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Credit Limit Increase Will Affect Credit Score How?

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TuffyLess
Member

Credit Limit Increase Will Affect Credit Score How?

Got 6 credit cards but only 3 that are used regularly.

3 get a few dollars charged to them once a quarter or so just to keep activity happening but there are no perks to them so they're not used.

The other 3 (one AMEX, DISC, and VISA) are regulars and the charges to them occur depending on the cashback rewards during that timeframe / business classification.

Rare is it for any of the 6 to carry a balance and most times the balance incurred before the due date - racks up to 20% of the total limits.

Until now, all 3 of them carried the exact same credit limit.

 

So, for those 3 regulars - I just increased the limit on all 3, on each today, and did it back-to-back-to-back (more on that in a moment).

In chronological order: The increase amount was auto generated by VISA (Cap1) - I had no say in it take it or leave it, AMEX asked me how much, and DISC offered an amount then inquired if I'd accept it. 

Anyway, I took the amount VISA (Cap1) auto-increased by and gave that same figure to AMEX when asked by how much.

DISC offered me +25%x the amount Cap1 automatically gave and asked if Id take it ... yes, I took it.  Smiley Happy

All 3 were accepted.

 

 

Ok, so my questions for general discussion & to satisfy my own curiousity ...

 

My inital question which generated this post was ... with the substantial increase which VISA (Cap1) gave and it being the card of mine to reach the highest balance, usually PIF before its due date still, can I expect that to lower the usage rate thereby detracting further from any negativity on the credit reports, in the usage category?

 

A follow up to that question is ... can having too high of limits on multiple accounts/cards, although having low/nill balance carryovers, cause negativity or risk in eyes of lenders?  I guess the real question is - should there come a time to stop inquiring for credit limit increases?

 

By mentioning my technique of increases - I became curious about yours ... When you reach that point in time when its time to inquire for a limit increase - is it your practice to spread them out and do one card a month, quarter, half year, or like Ive been doing for a few years - ie ALL of the useful ones at once, backtobacktoback within minutes online?

 

Although its never happened yet (knock on wood), when I employ that method of approaching limit increases ... I envision suits and ties entering the office on Monday morning checking out their report printouts and seeing my transactions of several credit inquiries appearing at once on my credit and THEN how they just had given me an auto-increase.  One of those suit and ties has their panties in a bunch that morning cause of one reason or another so they're irritated from the gitgo and then decide those weekend inquiries are just too much risk so push the red button which renigs on the increase provided only a day or two ago online. 

So, I ask - if these credit inquiries happen in real time and each inquiry is logged in real time (in otherwords, to show on your credit report of recent inquiries) and in my situation of DISC being the last inquired for an increase but to offer the most ... what is the probability in your eyes that an office-working risk anaylst will walk back what their automated processes permitted?

 

Food for thought ... thanks gang.  Smiley Happy


Starting Score: TU 665 (01.19.12) FQM ||| EQ 695 (04.12.12) FS ||| EX 706 (04.12.12) AMEX
Current Score : TU 802 (07.08.16) FQM ||| EQ 783 (06.27.16) FS ||| EX ??? (xx.xx.xx) ----
Goal Score: Never less than 800 TU for now; initial goals accomplished years ago.


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Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
coldnmn
Mega Contributor

Re: Credit Limit Increase Will Affect Credit Score How?

Honestly by using the search button for each lender example question Cap1 CLI you would get answers to most of your questions. AMEX normally people ask for 3x current limit up to $25k after $25k they want written proof. The search button is very helpful if worded right.
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k
Sam's Mastercard $15k / Walmart Mastercard $10k / Blispay $7.5k PayPal Ex MC $10.8k
CareCredit 5k / Husq $5k / Cap1 QS $4.5k / Barclay Ring $5.35k / Citi DC (WMC) $12k
Gardening Date 7/01/16 / MyFico 08: EQ 801 / TU 777 / EX 771 / 06/08/17
Message 2 of 5
RonM21
Valued Contributor

Re: Credit Limit Increase Will Affect Credit Score How?

The search should find you a lot of info as coldnmn said. To your subject question, any increase in your credit limits should benefit your score because it lowers you overall utilization number. How much the score increases depends on how much of a utilization swing there is as a result.


Total CL: $321.7kUTL: 2%AAoA: 7.0yrsBaddies: 0Other: Lease, Loan, *No Mortgage, All Inq's from Jun '20 Car Shopping

BoA-55k | NFCU-45k | AMEX-42k | DISC-40.6k | PENFED-38.4k | LOWES-35k | ALLIANT-25k | CITI-15.7k | BARCLAYS-15k | CHASE-10k

Message 3 of 5
Themanwhocan
Senior Contributor

Re: Credit Limit Increase Will Affect Credit Score How?


TuffyLess wrote: 

 

My inital question which generated this post was ... with the substantial increase which VISA (Cap1) gave and it being the card of mine to reach the highest balance, usually PIF before its due date still, can I expect that to lower the usage rate thereby detracting further from any negativity on the credit reports, in the usage category?

 

A follow up to that question is ... can having too high of limits on multiple accounts/cards, although having low/nill balance carryovers, cause negativity or risk in eyes of lenders?  I guess the real question is - should there come a time to stop inquiring for credit limit increases?

 

By mentioning my technique of increases - I became curious about yours ... When you reach that point in time when its time to inquire for a limit increase - is it your practice to spread them out and do one card a month, quarter, half year, or like Ive been doing for a few years - ie ALL of the useful ones at once, backtobacktoback within minutes online?

 

 


You should be concerned with both your total usage, as well as the individual usage of each card. So, higher limits are better.

 

Also remember that the number of cards that report a balance is a factor in FICO scoring, so do try to have exactly one card report a balance when it comes time for you to actually use your FICO score for something important.

 

One of the many possible reasons why your FICO score isn't higher, is There are not enough premium bankcard accounts on your credit report. Premium in this case meant cards with at least a $10,000 credit limit, but that was back in 1998. The amount needed for a bankcard to be considered premium might be more now. Or, it might not. And we don't know how many enough is... Regardless, you should have at least a few $10K+ cards in your mix of cards, just to be sure you aren't accidentally sacrificing FICO points needlessly.

 

The only time i've heard factual data (ie, not just people making assumptions) regarding too much revolving credit, is when someone in a small bank or credit union is reviewing data manually for a mortgage, and sometimes very rarely they see someone with a huge amount of credit and they are concerned. But, thats due to that one person assuming you can't control your spending, when your credit reports should show data month after month that you CAN control your spending. If the reports show you cannot control spending or manage your budget, that you often carry large balances on your credit cards, then you're going to be in trouble regardless of whether the credit card limits are large or small... Clearly i'm making some assumptions myself here, but there are plenty of examples of people with just huge amounts of credit ($500K+) that have no problems getting morgages and such. So, if you ever do encounter someone who can't properly read a credit report, I suggest you thank them for their time and explain that you will be taking your business elsewhere.

 

As to when to request CLI's, well do it based on how often each creditor allows it. If they have a way to request CLI using SP, then there really isn't much of a reason not to. If it required a HP, be more careful and try to make sure you get the most value you can per HP and minimize HPs when you can. Checking to see what creditors allow SP CLI requests can be usful when you are deciding on which new credit cards you plan to obtain Smiley Wink





TU-8: 804 EX-8: 805 EQ-8: 788 EX-98: 767 EQ-04: 752    
TU-9 Bankcard: 837 EQ-9: 823 EX-9 Bankcard: 837
Total $443,800
Message 4 of 5
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Credit Limit Increase Will Affect Credit Score How?


@TuffyLess wrote:

Got 6 credit cards but only 3 that are used regularly.

3 get a few dollars charged to them once a quarter or so just to keep activity happening but there are no perks to them so they're not used.

The other 3 (one AMEX, DISC, and VISA) are regulars and the charges to them occur depending on the cashback rewards during that timeframe / business classification.

Rare is it for any of the 6 to carry a balance and most times the balance incurred before the due date - racks up to 20% of the total limits.

Until now, all 3 of them carried the exact same credit limit.

 

So, for those 3 regulars - I just increased the limit on all 3, on each today, and did it back-to-back-to-back (more on that in a moment).

In chronological order: The increase amount was auto generated by VISA (Cap1) - I had no say in it take it or leave it, AMEX asked me how much, and DISC offered an amount then inquired if I'd accept it. 

Anyway, I took the amount VISA (Cap1) auto-increased by and gave that same figure to AMEX when asked by how much.

DISC offered me +25%x the amount Cap1 automatically gave and asked if Id take it ... yes, I took it.  Smiley Happy

All 3 were accepted.

 

 

Ok, so my questions for general discussion & to satisfy my own curiousity ...

 

My inital question which generated this post was ... with the substantial increase which VISA (Cap1) gave and it being the card of mine to reach the highest balance, usually PIF before its due date still, can I expect that to lower the usage rate thereby detracting further from any negativity on the credit reports, in the usage category?

 

A follow up to that question is ... can having too high of limits on multiple accounts/cards, although having low/nill balance carryovers, cause negativity or risk in eyes of lenders?  I guess the real question is - should there come a time to stop inquiring for credit limit increases?

 

By mentioning my technique of increases - I became curious about yours ... When you reach that point in time when its time to inquire for a limit increase - is it your practice to spread them out and do one card a month, quarter, half year, or like Ive been doing for a few years - ie ALL of the useful ones at once, backtobacktoback within minutes online?

 

Although its never happened yet (knock on wood), when I employ that method of approaching limit increases ... I envision suits and ties entering the office on Monday morning checking out their report printouts and seeing my transactions of several credit inquiries appearing at once on my credit and THEN how they just had given me an auto-increase.  One of those suit and ties has their panties in a bunch that morning cause of one reason or another so they're irritated from the gitgo and then decide those weekend inquiries are just too much risk so push the red button which renigs on the increase provided only a day or two ago online. 

So, I ask - if these credit inquiries happen in real time and each inquiry is logged in real time (in otherwords, to show on your credit report of recent inquiries) and in my situation of DISC being the last inquired for an increase but to offer the most ... what is the probability in your eyes that an office-working risk anaylst will walk back what their automated processes permitted?

 

Food for thought ... thanks gang.  Smiley Happy


I think you worry too much.

 

Nobody's going to bother a person who has 6 cards, usually uses only 3, usually pays before statement cut, usually has a low balance when a balance does report, usually pays in full anything which does show up as a balance, and usually has high credit of 20% or less of the limit.

 

It's just computers, and the computers and their algorithms love a person like you.

 

 


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 5 of 5
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