topic Re: How to get high CL's? in Credit Cards

How to get high CL's?

kjonesjr00 — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 08:14:09 GMT

Hello to all. I was wondering if I could get some tips and info on how to get high credit limits? I currently have 9 cards with $51,800 in available limit with $12k being the highest limit from Discover, followed by Citi Costco at $9.5k. I did a CLI with Discover after 8 months and was turned down. I was also turned down by Capital One. I have 707 TUC, 776 EFX, and 732 EXP. I have curry balances on 2 cards, both cards having 0%. One card has a $550 balance, and the other $612. Does the credit card companies like to see high balances, or big monthly purchases to give you higher CL's? I've been heavily using my NFCU AMEX card because the limit is only $1k and I was trying to get a $15-25k limit with NFCU, either with CLI or a new account.

Re: How to get high CL's?

K-in-Boston — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 14:33:21 GMT

For high credit lines, credit card companies are mostly going to look at your income (getting a $25k limit is much easier when your income is $200k than it is when it's $35k), your monthly spending, and your credit score and history. If the 776 Equifax is a FICO 08 score you should certainly be covered on the score part for any lender looking solely at your Equifax reports. As far as the spending goes, in general credit card companies are looking for the same thing as credit scoring: responsible use of your credit lines (under 30% reporting at statement close). However, demonstrating that you are using a lot of a credit line also signals to a credt card company that your limit might be too low, provided you are paying off your statement balance each month. It's a delicate balance.

Re: How to get high CL's?

Adkins — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 15:13:04 GMT

A long credit history with a card lender also helps. My DH has a Discover card with a $19.5K limit, on a $30K average income. He's had the account for almost 20 years though, with perfect credit history all around.

Edited to add: When I got him to apply for an NFCU card, they gave him a $24K limit. https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Approvals/NFCU-24-1K-Approval-Platinum-Card/td-p/5410432

Re: How to get high CL's?

Aahz — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:22:39 GMT

Just my personal experience, though I'm sure others may have haunted the approval sub enough to confirm or deny, but...

When I first started playing the credit card game my highest limits came from Chase co-branded travel cards with their IHG card starting me at $24k with scores comparable to yours, a (barely) six figure income, and my highest existing limit being $10k. Every co-branded travel card has been started with a higher limit then my existing average credit line at the time. Then the non-cobranded cards came in to with starting limits to match those existing limits.

Re: How to get high CL's?

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:51:47 GMT

Great advice given so far. Ill add its also lender dependent. I think , just my opinion of course, some lenders reward you for responsible use of their cc even when income isnt great. In relation to my income, ive achieved some pretty neat limits and basing it off income alone no way should i have these limits. Use your cards responsibly and good things can happen

Re: How to get high CL's?

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 17:31:40 GMT

The way I've done it might be a little unorthodox and probably not recommended for most. When I open a new card, I max it out, or at least try to. Just normal purchases, no going crazy on things I don't need, except I pay the minimum every month, and take the rest and put it in a high-yield MM account. I may earn $200-300 in interest while taking advantage of the 0% intro. Once the 0 is done, I PIF with the cash I put in there that I didn't use to PIF every month.

My credit history is long, and I don't think I spook the card companies doing this (although the last time I did this with a new Wells card, they called me and basically said, "Really??!!!" A brand new card, ran up about $7K in two or three weeks.). So I do it because I can get away with it and get a little extra from it.

Maxing out the card gives me 4 benefits, and 1 ugly one. Interest income, a high "high balance" number on my account, an easy way to get an auto CLI, and showing the ability to pay large balances at once. The ugly one is a hammering of my scores. The high balance number, I think, is related to getting a CLI (auto or requested). If they see you have used a lot of the line in the past, and have paid it responsibly, they might be inclined to increase your line in the future. If you have a 40K line, and a high balance of 33K, they might say I can increase it since the cardholder had it at 33K once, and never was late. Both Wells and Chase, whom I've not had cards with in the past until recently, have given me an auto CLI after maxing out the card. Wells did it while at 99.5% util on the card. Chase did it one month after PIF the entire balance.

Recently, I've begun requesting CLIs to boost them even more. Citi, Cap 1, and Synchrony (Lowes) basically told me to take a hike. Had the the same CL for 10+ years with Citi and Cap 1, but it didn't matter. BoA, Discover, Amex approved me. Had BOA 10+, Discover 4 yrs, and Amex 6 yrs.

A long, excellent payment history with a good income will get you there. Different lenders may require more effort, such as history of heavy use of the card. So that's also important. It takes time (horse and buggy). There is no overnight shipping available for large CLs.

Re: How to get high CL's?

kjonesjr00 — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 18:11:11 GMT

My wife and I make about $150k per year. After recovering from a Chapter 13 that was discharged in Feb 2018, we don’t ever want to be over extended. We only keep small balances on 2 cards each. Usually no more than $700 each and it’s on 0% cards. A few weeks ago, I joined Navy FCU and was approved for their AMEX card. The limit was only $1k, which is by far my lowest CL. I’ve been using that one frequently and will max it out, and pay it off before the statement comes, in hopes of getting a high CLI on it after the 3/91 rule, or apply for a second card with them.

Re: How to get high CL's?

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 18:39:11 GMT

@kjonesjr00 wrote:
My wife and I make about $150k per year. After recovering from a Chapter 13 that was discharged in Feb 2018, we don’t ever want to be over extended. We only keep small balances on 2 cards each. Usually no more than $700 each and it’s on 0% cards. A few weeks ago, I joined Navy FCU and was approved for their AMEX card. The limit was only $1k, which is by far my lowest CL. I’ve been using that one frequently and will max it out, and pay it off before the statement comes, in hopes of getting a high CLI on it after the 3/91 rule, or apply for a second card with them.

Yeah, I guess sometimes you have to "pay" for a higher CL with credit score points.

Re: How to get high CL's?

CreditInspired — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 19:31:22 GMT

@kjonesjr00 wrote:
Hello to all. I was wondering if I could get some tips and info on how to get high credit limits? I currently have 9 cards with $51,800 in available limit with $12k being the highest limit from Discover, followed by Citi Costco at $9.5k. I did a CLI with Discover after 8 months and was turned down. I was also turned down by Capital One. I have 707 TUC, 776 EFX, and 732 EXP. I have curry balances on 2 cards, both cards having 0%. One card has a $550 balance, and the other $612. Does the credit card companies like to see high balances, or big monthly purchases to give you higher CL's? I've been heavily using my NFCU AMEX card because the limit is only $1k and I was trying to get a $15-25k limit with NFCU, either with CLI or a new account.

Hi,

The forumula for getting high limits encompasses a mixture of several things coming together: income, credit profile, history, CLs on other CCs in your pocket. So we need more information to guide you in the right direction because no one hands out large limits (except maybe NFCU) without these variables, which I hope you will provide: UT, AAOA, AoYA, DTI, # of inqs in the last 3/6/12 months, any baddies.

Also, can you tell us the reason the lenders gave for the declines on Discover and Cap1?

Also, I'm wondering why the disparity in your scores?

Re: How to get high CL's?

kjonesjr00 — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 20:54:46 GMT

Great questions, and I appreciate the assistance and guidance. After looking closely, it looks like TUC is missing 3 accounts including our mortgage compared to the other 2 bureaus. Here is the breakdown:

TUC: AAoA - 7 months, UT 4%, 6 accounts, highest CL $12k Discover

EFX: AAoA - 2yrs/3 mos, UT 3-%, 8 accounts, highest CL $12k Discover

EXP: AAoA - 6yrs/11 mos, UT 56% (includes our HELOC which doesn’t report to EFX or TUC), 8 accounts, highest CL Discover

I noticed that my Apple Card that I got in August doesn’t show on any of my bureaus. Hope these DP’s help. Thanks

Re: How to get high CL's?

CreditInspired — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 23:13:36 GMT

@kjonesjr00 wrote:
Great questions, and I appreciate the assistance and guidance. After looking closely, it looks like TUC is missing 3 accounts including our mortgage compared to the other 2 bureaus. Here is the breakdown:

TUC: AAoA - 7 months, UT 4%, 6 accounts, highest CL $12k Discover

EFX: AAoA - 2yrs/3 mos, UT 3-%, 8 accounts, highest CL $12k Discover

EXP: AAoA - 6yrs/11 mos, UT 56% (includes our HELOC which doesn’t report to EFX or TUC), 8 accounts, highest CL Discover

I noticed that my Apple Card that I got in August doesn’t show on any of my bureaus. Hope these DP’s help. Thanks

Thanks for providing additional DPs.
However, your AAOA is kind of difficult to decipher. Dont break it out by CR. Just give the overall. It looks like it's less than 2 years but I could be wrong. And AoYA appears to be 3 mos. Also, can you provide CC UT for each card and also aggregate UT (across the board).

If my calculations are correct regarding AAOA and AoYA, you should not apply for anything else for a minimum of 6 months, preferably 12 months. You're killing your age by keep applying for new credit. So at this pace, it's going to be hard to garner high limit cards. Just an FYI. A $1K SL on NFCU says you slid in. So keep in mind that once one gets declines and low limits, it's time to take a time-out.

What was the CL for the Apple card? Again, what was the reasons for the declines on Cap1 and Disco? This will provide valuable info.

OP, You'll get there, but it takes time and patience. And I do believe that your second card with NFCU will be a fairly large limit, but only if your DTI is not out of whack.

Re: How to get high CL's?

kjonesjr00 — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 00:10:06 GMT

You are correct. We were discharged from Ch. 13 in February 2018. I got my first card which was Capital 1 in April 2018. That’s my oldest card. Yes, less than 2 years. My two newest cards were last month. I only have balances on 2 cards. My Discover card has a 5% UT, and one of the Capital One cards is at 14%. Both cards are 0%. Otherwise I would just pay them off.

Apple Card has a limit of $4,500. I haven’t received the letter from Discover stating why they denied my CLI request, but Capital 1 said my average monthly payment has been too low. I have a balance of about $700, but normally pay about $200. I normally have a $0 balance after a few months. Thanks again for your input.

Re: How to get high CL's?

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 00:47:43 GMT

Amex POT?

Re: How to get high CL's?

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 01:51:27 GMT

Some Average Joe has a $15K store (insert name) card with low income, so it''s possible. Might take some serious ingenuity though.

Re: How to get high CL's?

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 01:56:47 GMT

Lol, i took a $25k Store card and turned it into a lee MAJOR BABY

Re: How to get high CL's?

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 02:01:06 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Lol, i took a $25k Store card and turned it into a lee MAJOR BABY

A 6 million dollar card?

Growing CLs is like growing trees. They take about the same amount of time to get them nice and mature after you plant them.

Re: How to get high CL's?

CreditInspired — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 07:39:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Lol, i took a $25k Store card and turned it into a lee MAJOR BABY
A 6 million dollar card?

Growing CLs is like growing trees. They take about the same amount of time to get them nice and mature after you plant them.

Great analogy.

Re: How to get high CL's?

M_Smart007 — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 19:24:36 GMT

@CreditInspired wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Lol, i took a $25k Store card and turned it into a lee MAJOR BABY
A 6 million dollar card?

Growing CLs is like growing trees. They take about the same amount of time to get them nice and mature after you plant them.
Great analogy.

Sorry for The OT in the thread ..

But Congrats @CreditInspired .. Nice New Color

Re: How to get high CL's?

Aim_High — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 20:11:29 GMT

@kjonesjr00 wrote:
I was wondering if I could get some tips and info on how to get high credit limits?

This has been a topic in which I've also been interested and spent time learning about. I shared my insights on the forum before, so reference my links below for detailed message threads about my opinions and observations. The previous answers here were pointed in the right direction so far.

Some key factors:

* Credit Age

* Spending Levels

* Credit Scores

* Income

* Lender Underwriting Standards

* Debt-to-Income Ratio (All debts, not just credit cards)

* Assets on deposit with the Lender

* Use of Credit lines (regular, responsible, even without high spend)

* Leveraging Limits among Lenders

* Type/Brand of cards (Choose the right cards)

See Links:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Credit-Card-Management-So-many-cards-So-many-limits/m-p/5724730#M1664057

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Please-give-some-data-points-credit-limit-income/m-p/5741317#M1667121

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Do-travel-cards-usually-come-with-higher-limits/m-p/5752615#M1669150

Re: How to get high CL's?

CreditInspired — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 21:42:00 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
@CreditInspired wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Lol, i took a $25k Store card and turned it into a lee MAJOR BABY
A 6 million dollar card?

Growing CLs is like growing trees. They take about the same amount of time to get them nice and mature after you plant them.
Great analogy.
Sorry for The OT in the thread ..
But Congrats @CreditInspired .. Nice New Color

Thank you @M_Smart007 . And Congratus to you too. I just noticed yours. Shame on me for being so non-observant.