topic Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend? in Credit Cards

How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

peasandcarrots — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 17:51:31 GMT

I'm looking to add a travel rewards credit card to the cards I aready have. I've narrowed it down to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I currenty have 4 Chase credit cards with the following credit limits: Freedom Unlimited (26K), Freedom (16K), Amazon Prime (12.5K), and Chase Slate (5K). I don't use the Slate card any more (but I've had it since 2005) and have been contimplating asking them to close it and transfer to the credit to another card. I can see I'm already preapproved for both Sapphire cards. My question is, does anyone have a sense of they figure out how much total credit they're willing to extend? For example X% of annual income, DTI, etc? Across the 3 cards, I spent 28K last year (I pay the balance in full monthly) and have 850 FICO, so hoping that works in my favor. Or is anyone willing to share info on how much total credit they have with Chase? I have several cards with limits over 20K, so really not wanting to add a card with a low limit. 10K is probably the lowest I'd be OK with.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

Remedios — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 17:54:13 GMT

No one can tell you that. It's going to depend on your CR, income, spend, and whatever else Chase threw into the slow cooker.

Since you have multiple cards, you can easily move credit lines around if you aren't happy with starting limit.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

Hoben02 — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 18:03:35 GMT

Most likely you will get a starting CL similar to your other recent cards.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

peasandcarrots — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 18:07:32 GMT

Thanks. That's what I figured but thought I'd ask and see before doing that hard pull.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

iced — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 19:20:56 GMT

@peasandcarrots wrote:
I'm looking to add a travel rewards credit card to the cards I aready have. I've narrowed it down to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I currenty have 4 Chase credit cards with the following credit limits: Freedom Unlimited (26K), Freedom (16K), Amazon Prime (12.5K), and Chase Slate (5K). I don't use the Slate card any more (but I've had it since 2005) and have been contimplating asking them to close it and transfer to the credit to another card. I can see I'm already preapproved for both Sapphire cards. My question is, does anyone have a sense of they figure out how much total credit they're willing to extend? For example X% of annual income, DTI, etc? Across the 3 cards, I spent 28K last year (I pay the balance in full monthly) and have 850 FICO, so hoping that works in my favor. Or is anyone willing to share info on how much total credit they have with Chase? I have several cards with limits over 20K, so really not wanting to add a card with a low limit. 10K is probably the lowest I'd be OK with.

As others have said, YMMV. Chase also seems to do a bit of their own internal scoring which can make some otherwise-solid profiles get less favorable treatment and others get surprisingly good treatment. I doubt DTI or limit:income ratios factor in to limits much except in extreme cases where it trips a risk factor.

You're still well within their comfort zone with getting an additional $10k+ -- provided the rest of your profile doesn't concern them somehow.

As for data points, I have 3 open cards with them for a total limit of $105k (one is never used). My spend on their cards is a little higher annually, but my FICO is a little lower.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

Aim_High — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 19:47:18 GMT

@peasandcarrots wrote:
I'm looking to add a travel rewards credit card to the cards I aready have. I've narrowed it down to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I currenty have 4 Chase credit cards with the following credit limits: Freedom Unlimited (26K), Freedom (16K), Amazon Prime (12.5K), and Chase Slate (5K). I don't use the Slate card any more (but I've had it since 2005) and have been contimplating asking them to close it and transfer to the credit to another card. I can see I'm already preapproved for both Sapphire cards. My question is, does anyone have a sense of they figure out how much total credit they're willing to extend? For example X% of annual income, DTI, etc? Across the 3 cards, I spent 28K last year (I pay the balance in full monthly) and have 850 FICO, so hoping that works in my favor. Or is anyone willing to share info on how much total credit they have with Chase? I have several cards with limits over 20K, so really not wanting to add a card with a low limit. 10K is probably the lowest I'd be OK with.

Welcome to My Fico Forums, @peasandcarrots.

As @Remedios said, we can only make some generalities about TCL with Chase or any lender and it all comes down to profile-specific factors. However, there are some very general guidelines I've read that seem to hold true in many cases with Chase. Keep in mind that those profile-specific factors will have their own influence, for better or for worse.

As a percentage of income, it has appeared that Chase often limits a client's credit exposure to about 40% to 50% of gross income. In my case, I had as many as six Chase cards open at one time and added several in-a-row (2018-2020). My credit exposure appeared capped at just under 40% of my gross income at that time, as on the last approval they automatically reallocated credit to the new card from other credit lines. My household income was well into six figures and I also had 825-850 credit scores. Chase remains my most generous lender with TCL of $138.6K TCL. I've seen other higher income profiles seem to cap somewhere in that area, so I'm guessing that it's a similar exposure cap to Bank of America's $99.9K TCL cap for most consumer profiles without heavy spend or assets invested.

Extrapolating from the above, your current Chase TCL is $59.5K. Using the 40% to 50% indicates you *may* tap out at that TCL based on income of around $120K to $150K. This isn't an exact measurement, of course, but gives you some idea of the potential TCL. (Of course, income above $150K would give you a lot more room for further growth.)

If you're preapproved for both Sapphire cards, the minimum CL for the Reserve is $10K and the Preferred is $5K. My guess is that if you're preapproved, they would offer you at least that much additional credit without moving limits from your other cards. Also, reallocation of limits is easy with Chase so if you got the $5K on the Preferred, you could move the other $5K from that Slate card to give you the minimum $10K limit you are seeking.

I would also say that they may be a little more generous if you have fewer inquiries and new accounts. The farther under 5/24, the better your chances of a somewhat higher limit approval.

I would say that it counts in your favor that you have high FICO, you have responsible payment history on four other Chase cards so you're more of a known risk, and you've used the cards for $28K in spend last year with PIF.

I'm interested to see your SL approval report and how this turns out if you proceed.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

Aim_High — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 19:42:05 GMT

@Hoben02 wrote:
Most likely you will get a starting CL similar to your other recent cards.

@peasandcarrots wrote:
Thanks. That's what I figured but thought I'd ask and see before doing that hard pull.

While that can be the case since SLs often fall within a general range, there are too many variables at stake to make such a blanket statement. If OP's last recent card was 12, 24, 36 months ago, credit factors may have changed significantly including income and debt. To limit their risk, lenders often cap TCL with a consumer at either a specific dollar limit (such as AOD FCU's $25K; PenFed's $25K/$50K; NFCU's $50K/$80K, BofA's $99.9K etc) or as a percentage of household income adjusted for debt loading such as the 40% to 50% ratio I referenced above that So SL could be influenced by total credit a consumer has already been extended. Moreover, if OP's more recent cards were with different lenders, there can be wide variations between SLs (higher or lower) based on their underwriting policies. The same profile that gets $5K from one lender might get $25K from another. During my most recent active credit-seeking, I was approved for limits as high as $35K and as low as $1K. SLs can also be influenced by the presence or lack of multiple inquiries and new accounts. More credit-seeking often means lower limits, and OP did not mention those data points. While prior highest and starting credit limits can be used as a guideline of what to expect, YMMV based on many other considerations.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

CreditCuriosity — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 20:11:58 GMT

All things considered around 40-55%(approximate) of your gross income is about normal for exposure with them at least that is what it was approx. in the past. As mentioned can move limits arounds or recon if needed if turned down and have them move limits to approve new card.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

peasandcarrots — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 21:18:17 GMT

@iced wrote:
@peasandcarrots wrote:
I'm looking to add a travel rewards credit card to the cards I aready have. I've narrowed it down to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I currenty have 4 Chase credit cards with the following credit limits: Freedom Unlimited (26K), Freedom (16K), Amazon Prime (12.5K), and Chase Slate (5K). I don't use the Slate card any more (but I've had it since 2005) and have been contimplating asking them to close it and transfer to the credit to another card. I can see I'm already preapproved for both Sapphire cards. My question is, does anyone have a sense of they figure out how much total credit they're willing to extend? For example X% of annual income, DTI, etc? Across the 3 cards, I spent 28K last year (I pay the balance in full monthly) and have 850 FICO, so hoping that works in my favor. Or is anyone willing to share info on how much total credit they have with Chase? I have several cards with limits over 20K, so really not wanting to add a card with a low limit. 10K is probably the lowest I'd be OK with.
As others have said, YMMV. Chase also seems to do a bit of their own internal scoring which can make some otherwise-solid profiles get less favorable treatment and others get surprisingly good treatment. I doubt DTI or limit:income ratios factor in to limits much except in extreme cases where it trips a risk factor.

You're still well within their comfort zone with getting an additional $10k+ -- provided the rest of your profile doesn't concern them somehow.

As for data points, I have 3 open cards with them for a total limit of $105k (one is never used). My spend on their cards is a little higher annually, but my FICO is a little lower.

Thanks, this is helpful!

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

peasandcarrots — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 21:29:52 GMT

@Aim_High thank you! This makes a lot of sense. Income is above 150k, no recent credit cards, just the auto loan a few months ago. Feeling optimistic.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

peasandcarrots — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 21:31:39 GMT

@CreditCuriosity wrote:
All things considered around 40-55%(approximate) of your gross income is about normal for exposure with them at least that is what it was approx. in the past. As mentioned can move limits arounds or recon if needed if turned down and have them move limits to approve new card.

Thanks so much!

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

OmarGB9 — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 01:11:59 GMT

@peasandcarrots wrote:
@CreditCuriosity wrote:
All things considered around 40-55%(approximate) of your gross income is about normal for exposure with them at least that is what it was approx. in the past. As mentioned can move limits arounds or recon if needed if turned down and have them move limits to approve new card.
Thanks so much!

Soooo...what limit did you get!?

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

peasandcarrots — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 01:15:46 GMT

I'm interested to see your SL approval report and how this turns out if you proceed.

@Aim_High I applied. To my surprise, they offerd 80K in SUB instead of the 60K running right now. My SL is 21,700, so I'm very happy with that. Thanks again.

Re: How much total credit limit will Chase extend?

FinStar — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 01:19:03 GMT

As the OP has indicated they've been approved, this thread is now locked and closed to new messages.

@peasandcarrots - thanks for the update and congrats on your CSP approval.