topic Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV in Credit Card Approvals

Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 02:17:47 GMT

Every 6 months I've started a thread posting about another $5k CLI for several years now. My Amex BCE growth has been as follows:

$10k --> $30k --> $35k --> $40k --> $45k --> $50k --> $55k --> $59.9k

It appears today that I have reached my ceiling with Amex without providing IV. I'm guessing that in 6 months I will not be able to receive anything without providing the IV requested. Note that today I requested $60k and was countered with $59,900. Hopefully this information is useful to others. This is with $94,000 income declared, having the account for 38 months and a minimal (few hundred bucks a month) spend. My guess is that income is the constraint here. It's also worth noting that this is my only Amex card, so the individual card exposure is equal to my overall Amex exposure. If anyone has any other questions, please let me know.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

simplynoir — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 02:23:36 GMT

Well done there congrats

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

AllZero — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 02:53:50 GMT

Congratulations on your success.

I always like your post with data points. It's a wealth of knowledge to the community.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

M_Smart007 — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:00:52 GMT

Congrats, and yes income also DTI can play a big factor. my $0.02 worth

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

XSUP3R_SNAKEX — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:32:33 GMT

Your income is similar to mine and my Amex BCE is at 22,000. What do you think i should request for Cli? Should i just shoot for 50k?

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:58:27 GMT

@XSUP3R_SNAKEX wrote:
Your income is similar to mine and my Amex BCE is at 22,000. What do you think i should request for Cli? Should i just shoot for 50k?

My guess is that they won't let you go past $35k without IV, but there's certainly no harm in trying $50k. If you see IV language simply back out and start over, going with a lesser number and continue the process until you get an instant approval. You could try something like $50k, $45k, $40k, $35k, $34.9k, etc. I'd be curious to hear your result.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

hawkins — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 06:36:16 GMT

That’s a huge limit for a BCE card. Congrats. I must ask though given that the BCE is for groceries and gas for the most part would it not make more sense to have some of that limit on a card that will give you a much better return like say the BBP or something? Either way I am jealous I don’t think I will get that kind of limit I have around 30k with Amex it’s enough for me. More then enough actually.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

UH_HUH — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 08:54:01 GMT

Congrats on that great limit BBS!!! You certainly embody the phrase "Slow and steady win the race"

Great job working the system Sir :-)

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

LittleSal — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 09:46:52 GMT

Great CL!

I was hoping you’d ease it up to $100k.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

xiocc — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 09:53:58 GMT

Very nice!!!! Congrats on not being hit with IV.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

redpat — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 12:04:52 GMT

Congrats getting to $59K. If amex decreases the CL for little or no use, are going to recon it?

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 14:56:15 GMT

@hawkins wrote:
That’s a huge limit for a BCE card. Congrats. I must ask though given that the BCE is for groceries and gas for the most part would it not make more sense to have some of that limit on a card that will give you a much better return like say the BBP or something?

I don't use the card much. Frankly, I think it's a trash product. Any 3-2-1 card IMO is just a "3" card in that single category assuming someone has a general spend 2% card (Citi DC, Paypal MC, whatever) in their lineup. Then, cards like my Chase Freedom or Discover will offer 5% in groceries at least 6 (sometimes 9) months out of the year between them both, rendering the "3" category on the BCE obsolete for half the year or more. The limit on my BCE could be $1000 and it would suit my spend just fine. After my first CLI from $10k to $30k on the card it just became sort of a game to push the card as high as possible, as it grabbed my #1 limit spot early on and has maintained it over the years with slow and steady CLIs.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 15:03:03 GMT

@redpat wrote:
Congrats getting to $59K. If amex decreases the CL for little or no use, are going to recon it?

That's a good question. Since there's currently a 100% success rate of getting Amex 50% CLDs on high limit cards restored with a quick phone call, I probably would. The unnecessarily high limit on this card that I've acquired over time aids my utilization padding sufficiently to keep me at 1% aggregate utilization the majority of the time with 2%-4% being my highest. That's really the only value I see in having it and I suppose something that "worth" a phone call especially after the years of "work" it took to build the limit. If I wasn't able to get it restored though and was reduced to $30k (or less) forever it honestly wouldn't have all too much impact.

I think I'm most upset at this time that my "game" ($5k/6mo) is finally over after several years now that I've got my answer about where the ceiling is.

As an aside/spinoff question, I'd like to hear from anyone that has a single Amex card with > $59.9k as the limit. If anyone responds, I'd like to know where they found their ceiling (perhaps not at it yet) and any possible constraint-data surrounding it, such as income.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 17:59:14 GMT

@Anonymous can't believe you did not "DECLINE" the credit limit increase!!! It broke you $5,000 CLI stride

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 20:48:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymouscan't believe you did not "DECLINE" the credit limit increase!!! It broke you $5,000 CLI stride

At first I did decline it, but then I went back and took it.

While I'm quite sure in 6 months I'll be denied for a CLI, without taking what was offered now I wouldn't be able to verify the ceiling point with 100% certainty. Maybe the ceiling can be exceeded at some point without IV, but perhas 6 month increments won't get it there... perhaps after (say) 12 months Amex may allow more in the future. Also, if my income increases in the future it would be cool to see how that may impact this ceiling.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Meanmchine — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 23:03:48 GMT

Congrats BBB !

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Gonzozap — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 01:26:50 GMT

Congrats, but what is "IV"?

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 03:02:43 GMT

Income Verification, or sometimes referred to as POI (proof of income).

Basically it's when your lender asks you to fill out a form and submit document(s) such as your last tax return to prove that the income you've declared to them is legit.

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

shoegal — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 05:23:18 GMT

Nice!

Congrats! 🎉🎉🎉

Re: Amex ceiling hit: $59.9k w/o IV

Cred4All — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 15:33:16 GMT

Late to the game here but thanks for the previous CLI data, congrats on all the progress and what the cards achieved!