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Will raising my CL on my secured card raise my credit score ?

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pat0812
Regular Contributor

Will raising my CL on my secured card raise my credit score ?

I have 3 credit cards. one of them is a wells fargo $300 secured

If i raise it to $5000 will it raise my fico score ?

 

my UTI is already under 9%, so raising the CL will keep it under 9%, but my question is if the only thing what affects the score is the UTI vs the CL or does having big limits by itself raises your fico score ?

FICO 8's EX 770 EQ 751 TU 771 (1/16/17)
Amex Gold Premier rewards ( Charge Card)
Amex Blue cash - $47,800 Wells Fargo - $15,000 Citibank Simplicity - $13,800 Barclays Apple - $13,000 Walmart Mastercard - $8000 Chase Slate - $7,200 Discover It - $5,500 Capital One - $5,250
Message 1 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
Shogun
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Will raising my CL on my secured card raise my credit score ?

By itself?  No, not really, mainly it just looks at your util.  However, there is a plus to it.  By raising your limit, when you go to get unsecured cards, they do take a look at your limits, if you have low limit cards, that's what they offer you too.  So if you have a higher limit card, you may get a bigger CL from them.

Starting Score: 504
July 2013 score:
EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!

June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
Message 2 of 4
rckstrscott
Valued Contributor

Re: Will raising my CL on my secured card raise my credit score ?


@pat0812 wrote:

I have 3 credit cards. one of them is a wells fargo $300 secured

If i raise it to $5000 will it raise my fico score ?

 

my UTI is already under 9%, so raising the CL will keep it under 9%, but my question is if the only thing what affects the score is the UTI vs the CL or does having big limits by itself raises your fico score ?


I agree with Shogun. If your til is under 9percent, it likely wont do much but will look better once you graduate to unsecured cards.

 

The question really is, can that 4700 dollars be applied somewhere else to make your rebuild go faster? I think 5k on a secured card is probably overkill, but YMMV

 

-scott

Starting FICO Score: October 2010: TU 498 | EQ: 502
Current FICO Scores:: May 2022: TU: 784 | EQ: 770 | EX: 790
Message 3 of 4
scarrollprint
Frequent Contributor

Re: Will raising my CL on my secured card raise my credit score ?

I'd say if your going to go up to 5k on that secured card, make sure first that it has the chance of one day going unsecured.

 

I've heard cap 1 cards pretty much never unsecure and they make you reapply for a new card. But on the opposite hand I've heard BOA will pretty much unsecure the card after a year if you've been a good customer (I'm guessin low Util and obviously ALWAYS paid on time). If it will go unsecured and you don't have any unpaid collections or what not, I'd say every month add a chunk till your up to 5k.

 

I wouldn't put it all on at the same time for its basically like a locked savings account, and would be very hard to get the money out if you needed it and so by doing a little bit each month you can guage "do I absolutely need this X amount to survive? no ok, put it towards the CL"

 

however if you know its going to unsecure after a year and your at the 9 month mark, I would put that full 4700 (if you can) on the card and let it sit there for 3 months or so - while using the card and paying it off showing you can use a 5k limit and then when it unsecures after 3 months, you'll get the full 5k back, PLUS you'll have a nice 5k limit that will go a long way when you eventually start to apply for the prime cards. You want to make sure you bump up that CL before it unsecures, because after it unsecures then your at their mercy for a CLI.

 

 



Current: Eq- 624 Ex - 631 (lender pulled) TU - 661 (lender pulled)
Goal 700+ across all three
Message 4 of 4
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