Requesting CLI

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I am finally starting to earn some real money (nearly half of a six figure income). To preface my question, I currently have the following credit limits and TU FICO Score:

• Chase: <$1,000
• Discover: $7,xxx
• Citi: $3,xxx
• BoA: $3,xxx
• AMEX: NPSL
• TU @ 8xx (source: Discover)
• EQ @ 8xx (source: CCT)
• EX @ 8xx (source: CCT)

All of these cards were opened 7-8 years ago, with the exception of a handful of installment loans (student and auto) opened up 1-3 years ago (most recent was the auto loan at about <1 year ago). There are no derogatory remarks on my record (no late or missed payments). Since then some of the CCCs have given me CLIs without using a hard credit inquiry. I would personally like to have each CC at a credit limit of $10,000 or above. At what time would it be prudent to begin asking for CLIs and would my initial asking amount be reasonable?

[Anonymous]

Ideally you should tend to prefer soft-pull CLI requests, since those with a hard pull lower your score.  This link will help you figure that out by CC issuer:

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/credit-cards/which-credit-card-companies-do-a-hard-pull-for-a-credit-l...

As a matter of principle, I think you should know have reviewed all three of your reports and have a FICO 8 Classic score from each bureau as well before embarking on any kind of credit undertaking.  Right now it sounds like you may only know your TU score.

Happily there's a solution that costs $1, which would be the $1 trial offer at Credit Check Total.

According to the DoC link I gave you above, it looks llike the Citi and Discover cards would be good choices to tackle first. 

I'd also suggest spending a bit of time reflecting on why you want CLIs.  Your CLs are already high enough to enable you to spend several thousand dollars per month and still have a total utilization in the area of 1-3%.  If it's unclear how to do that, just let me know and I can walk you through that. 

Another reason people often think they need to pursue CLIs is that they think that FICO may give them a higher score if they do.  This turns out to be untrue.  A higher credit limit, in and of itself, doesn't get you even one extra point.  (Lower utilization does, but as I mention you can spend a lot and still have an ultralow total U.)

Don't get me wrong.  I am not discouraging you from pursuing CLIs.  It's just that you should do so in a relaxed way, without thinking that they'll enable you to do much you can't do already.

To answer your last question... pull your reports and scores, make sure they don't give you any surprises, read up on the subject at DoC, then go to town.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Ideally you should tend to prefer soft-pull CLI requests, since those with a hard pull lower your score.  This link will help you figure that out by CC issuer:

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/credit-cards/which-credit-card-companies-do-a-hard-pull-for-a-credit-limit-increase/

As a matter of principle, I think you should know have reviewed all three of your reports and have a FICO 8 Classic score from each bureau as well before embarking on any kind of credit undertaking.  Right now it sounds like you may only know your TU score.

Happily there's a solution that costs $1, which would be the $1 trial offer at Credit Check Total.

According to the DoC link I gave you above, it looks llike the Citi and Discover cards would be good choices to tackle first. 

I'd also suggest spending a bit of time reflecting on why you want CLIs.  Your CLs are already high enough to enable you to spend several thousand dollars per month and still have a total utilization in the area of 1-3%.  If it's unclear how to do that, just let me know and I can walk you through that. 

Another reason people often think they need to pursue CLIs is that they think that FICO may give them a higher score if they do.  This turns out to be untrue.  A higher credit limit, in and of itself, doesn't get you even one extra point.  (Lower utilization does, but as I mention you can spend a lot and still have an ultralow total U.)

Don't get me wrong.  I am not discouraging you from pursuing CLIs.  It's just that you should do so in a relaxed way, without thinking that they'll enable you to do much you can't do already.

To answer your last question... pull your reports and scores, make sure they don't give you any surprises, read up on the subject at DoC, then go to town.

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I don't use all of these cards on a regular basis, but rather stick to one particular card (will occasionally use the others to keep them "alive"). I want these higher limits because I like being able to have these available on an emergency basis (eg, unexpected expense).

I don't really care about my credit score right now. It's already high enough to the point where a few extra points gained or lost won't necessarily matter in the long run.

I will look into the CreditCheckTotal website, and update the main post.

EDIT: updated main post

[Anonymous]

Great.  Well, I would start with Discover and Citi. 

Last year somebody posted an internal memo he had run across from Wells Fargo.  It indicated that, when somebody made a CLI request, they tended to view extremely low utilization on that card as a reason that the person did not need a CLI.  (Intuitively that makes sense.)  On the other hand, if the utilization on that card was even a little bit high, it suggested risk.  Therefore the memo indicated that 21-29% utilization on that particular card might be a sweet spot for the CLI request.

Note that having a low total utilization (1-8%) was still considered a good thing.  The memo was just talking about the individual utilization for that particular card, the one for which the CLI was being solicited.

I have no idea whether this strategy helps.  But if it doesn't result in you doing any extra spending, then it surely can't hurt.  And it seems like it would fit in well with your general usage style: use one card primarily with other cards being used little or at $0.

So it may make sense to get the card in question reporting at 21-29% individual U (with that reflected at all three bureaus) first before making the CLI request.  Again, only if it can be done easily with no extra spending.

And it sounds like hard pulls for CLI requests won't be a real problem for you, though personally I think any good CLI strategy leverages soft-pull options when possible.  It's just that they aren't possible for Chase or BOA.