topic Re: High Credit Limit in Credit Cards

High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Fri, 08 May 2015 13:52:10 GMT

I was curious, those of you guys that have a pretty high credit limit..for example 20,000 or higher..how do you manage that? What I mean is, are you spending an amount to justify that credit limit? How did you get your credit limit to that amount? In my signature block below are some of the cards I have from largest to smallest. My Chase IHG is my biggest at 13,000, then I have my VirginAmerica at 6,000 and my CitiDouble Cash back at 5,500..and a couple of Capital One's..etc. I am in the process of trying to get my points for my Chase IHG (just got the card) but truth be told I really like my Citi Double Cash back card and most likely that will be my card of choice once I get my points from my IHG. How does one get the card company to raise the limit?

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Fri, 08 May 2015 14:02:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was curious, those of you guys that have a pretty high credit limit..for example 20,000 or higher..how do you manage that? What I mean is, are you spending an amount to justify that credit limit? How did you get your credit limit to that amount? In my signature block below are some of the cards I have from largest to smallest. My Chase IHG is my biggest at 13,000, then I have my VirginAmerica at 6,000 and my CitiDouble Cash back at 5,500..and a couple of Capital One's..etc. I am in the process of trying to get my points for my Chase IHG (just got the card) but truth be told I really like my Citi Double Cash back card and most likely that will be my card of choice once I get my points from my IHG. How does one get the card company to raise the limit?

@Anonymous Credit,

You manage a high credit limit card as you manage other cards. There are several things CC companies look at when deciding on the limit such as income, credit profile etc.. If you are looking to get high limits, it is not set in stone but use you cards to shows your spending habits and then request big credit line increases..

Re: High Credit Limit

lhcole77 — Fri, 08 May 2015 14:20:37 GMT

I've been able to get high limits through clean reports, responsible use, perfect payment history, increased income and good ol' CLI requests.

Once I started having cards in the 10-15K range it was easier to get those limits. Now that I have cards in the 20k-25K range I'm curious to see what future limits can get to.

Re: High Credit Limit

Themanwhocan — Fri, 08 May 2015 14:28:50 GMT

My American Express card has a $30K limit.

I did spend $1550 once back in 2013, after my first 3X CLI ($996 of it was a new HDTV). But usually I don't use it much at all, since I have much better grocery store rewards on my 2 Sallie Mae cards . I just request CLI increases periodically, since its a SP. And since I want a high limit card.

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Fri, 08 May 2015 14:34:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was curious, those of you guys that have a pretty high credit limit..for example 20,000 or higher..how do you manage that? What I mean is, are you spending an amount to justify that credit limit? How did you get your credit limit to that amount? In my signature block below are some of the cards I have from largest to smallest. My Chase IHG is my biggest at 13,000, then I have my VirginAmerica at 6,000 and my CitiDouble Cash back at 5,500..and a couple of Capital One's..etc. I am in the process of trying to get my points for my Chase IHG (just got the card) but truth be told I really like my Citi Double Cash back card and most likely that will be my card of choice once I get my points from my IHG. How does one get the card company to raise the limit?

My CL is not high at all, but from my own experience and lurking around here, I think the answer is common amongst most people.

"how do you manage that" => just like a normal card. Use it and PIF each month.

"are you spending an amount to justify that credit limit" => My monthly expenditure is <3% of my CL. It seems justifiable to my creditors.

"How did you get your credit limit to that amount" => CLI request to creditor and new card application once in a while. Occasional auto CLI.

"How does one get the card company to raise the limit?" => depends on the creditor. Bust most often, you use the card enough (both length of time and dollar amount), have enough income, and good credit profile to support a CLI then you call them and ask for it.

Regarding the Citi DC, Citi seems to be very conservative in term of CL with this card, so you might want to bet your chance of a CLI elsewhere (not Chase, they're stingy with CLI)

Re: High Credit Limit

getrdone1 — Sat, 09 May 2015 07:20:35 GMT

I would think that it would be best to keep the number of inquiries low and get in on some cards that are giving out high credit lines....i got diners club when i had no inquiries and a bankruptcy for 30,000...got amex for 7,500 and then 3X, 20 some days later, for a 22,500 limit...and now bbva amex for 20,000...still have only 3 inquiries on two cra's, and two on the other..i might be good for one more app...who really knows?? Before that only 5K limits.. but no inquiries for the last 4 years before recent apps...hope that helps

Re: High Credit Limit

bz386 — Sat, 09 May 2015 09:19:20 GMT

As others have said, there is nothing special about a high credit limit card. It is convenient, because you can do your normal spend without worrying about high utilization. I got a $24k CL when I opened the United Explorer card, which was my third Chase card. First one was Freedom ($5k), second was CSP ($12k) and third was United. As I wasn't planning on using the United card much, I moved $12k of the credit line over to the CSP, which is my most heavily used card. Highest balance ever on it was around $6k and of course that was payed off immediately before the due date.

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Sat, 09 May 2015 09:28:30 GMT

I hope to have a high credit limit someday..

Re: High Credit Limit

lg8302ch — Sat, 09 May 2015 09:40:30 GMT

The question on the high CLs is also the income. A cardholder with an annual income of 35K and CLs in the 100K compared to someone that has 150K income with 200K total CLs.... so the CLs up to a certain point are based on clean file but at a certain stage income will also play a role too. My total CLs are about 3 x my annual income and this is definitely crazy and could even be a problem on a new card application in the future. So the high CLs are not just everything. I might have to reduce a few limits with some lenders if I want to apply for new cards or hope they will split the lines to open a new account. We will see what happens on a future Chase app

Re: High Credit Limit

bch238 — Sat, 09 May 2015 11:13:47 GMT

I generally charge around 10% of my CSP and/or Citi Prestige every month depending on whether we travel or have non-usual expenses, so somewhere between $4-$8K per month. My BCP rarely has more than $1K, mostly because I use it for groceries and gas and a few other non-bonus things. My Freedom is mostly bonus spend with a recurring utility bill, i.e., typically not more than $700 month. I have a small recurring bill on my BOA and maybe a grocery (Target, where BCP doesn't give 6%) or gas charge or two. Basically everything is at or below 10% of the limit, which is paid every month.

Edit: I should add that I got a notice from The Home Depot to use it or lose it, i.e, have a reduction to $5,100, so we will probably buy some Bahama shutters for the house soon at 18 months 0% APR. That or buy some lightbulbs.

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Sat, 09 May 2015 11:22:17 GMT

In my experience, high limits beget further high limits. Once you have one high limit card, more will quickly follow. Let me use my own credit card portfolio as an example:

December 2011: WF Platinum, CL: $5000

January 2014: Citi Simplicity, CL: $5000

November 2014: Citi DC, CL: $3000

December 2014: Discover It, CL: $7900

January 2015: WF Platinum, CLI to: $10500

February 2015: Barclaycard US Airways, CL: $10000

March: Discover It, CLI to: $11,400

March: Citi DC, CLI to: $14,100

March: Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer, CL: $10,500

May: CSP: $8,300

As you can see, once you get one card over $10,000, more follow. I personally consider my lower starting CLs for the Citi DC and CSP to be anomalies because 1. Citi is almost always giving low starting limits on DC, 2. I had been approved by Chase a month and a half prior to getting CSP for $10,500, so that's almost $19,000 in two months from them and 3. They're both top tier rewards cards from their respective banks.

A lot of people use AmEx as a way of breaking into the higher limit cards, due to their famous 3x CLI.

Re: High Credit Limit

jamesdwi — Sat, 09 May 2015 16:06:22 GMT

You are doing fine, but I would strech your APPs a little farther apart, 6 months to a year apart will get you better limit typically. Some lenders will give you higher limits than others and co-branded cards seem to give the best. Chase Southwest card doubled the limit of my CSP card.

but as with all things credit, Time resolves most issues. Most lenders grow your limits over time. At least for prime cards. My favorites are AMEX, FNBO, GE/Syncrony, Discover. Untill you have an insanely great credit history your high limit cards may not be your lowest APR cards, which sucks, sure I have a 20k CL but who wants to carry 10k of debt at 15.24%.

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Sat, 09 May 2015 19:22:09 GMT

You don't have to do anything special, just use the cards sporadically, pay on time, keep the utilization under 30%, pay more than the minimum when you are carrying a balance and ask for an increase every 6 months. You already have good limits, should be no problem.

Re: High Credit Limit

Luscher — Sun, 10 May 2015 01:35:05 GMT

Am I spending anywhere near 30K? Absolutely not lol

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Sun, 10 May 2015 01:43:12 GMT

I manage my hight limit credit cards the same way I manage the other ones. The way I see it is that I do not use all the limit ( I have my theory that banks give you hight limits, but it is not intent for you to use it all) Actually, I do not go over 30% and if I do, I try to pay it off quickly. I cannot complaint, I have all the credit cards I wanted ( in my wish list).

Re: High Credit Limit

cem13 — Sun, 10 May 2015 15:28:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was curious, those of you guys that have a pretty high credit limit..for example 20,000 or higher..how do you manage that? What I mean is, are you spending an amount to justify that credit limit? How did you get your credit limit to that amount? In my signature block below are some of the cards I have from largest to smallest. My Chase IHG is my biggest at 13,000, then I have my VirginAmerica at 6,000 and my CitiDouble Cash back at 5,500..and a couple of Capital One's..etc. I am in the process of trying to get my points for my Chase IHG (just got the card) but truth be told I really like my Citi Double Cash back card and most likely that will be my card of choice once I get my points from my IHG. How does one get the card company to raise the limit?

My Barclay's is only $2K and they denied me a CLI because I always PIF. My NFCU Visa had a $5K SL but I SP CLI and they gave me $25K. So NFCU does not care about "using the credit" or "paying interest" like Barclays does.

The highest balance on my NFCU was about $10K when I traveled to Korea and China for work. I let the statement cut but I PIF after I received the expenses account funds. I put my Michigan Season Tickets and donation (about $5K total) on my card and let the statement cut before I PIF.

Other then this, I typically PIF before the statement cuts. My behavior may change because I was trying to maximize my score before applying for a mortgage. Now that I closed on the mortgage, and then went on my app spree; I dont care if each statement cuts and I lose a few points for having a few cards with a balance. I will always PIF.

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Sun, 10 May 2015 15:41:26 GMT

jamesdwi - a side trip here ... what do you use the FNBO DISC Card for? Mine is like 0.50% on rewards. CL is $14.3K but in today's world the rewards are NOT! BT's are good.

Re: High Credit Limit

jamesdwi — Sun, 10 May 2015 15:44:14 GMT

@Spider15 wrote:
jamesdwi - a side trip here ... what do you use the FNBO DISC Card for? Mine is like 0.50% on rewards. CL is $14.3K but in today's world the rewards are NOT! BT's are good.

purely BT, they frequently have 5.9% for life offers, not as great as zero percent, but nice that it has no HP to get the offer, and they give me auto-CLI every 3-6 months.

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Sun, 10 May 2015 16:40:29 GMT

That's a pretty good SL on the DC! Citi is being very stingy with this card it seems, hope I get a good SP CLI at six months like a poster above mentioned.

I would also look at Amex if you want a higher limit card. I only put $5-600 thru my BCP a month but they bumped me in two CLIs to $25k. Hoping the other CCCs follow suite. Unfortunately most of the cards I have don't offer SP CLIs except for Cap1 and Citi....and I don't use the QS anymore. That being said Cap1 was rather generous as well. I hadn't used the no rewards platinum card since 2009 and the limit was at $750. I received the offer to switch to QS and accepted while asking the EO for a CLI. They raised it to $5k even without using it for years and then to $8k six months later. I know a lot of people hate on Cap1 but this impressed me.

Re: High Credit Limit

Anonymous — Sun, 10 May 2015 17:16:27 GMT

Getting high limits is like the proverbial "chicken or the egg" question.

In order to get high limits, you have to already have high limits...with a few exceptions.

You can slowly and surely build up your credit like a tortoise and eventually break the 10K/15K barriers or you can get find those loophole cards that will push you into high limits and then the others will follow. Loophole cards would be something like a JCrew or Venture.

I am sure at some point your income does factor into your limits; so if you have a low income, it would be unrealistic to expect 30K limits.

In the OP's case, he does have a $13K Chase so he's good to go. In fact, get more Chase products and they usually go higher on the next one. Then do the Chase Limit Consildation Trick if you want REALLY high limits.