topic Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month? in Credit Cards

$100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Vash1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:43:15 GMT

For those of you with 100k plus in total credit line, what's your average spend per month?

I'm at $84k TCL, and I want to get to 100k but eventually to 200k plus.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

crystal626 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:48:55 GMT

Less than $1K. Honestly most months it's probably less than $500. There pretty much would never be a situation where I would use even 1% of my limits and most of my cards are sock drawer status, used once every 3-6 months to keep them from being shut down.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

dfwxjer — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:20:01 GMT

My wife and I usually spend around $8-15k a month across several cards depending on how much we're traveling. We run everything we can through cards and PIF every month. The only thing we don't run through card are our mortgages, my car payment, the liquor store, and anything else we can get a discount for using cash/debit.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

ptatohed — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:38:22 GMT

Not sure what TCL has to do with spend? I couldn't tell you my TCL if you pointed a gun to my head. Nor do I care what it is, as each individual card's CL is more than I need for its spend. But I would say we spend about $6k / mo on our credit cards. We charge everything that is chargeable and PIF. No less than 4% CB, often 5% CB, sometimes more, with offers.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Varsity_Lu — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:53:28 GMT

@Vash1 wrote:
For those of you with 100k plus in total credit line, what's your average spend per month?

I'm at $84k TCL, and I want to get to 100k but eventually to 200k plus.

$129,800 TCL. I spend at least $2,500 per month just on routine expenses like gas, groceries, utilities, insurance, etc. If I go on a trip, have a car repair, or take on some project around the house, it may be upwards of $10,000 in a month. It really depends. Spending also increase in November and December due to Christmas purchases and dining out more.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

NoHardLimits — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:35:42 GMT

My household's monthly credit card spend varies widely. For the most recent 12 month rolling period, it's ranged from $6k to $21k. That averaged out to roughly $10k/month, but travel expenses (especially bucket list trips) and Black Friday shopping sprees skew that number higher. Household TCL is just short of $600k.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

bs1234 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:58:11 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
Not sure what TCL has to do with spend?

My guess is that OP suspects that you need spend to "support" a TCL, and that would certainly make sense, but experiene here is that while CLDs happen on cards for too little spend (and I have had this), it's pretty rare and not on all cards. It's far more frequent to see CLD or closure for no use at all, relatively tiny spend can keep a card alive with a good CL. Over time, you might be able to get say 40 cards with a $2.5K CL, getting the $100K TCL and perhaps get away with no spend at all, at least for a while.

To answer the question, I have about $500K TCL and put between $10-15K per month at a guess. So clearly could do with less CL!

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

FigNewton — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:10:05 GMT

I think your TCL would be tied closer to your income, however it's possible to have a very high TCL with a more average income. My TCL is just over 250k across 13 cards. IMHO the key to unlocking higher limits starts with accessing higher limits, for example AMEX was generous to me earlier on in my rebuilt where you can easily grow a card from a SL of 5k to 35k within a year. Then other lenders will see you can responsibly handle that high CL and it opens up. For me Citi and Chase followed where my average CL's with them are right around 30k/card. I didn't study your profile clearly but I know Lowe's is notoriously easy to max out at 35k CL almost immediately. I saw one post where someone opened the card with a super low SL like 500 bucks and immediately submitted a request to 35k and was approved (if I recall correctly).

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

redpat — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:14:46 GMT

Well I use my AA Exec and CSR for business and personal spend, so alot, maybe not form some......Low side $15 a month, high side can be over $30k

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Jordan23ww — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:27:35 GMT

I tend to spend between $3000 to $4000 each month across multiple cards. I have $547K TCL. I spread out the purchases depending on which card gives the highest cash back/points for that transaction.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Vash1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 20:50:45 GMT

Why not the liquor store? Is there like an extra tax or something?

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Vash1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 20:53:58 GMT

It's primarily because I assume at some point for higher credit limits you would need to spend X amount at a minimum. I want to push for as high as I can.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Vash1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 20:55:03 GMT

Thank you that helps a lot. My spend is similar to yours.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Vash1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 20:59:00 GMT

Thank you, and you're precisely right that's the assumption and why I poised the question.

Thats an impressive TCL. Good data points as now I see that perhaps it won't take as much as I originally thought.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Vash1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 21:03:34 GMT

Thank you for that. I need to update my profile some as I've recently gotten some CLI. Our household income is in the top 10% in the US but I'm still struggling to get the CLIs that I've been seeking.

You're right and I may open up another card with AMEX.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

crystal626 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 21:06:52 GMT

@Vash1 wrote:
It's primarily because I assume at some point for higher credit limits you would need to spend X amount at a minimum. I want to push for as high as I can.

You definitely don't. The only creditor that has even CLD'd me despite my low spend is Capital One, which was no big loss. At one point my TCL was approaching $300K but I've closed some cards (and plan to close some more) as I'm tired of managing all of them. You do hit the point where higher TCL necessitates opening more cards though.

Also, when you hit reply, if you don't hit Quote we won't know who you were responding to.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Vash1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 21:07:12 GMT

Oh wow. It would be nice to get to that level someday. Definitely goals.

Im at 3k to 5k a month. Just not sure it will get to the level I want it at.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

Vash1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 21:10:07 GMT

@crystal626 wrote:
@Vash1 wrote:
It's primarily because I assume at some point for higher credit limits you would need to spend X amount at a minimum. I want to push for as high as I can.
You definitely don't. The only creditor that has even CLD'd me despite my low spend is Capital One, which was no big loss. At one point my TCL was approaching $300K but I've closed some cards (and plan to close some more) as I'm tired of managing all of them. You do hit the point where higher TCL necessitates opening more cards though.

Also, when you hit reply, if you don't hit Quote we won't know who you were responding to.

That's good to know.

Also thanks for the tip about hitting the quote. It's been quite a while since I've last posted on this forum and forgot.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

crystal626 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 21:20:15 GMT

@Vash1 wrote:
@crystal626 wrote:
@Vash1 wrote:
It's primarily because I assume at some point for higher credit limits you would need to spend X amount at a minimum. I want to push for as high as I can.
You definitely don't. The only creditor that has even CLD'd me despite my low spend is Capital One, which was no big loss. At one point my TCL was approaching $300K but I've closed some cards (and plan to close some more) as I'm tired of managing all of them. You do hit the point where higher TCL necessitates opening more cards though.

Also, when you hit reply, if you don't hit Quote we won't know who you were responding to.
That's good to know.

Also thanks for the tip about hitting the quote. It's been quite a while since I've last posted on this forum and forgot.

If you're Navy Federal eligible, it's not difficult to get to $80K with them over time. Either over two cards ($50K limit for most cards) or just one if you get the Flagship. Navy Federal makes up $80K of my limits and our HHI is just above $80K so income isn't a big thing with them either, just time.

Re: $100k plus TCL? What’s Your Spend Per Month?

dfwxjer — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 23:15:34 GMT

@Vash1 wrote:
Why not the liquor store? Is there like an extra tax or something?

Most liquor stores in my area offer a 5% discount for debit. No reason to mess with rewards when I can see an immediate 5% savings.