@UnderEstimated wrote:
I have 4 credit card accounts open. 1 with a high CL (over $6K), 1 AMEX Gold, and 2 other cards that have credit limits of well under $500. One of them has a credit line of $200 which is pointless to me, since 3 tanks of gas and it's maxed out. I've tried numerous times for them to increase the CL, but they refuse time and time again, while I've had no problems with my credit. As of right now, the card has just sit with a $0 balance for the past few months. Should I just leave it open? Close it? Just wait for a CLI?
Thanks.
What are your FICOs? If you're still down in the 500s, getting CLIs will likely be problematic. Not impossible, but you will have to build up a longer positive history with each credit card company before they will trust you with a CLI or an unsecured card.
Any baddies on your account, like charge-offs, collections, or 90 days or more past due, during 2005 or later? Recent baddies can make a credit card company think twice about increasing your CL or graduating you from secured to unsecured.
You probably never will get a high limit on nichy charge cards like gas station cards. Unless you're a long-haul trucker, you're simply not going to go through $1000 in gas and munchies.
If you do have a secured card, what you're looking for isn't a higher CL, but rather graduation (changing the card from secured to unsecured). Graduation usually comes with a CLI...I got the BofA "99/500" card, and it is being graduated this month with a $1000 CL.
My experience and that of others on these boards has been that the best way to achieve graduation of a secured card, or a credit line increase on an unsecured card is to:
1) avoid all baddies...don't be late or default with any other creditor.
2) Keep a balance on your card that is greater than zero (in other words, don't sockdrawer the card like you did with your $200 gas card), but less than 10% of your credit line. You can do this even with a low-limit card. My balances on my Orchard and CapOne cards when they are next reported will be $9 and $2, respectively, which is around 3% of utilization on both.
3) Make all payments on time.
4) Bug the card companies for graduation/CLI once every six months or so.
So take that $200 card out of the sock drawer. Don't buy gas with it though...buy a Coke or a bag of Doritos. That way you will have a balance, but stay well under 10%. That puts activity on the card.
Remember that it is the wise management, not the avoidance, of credit that builds your FICO score.Message Edited by TheNewWorldMan on
05-16-2007 02:49 PM