topic Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines? in General Credit Topics

How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 03:20:52 GMT

So I need assistance with developing a strategy to increase my current credit line ($ 330,000) to $ 1,000,000.

Here is where I stand currently:

Chase (3 accounts) - $ 44,900

Capital One Venture - $ 30,000

Amex (3 accounts) - $ 62,200

Wells Fargo (2 accounts) - $ 54,000

Bank of America (3 accounts) - $ 10,000

Barclaycard Ring - $ 19,000

Apple Card - $ 10,000

Discover It Cash Back - $ 11,500

Citi (3 accounts) - $ 88,400

All this comes out to an average of $ 18,333.33/credit card. $ 330,000/18 credit cards.

I currently have a balance across some 11 credit cards of $ 140,000. Thats about 42% CLU currently.

My current credit score is about 720. My oldest account has been open for about 18 years.

Fire away with any questions you may have to help fill in the gaps.

I believe that covers all of the pertinent data points.

Thanks a million for your valuable input and advice!

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

JoeRockhead — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 03:30:07 GMT

Most over achievers with those kinds of total limits have high income, low debt and reported utilization. They also generally have a thick profile with a long history.

It takes time and/or substantial assets to build that kind of profile.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 03:40:53 GMT

Thanks for your response. What's my path there? My curent icome is $ 255,000. The plan is to reduce the CLU to 10% and under. Any cards you suggest looking into etc.?

@JoeRockhead wrote:
Most over achievers with those kinds of total limits have high income, low debt and reported utilization. They also generally have a thick profile with a long history.

It takes time and/or substantial assets to build that kind of profile.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

FicoMike0 — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 04:20:50 GMT

Keep doing clis, those add up. Amex seems to go 3X until you become reported income limited.

A couple of us got the Aven card

https://www.aven.com/asset?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=Facebook_Right_Column&utm_campaign=120213627102930702_120213627102910702&utm_content=120213853089460702&utm_id=120213627102930702&utm_term=120213627102910702&fbclid=IwY2xjawHWFMJleHRuA2FlbQEwAGFkaWQBqxXc-zYu7gEdnfp1vRQnqTizHa6ND6LLAMZNngA7yiUTiDlX9cYQ6HP7JyYUxkdMKC0b_aem_AMF--k23x3ojSHvKtLOFgQ

They seem to go $15,000 pretty easy, you might get more.

I don't see any credit union cards, some of them do high limits. Everyone loves nfcu. penfeds not bad.

How about ubs, they go high too.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 04:42:43 GMT

Thanks. I will look into those credit cards.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

Thomas_Thumb — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 14:25:45 GMT

@The_Crusader wrote:
So I need assistance with developing a strategy to increase my current credit line ($ 330,000) to $ 1,000,000.

Here is where I stand currently:

Chase (3 accounts) - $ 44,900
Capital One Venture - $ 30,000
Amex (3 accounts) - $ 62,200
Wells Fargo (2 accounts) - $ 54,000
Bank of America (3 accounts) - $ 10,000
Barclaycard Ring - $ 19,000
Apple Card - $ 10,000
Discover It Cash Back - $ 11,500
Citi (3 accounts) - $ 88,400

All this comes out to an average of $ 18,333.33/credit card. $ 330,000/18 credit cards.

I currently have a balance across some 11 credit cards of $ 140,000. Thats about 42% CLU currently.

My current credit score is about 720. My oldest account has been open for about 18 years.

Fire away with any questions you may have to help fill in the gaps.

I believe that covers all of the pertinent data points.

I'd start by having this thread moved to one of the credit card forums (applications?). Then do a few focused searches of those forums. There are past threads discussing high limit cards and successful application strategies.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

NoHardLimits — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 15:45:28 GMT

@The_Crusader wrote:
Thanks for your response. What's my path there? My curent icome is $ 255,000. The plan is to reduce the CLU to 10% and under. Any cards you suggest looking into etc.?
@JoeRockhead wrote:
Most over achievers with those kinds of total limits have high income, low debt and reported utilization. They also generally have a thick profile with a long history.

It takes time and/or substantial assets to build that kind of profile.

@JoeRockhead already identified the main path for you.

High income - Your income is sufficient to start increasing your current credit limits, but it might not be enough to take you all the way to your end goal. Find ways to increase your income.

Low debt - You have $140,000 in revolving debt. This is your biggest hurdle as lenders will hesitate to extend further credit to someone who is already carrying that much credit card debt. Pay off this debt as quickly as possible.

Low utilization - You have already stated a plan to reduce utilization to under 10%. Achieving this interim goal will go a long way towards eventually reaching the end goal of $1 mil in credit limits. This can be reached by both paying down your balances as well as requesting CLIs (credit limit increases) on your existing cards.

Thick profile - If you already have 11 credit cards, that is plenty to establish a thick profile. How many closed accounts show up on your credit reports? Closed tradelines will add to the thickness of your profile.

Long history - Your oldest account age of 18 years is pretty good. What is your average age of accounts? If you have too many newer accounts (less than 2 years old), that could also give lenders pause as that is viewed as "credit seeking behavior". Adding more new accounts now will only make that problem worse.

Time - This is a key factor that cannot be artificially accelerated. Your goal is likely to take years, or even decades, to achieve.

Substantial assets - Having substantial assets is one way to jump the queue. What do banks consider substantial? It varies widely. Some gains can be found at a mass affluent level of $100,000-$250,000. But, the gates will won't really start to open until we are talking 7 to 8 figures in assets. That's when private banking options start to become available.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

JoeRockhead — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 16:54:48 GMT

@NoHardLimits wrote:
@The_Crusader wrote:
Thanks for your response. What's my path there? My curent icome is $ 255,000. The plan is to reduce the CLU to 10% and under. Any cards you suggest looking into etc.?
@JoeRockhead wrote:
Most over achievers with those kinds of total limits have high income, low debt and reported utilization. They also generally have a thick profile with a long history.

It takes time and/or substantial assets to build that kind of profile.

@JoeRockhead already identified the main path for you.

High income - Your income is sufficient to start increasing your current credit limits, but it might not be enough to take you all the way to your end goal. Find ways to increase your income.

Low debt - You have $140,000 in revolving debt. This is your biggest hurdle as lenders will hesitate to extend further credit to someone who is already carrying that much credit card debt. Pay off this debt as quickly as possible.

Low utilization - You have already stated a plan to reduce utilization to under 10%. Achieving this interim goal will go a long way towards eventually reaching the end goal of $1 mil in credit limits. This can be reached by both paying down your balances as well as requesting CLIs (credit limit increases) on your existing cards.

Thick profile - If you already have 11 credit cards, that is plenty to establish a thick profile. How many closed accounts show up on your credit reports? Closed tradelines will add to the thickness of your profile.

Long history - Your oldest account age of 18 years is pretty good. What is your average age of accounts? If you have too many newer accounts (less than 2 years old), that could also give lenders pause as that is viewed as "credit seeking behavior". Adding more new accounts now will only make that problem worse.

Time - This is a key factor that cannot be artificially accelerated. Your goal is likely to take years, or even decades, to achieve.

Substantial assets - Having substantial assets is one way to jump the queue. What do banks consider substantial? It varies widely. Some gains can be found at a mass affluent level of $100,000-$250,000. But, the gates will won't really start to open until we are talking 7 to 8 figures in assets. That's when private banking options start to become available.

Outstanding way to expound on my very brief response up thread (was short on time) @NoHardLimits. I couldn't agree more on all the points you've laid out.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

hdporter — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 21:19:12 GMT

$140k in revolving debt?

You leave yourself open to the whims of your lenders. I presume that you're relying on short-term promo rate balance transfers to keep the interest cost "reasonable". On the drop of a hat you could find yourself unable to roll your low rates forward and be stuck carrying this debt at 20%+ rates.

Ideally, you should only tap revolving debt for balances you expect to repay in full within 3 years. Any longer term debt should only be financed under fixed term, fixed rate terms.

From what you detail, you're in a precarious position. Rather than focusing on expansion of your revolving lines, I advise seeking out reputable lenders who specialize in providing $50k+ loans to credit-stable high income individuals.

I don't have any experience with such lenders (a HELOC would be my "go to".) However, we receive regular solicitations from BHG Financial with such offers touting reasonable rates on unsecured loans.

Of course, your current utilization may be a barrier to getting the best rates. You may need to restructure your debt in a phased manner, reducing your utilization in steps and gradually gaining access to lower rates.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

coldfusion — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 14:45:18 GMT

I'll just toss in a few random thoughts (my .sig is accurate) as there are good and relevant comments above from @JoeRockhead @NoHardLimits and @Thomas_Thumb

As they have pointed out you're going to have a hard time reaching that goal while carrying $140K in unsecured debt, especially with the defensive posturing currently in place from many issuers. Your FICO score is OK, but is likely being supressed at least in part because of that utilization.

If you wanted a quick and dirty data point in how you're current being viewed you can consider trying for a CLI on one of your BoA cards, CLI requests are soft pulls.

Do some research on banks/credit unions known to give fairly large limits to highly qualified applicants either on a single card ( Andrews Titanium, First Tech Odyssey, UNFCU Elite are examples) and/or in aggregate.

Do you have substantial property equity and/or substantial brokerage/deposit assets?

Expect that at best you'd be looking at several years worth of measured cadence to reach your objective even if you weren't carrying all that unsecured debt.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:15:21 GMT

Thanks. I will be doing some in depth research in the coming days on various relevant forums.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:30:42 GMT

Thank you for this deatiled breakdown - appreciate it.

To ddress some of your points.

High income - Will work on ways to increase my income.

Low debt - The plan is to agressively pay this off (or lower to a 10% range) within the next 6-9 months.

Low utilization - While paying down the debt, will simultaniously be strategically requesting CLIs accross the board.

Thick profile - I have 18 credit cards (11 with balances). 3 closed accounts appear on my credit reports. Also 8 years is the averge age of my accounts.

Long history - Currently 8 years is the average age of my accounts.

Time - Will make this a priority so it (hopefully) won't take decades, as timing is everything.

Substantial assets - This is a work in progress.

I hope this gives some additional context. Thanks again for your detailed reply!

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:38:17 GMT

@hdporter wrote:
$140k in revolving debt?

You leave yourself open to the whims of your lenders. I presume that you're relying on short-term promo rate balance transfers to keep the interest cost "reasonable". On the drop of a hat you could find yourself unable to roll your low rates forward and be stuck carrying this debt at 20%+ rates.

Ideally, you should only tap revolving debt for balances you expect to repay in full within 3 years. Any longer term debt should only be financed under fixed term, fixed rate terms.

From what you detail, you're in a precarious position. Rather than focusing on expansion of your revolving lines, I advise seeking out reputable lenders who specialize in providing $50k+ loans to credit-stable high income individuals.

I don't have any experience with such lenders (a HELOC would be my "go to".) However, we receive regular solicitations from BHG Financial with such offers touting reasonable rates on unsecured loans.

Of course, your current utilization may be a barrier to getting the best rates. You may need to restructure your debt in a phased manner, reducing your utilization in steps and gradually gaining access to lower rates.

@hdporter Thanks for your reply.

The plan is to pay down as much as possible this balance within the next 6-9 months. I do not think I will be needing a loan to pay this down.

I would appreciate some pointers in terms of which credit cards i could pursue that in the medium to long term would offer higher CL's ($25k+) to help build my credit, credit lines etc. without needing to have dozens upon dozens of cards. If possible, prefer few high limit cards to many low limit cards.

Thanks again for your help!

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:40:07 GMT

@NoHardLimits wrote:
@The_Crusader wrote:
Thanks for your response. What's my path there? My curent icome is $ 255,000. The plan is to reduce the CLU to 10% and under. Any cards you suggest looking into etc.?
@JoeRockhead wrote:
Most over achievers with those kinds of total limits have high income, low debt and reported utilization. They also generally have a thick profile with a long history.

It takes time and/or substantial assets to build that kind of profile.

@JoeRockhead already identified the main path for you.

High income - Your income is sufficient to start increasing your current credit limits, but it might not be enough to take you all the way to your end goal. Find ways to increase your income.

Low debt - You have $140,000 in revolving debt. This is your biggest hurdle as lenders will hesitate to extend further credit to someone who is already carrying that much credit card debt. Pay off this debt as quickly as possible.

Low utilization - You have already stated a plan to reduce utilization to under 10%. Achieving this interim goal will go a long way towards eventually reaching the end goal of $1 mil in credit limits. This can be reached by both paying down your balances as well as requesting CLIs (credit limit increases) on your existing cards.

Thick profile - If you already have 11 credit cards, that is plenty to establish a thick profile. How many closed accounts show up on your credit reports? Closed tradelines will add to the thickness of your profile.

Long history - Your oldest account age of 18 years is pretty good. What is your average age of accounts? If you have too many newer accounts (less than 2 years old), that could also give lenders pause as that is viewed as "credit seeking behavior". Adding more new accounts now will only make that problem worse.

Time - This is a key factor that cannot be artificially accelerated. Your goal is likely to take years, or even decades, to achieve.

Substantial assets - Having substantial assets is one way to jump the queue. What do banks consider substantial? It varies widely. Some gains can be found at a mass affluent level of $100,000-$250,000. But, the gates will won't really start to open until we are talking 7 to 8 figures in assets. That's when private banking options start to become available.

@NoHardLimits Thank you for this deatiled breakdown - appreciate it.

To ddress some of your points.

High income - Will work on ways to increase my income.

Low debt - The plan is to agressively pay this off (or lower to a 10% range) within the next 6-9 months.

Low utilization - While paying down the debt, will simultaniously be strategically requesting CLIs accross the board.

Thick profile - I have 18 credit cards (11 with balances). 3 closed accounts appear on my credit reports. Also 8 years is the averge age of my accounts.

Long history - Currently 8 years is the average age of my accounts.

Time - Will make this a priority so it (hopefully) won't take decades, as timing is everything.

Substantial assets - This is a work in progress.

I hope this gives some additional context. Thanks again for your detailed reply!

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:59:53 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:
I'll just toss in a few random thoughts (my .sig is accurate) as there are good and relevant comments above from @JoeRockhead @NoHardLimits and @Thomas_Thumb

As they have pointed out you're going to have a hard time reaching that goal while carrying $140K in unsecured debt, especially with the defensive posturing currently in place from many issuers. Your FICO score is OK, but is likely being supressed at least in part because of that utilization.

If you wanted a quick and dirty data point in how you're current being viewed you can consider trying for a CLI on one of your BoA cards, CLI requests are soft pulls.

Do some research on banks/credit unions known to give fairly large limits to highly qualified applicants either on a single card ( Andrews Titanium, First Tech Odyssey, UNFCU Elite are examples) and/or in aggregate.

Do you have substantial property equity and/or substantial brokerage/deposit assets?

Expect that at best you'd be looking at several years worth of measured cadence to reach your objective even if you weren't carrying all that unsecured debt.

@coldfusion Thanks for your reply.

As I mentioned earlier, I anticipate that CLU of 42% to drop down steeply within the next 6-9 months - to approx. 10% range, while strategically requesting CLIs (soft pulls only) along the way. So that should take care of the CLU side of things.

Thank you for the tips on some banks/credit unions known to give fairly large limits to highly qualified applicants - this I believe is my biggest issue, as I currently do not know of many banks/credit unions (out side of the staple BoA, Chase etc.) that could potentially open up a whole new world to me in terms of limits/benefits possibilities. I appreciate that.

As far as the substantial property equity and/or substantial brokerage/deposit assets goes, this is a work in progress (I am a middle millennial) so it will come with time and focused hard work. I do have a question as to how does someone with a good credit and substantial property equity and/or substantial brokerage/deposit assets approach a bank and obtain exclusive products (high limit credit cards ($50k+), lines of credit ($100k+) etc.) with good terms? Also, when you say substantial, what is the range you are looking at?

Thanks again for all your help!

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 18:06:24 GMT

@The_Crusader wrote:

@NoHardLimits Thank you for this deatiled breakdown - appreciate it.

To ddress some of your points.

High income - Will work on ways to increase my income.

Low debt - The plan is to agressively pay this off (or lower to a 10% range) within the next 6-9 months.
That is a very reasonable time frame. Best wishes that everything works out as planned.

Low utilization - While paying down the debt, will simultaniously be strategically requesting CLIs accross the board.

Thick profile - I have 18 credit cards (11 with balances). 3 closed accounts appear on my credit reports. Also 8 years is the averge age of my accounts.
You have plenty of tradelines to form a thick profile.

Long history - Currently 8 years is the average age of my accounts.
The average age of 8 years is reasonable. Just be careful not to add too many accounts to significantly drop that average.

Time - Will make this a priority so it (hopefully) won't take decades, as timing is everything.

Substantial assets - This is a work in progress.

I hope this gives some additional context. Thanks again for your detailed reply!

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

CreditCuriosity — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 18:32:54 GMT

As what others stated above I echo.

Your income can get you to 1 million but your utilization as others stated is your biggest obstacle and near as big one as your utilization is time to grow your limits and or new cards to that number. If you paid down all your debt to decent levels it would likely take 2-4 years to achieve 1 million in the current market conditions. I am near 1 million and would be over it if didn't cancel credit cards whenever i open open new ones. utilization and time are the major things you need to work on as no quick way to get there as you are in on the long game if you want to achieve that.

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 18:49:40 GMT

@NoHardLimits wrote:
@The_Crusader wrote:
@NoHardLimits Thank you for this deatiled breakdown - appreciate it.

To ddress some of your points.

High income - Will work on ways to increase my income.

Low debt - The plan is to agressively pay this off (or lower to a 10% range) within the next 6-9 months.
That is a very reasonable time frame. Best wishes that everything works out as planned.

Low utilization - While paying down the debt, will simultaniously be strategically requesting CLIs accross the board.

Thick profile - I have 18 credit cards (11 with balances). 3 closed accounts appear on my credit reports. Also 8 years is the averge age of my accounts.
You have plenty of tradelines to form a thick profile.

Long history - Currently 8 years is the average age of my accounts.
The average age of 8 years is reasonable. Just be careful not to add too many accounts to significantly drop that average.

Time - Will make this a priority so it (hopefully) won't take decades, as timing is everything.

Substantial assets - This is a work in progress.

I hope this gives some additional context. Thanks again for your detailed reply!

@NoHardLimits Thanks for the follow up comments. Will get on it and will keep you guys posted as I make progress towards my goal. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

The_Crusader — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 19:05:46 GMT

@CreditCuriosity wrote:
As what others stated above I echo.

Your income can get you to 1 million but your utilization as others stated is your biggest obstacle and near as big one as your utilization is time to grow your limits and or new cards to that number. If you paid down all your debt to decent levels it would likely take 2-4 years to achieve 1 million in the current market conditions. I am near 1 million and would be over it if didn't cancel credit cards whenever i open open new ones. utilization and time are the major things you need to work on as no quick way to get there as you are in on the long game if you want to achieve that.

@CreditCuriosity Thanks for your reply. Your comment about the timeline makes the whole thing feel that much more feasible.

I have a follow up question on this - if my CLU was to go down to, say 10%, within 6-9 months, with what kind of combination of credit cards (BoA, Chase etc.), credit card count and/or average credit limits per card etc. could reasonably propel me to be able to reach the $ 1 million mark in say 3-5 years?

Obviously, if possible, I would prefer having fewer credit cards with larger credit limits ($25k+) vs. many credit cards with smaller limits (<$10k).

Realisitically, what would a "typical" million dollar credit card profile look like, coming from someone who came close to the million dollar mark? Just how far off am I in terms of credit card combination, credit card count and/or average credit limits per card etc. in your opinion?

Thanks again for your help!

Re: How Do I Get To $1,000,000 in total Credit Lines?

CreditCuriosity — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 20:37:20 GMT

@The_Crusader wrote:
@CreditCuriosity wrote:
As what others stated above I echo.

Your income can get you to 1 million but your utilization as others stated is your biggest obstacle and near as big one as your utilization is time to grow your limits and or new cards to that number. If you paid down all your debt to decent levels it would likely take 2-4 years to achieve 1 million in the current market conditions. I am near 1 million and would be over it if didn't cancel credit cards whenever i open open new ones. utilization and time are the major things you need to work on as no quick way to get there as you are in on the long game if you want to achieve that.
@CreditCuriosity Thanks for your reply. Your comment about the timeline makes the whole thing feel that much more feasible.

I have a follow up question on this - if my CLU was to go down to, say 10%, within 6-9 months, with what kind of combination of credit cards (BoA, Chase etc.), credit card count and/or average credit limits per card etc. could reasonably propel me to be able to reach the $ 1 million mark in say 3-5 years?

Obviously, if possible, I would prefer having fewer credit cards with larger credit limits ($25k+) vs. many credit cards with smaller limits (<$10k).

Realisitically, what would a "typical" million dollar credit card profile look like, coming from someone who came close to the million dollar mark? Just how far off am I in terms of credit card combination, credit card count and/or average credit limits per card etc. in your opinion?

Thanks again for your help!

No real magic answer for that I have a few cards at 80k+ CL's and many at 50k's cl and tons at > 25k cl. No easy answer on that one ideally the fewer the better if once can get cards with lines that are "big". Although many people likely cross that barrier with 30-50 cards if not more. I still have a few CC's at 5k limits as might just be a free hotel night and no other use but really most of mine are 25k+ and likely same with @coldfusion and others that are at 1 mill+.