topic Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs? in Credit Cards

How do people get $10k plus CLs?

IcyCool7227 — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 10:52:41 GMT

I have fair credit. Even when I had great credit in the 730s I never got approved for a card with more than $5000 SL and never had a card past $7500. So I see a lot of posters saying they have all these $10k plus CLs but how does that happen? Do you need excellent credit or just a very high income or both?

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

Horseshoez — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 13:41:21 GMT

@IcyCool7227 wrote:
I have fair credit. Even when I had great credit in the 730s I never got approved for a card with more than $5000 SL and never had a card past $7500. So I see a lot of posters saying they have all these $10k plus CLs but how does that happen? Do you need excellent credit or just a very high income or both?

There appear to be lots of ways to get to individual credit limits of ten-grand or more, and there are many posts from folks here who've achieved limits well in excess of that threshold with only middling credit ratings.

In my case, with my credit ratings hovering in the mid to high 700s (they were all over 800 early last year before applying for a new credit card and a car loan); I achieved limits above that mark in two very different ways:

After my Chapter 13 was discharged in 2020 I applied for a secured TDCash card with a $5,000 limit; the card graduated to unsecured six months later, got an auto CLI about 14 months later to $8,500, and then another auto CLI 10 months after that bringing my limit to $11,500.
Last month I took a gamble at a Chase Sapphire Preferred and was stunned to see my starting limit set to $11,700.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

MarkintheHV — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 14:43:04 GMT

Some of it depends on the relationship. I have been with Amex (according to them) since 2003, when I came back, they started me out with very nice CLs. Navy Federal, I have been with them for many years, and as such, when I have applied for credit cards, I always get their initial max of 25k.

Some people with no relationship get those, but, I am not sure how. I just know from my perspective, relationships are what helps me.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

JoeRockhead — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 14:57:03 GMT

There are a lot of factors that go into this, obviously it's going to be profile specific, your history, scores, income and other factors such as DTI, etc… weigh in. Also some issuers can be more generous than others. You don't need excellent credit per se, as stated up thread there's been plenty of posts on this forum of people getting big SL approvals even after a BK and/or less than stellar histories, or even short histories.

As an example, I have a relatively short history AAoA of 2.8 years, but I do have an excellent income and no mortgage or rent. Still, my highest approval for a personal card was only around $2500. I gardened what I had for about 7 or 8 months, then in November of last year I got two new cards, one with a 17k SL and the other with a 20k SL. I was shocked to say the least... x 2!!!

I'm sure if you would share some more detailed DPs on yourself, others will chime in with some more solid advice and their experiences.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

isik — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 15:29:33 GMT

I'm new but as far as I can tell relationships matter a lot too for some banks.
A year ago I applied for my first US credit card, BofA CCR. It only started with 1.5k SL. I also have a checking account with them. I know BofA is not very generous to a lot of people but I think my checking account helps me a lot for CLIs.

6 months later I requested an increase to 3k, approved. 3 moths later another one to 6k. 3 more months, requested 10k, got 8.3k. The only reason given for partial increase was high utilization, which is fair. I'm at about 30% with 1 card at 50%. BofA is at 30%.

I think once I lower the balance (should happen in a few months) 10k will be possible.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

MT64 — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 15:39:13 GMT

I'm unsure of where relationship is coming in to play. Granted, I can see how it can benefit you with Credit Unions and while not $10k, Discover did start me out at $7.5 having zero history with them in the past and only a smalll handful of low Capital One credit cards for the past 8 years with a score of around 730. I do have a squeaky clean credit history though with perfect on-time payments and a few loan products used in the past (Affirm, Avant) and one paid off auto loan, so the variety may have helped. I'm sure DTI and income in general are just as important in overall factoring.

As far as getting to $10k, I'm hoping in the next 3-6 months (will put me in the year mark with Disco), to apply for a CLI that will push me above $10k so, maybe that in part is the building relationship aspect.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 16:13:20 GMT

I think the economic climate is also a factor. In the past, with no relationship, I have got $30k+ SLs from places like Cap One, Chase, and NASA FCU. Currently, I think it may be harder as issuers are getting more cautious.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

Drifter73 — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 16:27:47 GMT

I may have missed it mentioned, but verifiable income can also play a big roll in a $10k+ SL.

Lenders generally won't be too quick on handing out five figure limits for income under $20k per year. Even at $30k per year, one would need an internal relationship or a solid credit history and potentially thick file to make the lender comfortable enough.

Back in the 90s it was easier to get $10k limits without having to prove income. Not so much these days, especially after 2020 and the economic downturn.

50k+ incomes can sometimes have a hard time getting a $10k+ limit with proof of income if their credit history is poor and/or have a thin file.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

SouthJamaica — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 20:02:49 GMT

@IcyCool7227 wrote:
I have fair credit. Even when I had great credit in the 730s I never got approved for a card with more than $5000 SL and never had a card past $7500. So I see a lot of posters saying they have all these $10k plus CLs but how does that happen? Do you need excellent credit or just a very high income or both?

There are multiple factors. Credit scores are just one.

Others include income, utilization, debt to income ratio, recent inquiries and accounts, average existing limits.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

CYBERSAM — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 20:38:46 GMT

@IcyCool7227 wrote:
I have fair credit. Even when I had great credit in the 730s I never got approved for a card with more than $5000 SL and never had a card past $7500. So I see a lot of posters saying they have all these $10k plus CLs but how does that happen? Do you need excellent credit or just a very high income or both?

As others have mentioned, There are multiple factors! Also having a right bank and card makes a difference too.

For me only recent two Chase, USBANK and X1 card have been over 10K. Everything else was through CLI.

For example you can get certain CCs even with lower SL to go well over 10K.

Sync Bank: Easy to get CLI to 20K with SP

AMEX: 3X CLI with SP

Citi: About every 6 months CLI SP to around 30K

Discover: Easy CLI SP 20K+ (if they see usage)

FNBO: 20K+ CLI with SP over the phone!

I'm not even mentioning Cards from CUs.

This is basic generalization and over simplification of getting cards with right banks that can grow easy, provided you meet other conditions!

Good luck.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

ibmrad7 — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 20:54:20 GMT

@IcyCool7227 wrote:
I have fair credit. Even when I had great credit in the 730s I never got approved for a card with more than $5000 SL and never had a card past $7500. So I see a lot of posters saying they have all these $10k plus CLs but how does that happen? Do you need excellent credit or just a very high income or both?

It depends upon a few factors:

- Payment history.

- Credit score (part of payment history)

- Salary

- Spending

- the most IMPORTANT of all, TIME!

As a data point, I opened a BofA secured card in 2007 with $500 CL; it's sitting at $99,900 today. Treat your lenders well, and they'll reward you back.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

FireMedic1 — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 21:50:58 GMT

@IcyCool7227How old is your oldest account? Under 10 means a bit. AAoA's helps. Income as mentioned. Like fine wine. Takes time.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:05:53 GMT

And the usual PSA: don't confuse a CL (and especially Total CL) with anything like an asset! On the hopefully frequent occasions when someone offers you $500K in cash or a set of cards with a $500K Total Credit Limit, take the former! (The latter might follow...)

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

nbnsraz — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:59:36 GMT

I think thick credit profiles help, having a history of long term credit management is a plus.

That said, the easiest ways is 0 late payments, good lenders, regular spending on the card with large payments to match. Lenders can track your recent payments to see if you're paying above the minimums, which means more capacity to pay and disposable income. Give it a few years of regular credit line increases from genrous banking partners and you'll find yourself with high limits.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

mgood — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 01:50:04 GMT

Having a card with a $10k+ limit was just a dream for me as recently as a year and a half ago. Now I have five of them. Just today, one of them became my first $20k+ card.

Mostly time, and having zero late payments or other negatives. I don't make tons of money, but I'm not broke either. I pay for everything I can with credit cards. I have good credit scores, but nothing exceptional. They've slowly come up over the past couple years. I see people with lower scores and a shorter history get starting limits much higher than mine. Then I see that they make several times more money than I do. So with good scores or a lot of money, you can get there. If you have both, you've got it made. If you have neither, well, both situations can be improved. This forum will do a lot to teach you to improve your scores. You'll have to look elsewhere to learn how to improve your income. But paying on time is probably the most important factor. That's 35% of your credit score. And 100% on-time payments is way, way better than 99% on-time payments, so there's little margin for error.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

Shooting-For-800 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 03:29:37 GMT

Relationship, spending habits, CLIs, credit score somewhat.

Cap One gave me a SL of $30k on my Venture after spending a lot on my other Cap One cards.

Navy Fed gave me many CLIs to get to $29k and $35k on 2 different cards.

PenFed just started me at high limits.

etc.

Once you have some large cards, I do believe that it makes it easier to get more of them.

Now I have like 25 $10k+ cards.

GL!

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

loviedovie — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 03:40:13 GMT

I was in the same boat as you, OP.

So I followed the tips on here, and they auto-CLI over time.

What moved it more quickly:

- Chase Saphire Preferred, I carried a small balance every month and never missed a payment. They seemed to like that and just kept raising the limit. Once, I did a balance transfer to my Citi Thank You Preferred card, and Chase immediately raised my limit 5k. I did it again 6 months later and they reaised it another 5k.

- Citi, when I did a balance transfer from Chase to Citi, they seemed to like that and immediately raised my limit $5k more and offered me another balance transfer (which I did not take becuase I had nothign to transfer)

The biggest factor: I never had a late payment. On anything. They just love that.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

805orbust — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 06:01:26 GMT

Initially it started for me with CL increases. I took what I could get, when I could get it. But I noticed it's like a snowball. Spend really helped me. Once I started ramping that up it became MUCH easier. Additionally, I noticed that when scores are over 740 or so the floodgates open.

My first 2 5 figure approvals were with Penfed, and TD Bank, who Is my personal, and business bank. Nowadays tho, it seems as if the purse strings are already tightening.

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

Remedios — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 06:37:43 GMT

For me it just happened over time.

At first, $5000.00 was *holy cow* , then $7000 was *dang*, and $10,000.00 was *made it*

Then "goal" became $15k, $20K etc.

Limits were important till I realized it's all just fake money, the only thing that's mine is statement balance.

It's nice to have some wiggle room utilization wise, but I wish I didn't chase limits because now they are hard to justify with lack of spend in relation to limit.

Those cards are now a goal again, except this time it's getting over closephobia and having them poof

Re: How do people get $10k plus CLs?

Namaste7 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:33:37 GMT

@CYBERSAM wrote:
@IcyCool7227 wrote:
I have fair credit. Even when I had great credit in the 730s I never got approved for a card with more than $5000 SL and never had a card past $7500. So I see a lot of posters saying they have all these $10k plus CLs but how does that happen? Do you need excellent credit or just a very high income or both?
As others have mentioned, There are multiple factors! Also having a right bank and card makes a difference too.
For me only recent two Chase, USBANK and X1 card have been over 10K. Everything else was through CLI.
For example you can get certain CCs even with lower SL to go well over 10K.

Sync Bank: Easy to get CLI to 20K with SP
AMEX: 3X CLI with SP
Citi: About every 6 months CLI SP to around 30K
Discover: Easy CLI SP 20K+ (if they see usage)
FNBO: 20K+ CLI with SP over the phone!

I'm not even mentioning Cards from CUs.
This is basic generalization and over simplification of getting cards with right banks that can grow easy, provided you meet other conditions!
Good luck.

Lots of great feedback, but I think the bolded points ⬆️ hit the nail on the head.

Here are my thoughts:

Strong financial profile → higher FICO score; income/assets; older credit profile; and, no negatives (< 7 yrs) always helps
Choose the right bank for your profile → Leverage the DPs here to identify the best banks to do business with
Be a great customer → use account and PIF; request CLIs; pay BTs early; and expand your relationship (deposit or loans)
Be steadfast and eliminate low-hanging fruit → IMO, sustaining an average total CL under 10k begets more accounts with CLs under 10k.