 5.9k, the second lowest of my cards)

[Anonymous]

I just recently started in the whole high limits and rewards cards. prior to the beginning of this year my only rewards card was the Discover More, I did not do the 5% categories so over the years I had never seen why rewards were worth dealing with. I had low limits and most of my cards had 50%+ utilization that I would PIF each month. I figured I was not paying interest so no big deal. I decided I needed to refinance my car and boat and worked my payments to lower util, learned that it raised my scores almost 100 points from the high 600's to the high 700's in one month. Now I am focused on getting CL's to a point I can use whatever card I want whenever it gives me the most benefit and not have to worry about util and scores. Once I can safely keep my util under 10% with all of my monthly spend with a few large items added as needed I won't worry nearly as much.

So far my lower interest vehicle loans dropped my interest amounts nearly $100 a month, and I figure I can gain another $200 a month in rewards (last month was $160) without sign up bonuses. Plus my scores now stay in the high 700's so if for some reason I need a loan/card I am in a good place to get it and I don't have to worry about statement post dates just due dates.

[Anonymous]

It varies person to person obviously. I spend maybe 900 bucks a month on my cards. Is it relevant to me? Not at all. Its nice to have a card or two that give you some flexibility  in an emergency. I have one card that I could replace a furnace or something with, the rest are small limits and it doesn't matter much to me. On large purchases I can generally walk in with cash and negotiate better than the percentage back the best CC is giving me. If not, I can go somewhere else. If someone wants to give me a CLI fine, if not meh. I have no issues with making multiple payments in a month, it keeps me on budget better anyway. 

Having the one bigger limit does make me feel safer if some sort of emergency comes up like a car repair or something like that. Beyond that i just kind of live my life and let the credit handle itself.

[Anonymous]

Higher limits help with your utilization. I remember when three of my cards were at 750, 800, 500. I ran them up like crazy and had to keep paying them off. Now, having an 800 dollar balance is like 1% utilization for me. I guess I would rather have high limits than pretty much no limit at all.

[Themanwhocan]

There are not enough premium bankcard accounts on your credit report

One reasons your FICO scores are not as high as they could be, is if you do not have enough "Premium Bankcard Accounts". These are Bankcard accounts (ie, not from finance companies or most store cards, etc) that have a $10,000 or higher credit limit.

So how many is "Enough" ? Do you need all your cards at $10,000+ ? No, of course not.  

But, it doesn't hurt...