topic Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such? in Credit Cards

Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Revelate — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:50:54 GMT

Not sure how to do a poll here, but I've seen a few posts recently talking about decent credit limits; we've had the question in the past of what's your highest CL, but I'm curious as to what you all consider to be respectable?

In my current existence, I have about 1K worth of random expenses (meals and what not) in any given month, so to me even a 1K limit is decent so I don't have to pay multiple times during a month if I'm running most of my life through that one card. I'm known as a cheap bastard though so YMMV .

What are your thoughts, and also why?

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Jake0215 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:56:30 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
Not sure how to do a poll here, but I've seen a few posts recently talking about decent credit limits; we've had the question in the past of what's your highest CL, but I'm curious as to what you all consider to be respectable?

In my current existence, I have about 1K worth of random expenses (meals and what not) in any given month, so to me even a 1K limit is decent so I don't have to pay multiple times during a month if I'm running most of my life through that one card. I'm known as a cheap bastard though so YMMV .

What are your thoughts, and also why?

IMO because of the 5k visa sig requirement I think this would be a reasonable place to start for a decent cl.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

boomhower — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:57:21 GMT

That's going to vary from person to person. For level of spending I am comfortable with a $2k card so I don't have to make multiple payments. But I consider $5k respectable. Of my cards only two are at that level. For my income I don't ever seeing getting farther that $10k. For others $5k is a pitance and $25k is respectable. For other only NPSL will suffice.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:58:01 GMT

My Freedom's limit is $2500 and I consider that fair/nice/decent etc....

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Revelate — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:03:33 GMT

@boomhower wrote:
That's going to vary from person to person. For level of spending I am comfortable with a $2k card so I don't have to make multiple payments. But I consider $5k respectable. Of my cards only two are at that level. For my income I don't ever seeing getting farther that $10k. For others $5k is a pitance and $25k is respectable. For other only NPSL will suffice.

Hence my question The forum population is well educated about credit cards and credit issues in general compared to the vast majority of humanity, so it's interesting (to me at least) to see where people fall on this particular spectrum.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:07:17 GMT

$1000 for me is plenty.. It's enough where I don't generally have to make a second payment, but it makes me second guess a large purchase.

That's really going to vary though with spending habits.

My huband has a Cap One that still has a $300 limit. That card is hard to use. Basically use it to buy a tank of gas now and then and pay in full as soon as the balance posts. Can't go grocery shopping and buy a tank of gas without having a problem.. lol

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

android01 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:08:45 GMT

Whenever I apply for a new card, I hope to get 10K.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:08:46 GMT

10k for me.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:23:40 GMT

I'm a very frugal person and thought I was OK with my highest CL being $2500. However, a few car repairs and vet bills later I'm understanding the need for higher limits. Even though 5K would be adequate for my life in most circumstances, several years ago in the middle of my financial meltdown my boiler needed to be replaced. The cost: $4500. I didn't have the available credit or adequate savings so I had to borrow from my dad and put the charge on his CC. What would I have done without that option? Go without heat? I'm not sure and it makes me cringe to think I lived on the edge like that for so many years.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:45:22 GMT

There was an interesting (although I don't know how correct) article I read awhile ago about how banks determine CLs with a $100 loss in mind. Based on creditworthiness if they deem an applicant's risk of default to be 10% they will issue a CL of $1000 b/c 10% of that is $100. For a very good applicant with 1% risk of default the CL will be $10000 and so forth. If this is true, 2% risk = $5000 CL which is also the minimum starting CL for Visa Signature and World MC.

But I agree with others in that what is "enough" is relative to one's income/spending. For me, $5000+ and I don't have to worry about util on that card. I have one card at $3000 and it makes me a bit uncomfortable to let more than $1000 report so I pay it off before the statement cuts.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Roarmeister — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:05:36 GMT

Take the amount that you want to or do spend on the card. Multiply by 10 so that you achieve < 10% utilization.

If you spend $500 month then a a $5000 credit limit makes sense.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:08:10 GMT

Anything over $10,000 also.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Revelate — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:16:30 GMT

@Roarmeister wrote:
Take the amount that you want to or do spend on the card. Multiply by 10 so that you achieve < 10% utilization.
If you spend $500 month then a a $5000 credit limit makes sense.

Even with the fact it's not too long of a walk (go go Intarwebz!) these days to pay before the statement date when you really want to maximize your FICO for a given month?

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:16:37 GMT

For reasons that I've long since forgotten, and were probably based purely on emotion, I decided that I wanted a minimum of $1K on store cards and $5K on bank cards.

Other than the mind-blowingly stubborn Chase Freedom ($4500), I hit that point a while back.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Open123 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:21:15 GMT

For personal spending, I think $3,000 - $5,000 is pretty decent.

For my personal stuff, I really never need more than that unless I'm only going to use one card. Having a charge card, I never really need too high of a CL on credit cards. Anything above $3k for personal cards is more than ample for me. If anything, while I appreciate the high CLs, eventually I call to have them lowered, if only to keep from running into the "enough open credit" thing.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

frogfan12 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:05:06 GMT

I think $5K is pretty decent. Any more than that is just awesome.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

webhopper — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:11:19 GMT

5k limit is good. Really this depends on income. For some; 5k is a lot. For others its not much

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:12:39 GMT

Such an interesting question since the answer can change when your limits start to grow. I used to think 2500 was decent, moved it sort of to 5000, and right now, i think 10,000 is what i would want as a minimum were i to apply for new credit. My lowest line right now is Wells Fargo at 6500 and while i dont look down on it, i rarely use except for.small things to keep it active. Now if i were to start.getting 25,000 regularly, my feelings would change. From a practicle stand point, the.numbers i lay out are silly. I have not, nor do i plan on getting anywhere near a 10k charge, but you never know what kinds of mis-fortune can come ones way and having the available credit to handle most things lets me sleep well at night. Thing is though that those numbers only apply to me. I dont actually have an overall opinion on what it should be for anyone else. We are all just to different.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

CreditScholar — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:52:23 GMT

For me personally, I would expect no less than 15-20k for a starting CL. Half of my cards are already there.

In general though:

Decent = $5000

Good = $10,000

Excellent = $15,000+

If you have less than a 5k limit, you're automatically cutoff from certain levels of cards (mostly visa signatures and world mastercards). "Decent" should mean that you're at least eligible for them. Whether you want them or not is another story, but it's good to have options.

Re: Decent credit limit, what do you consider as such?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:53:49 GMT

$5200 is my highest., $500 my lowest. I'm satisfied with the $2k AMEXes I have.