AMEX cli & 3x cli questions and advice

[Repairman]

I have 2 AMEX cards I want to get an increase on. The 1st is a card I've had for many years, has a $25k cl, and next month will have a 0 balance and be 6mo since my last approved cli. I only want to get another $5k on it. 

The 2nd card, began with a $5k cl but I immediately after approval transferred $5k to its cl from card # 1 so it now has a 10k cl, next month will be 6mo old and eligible for a cli, however, it has a $5k balance sitting on a 0% APR promotional offer.

I have a few questions.

1. Is it possible for me to get approved for a 3x cli on the 2nd card, while that $5k balance is still unpaid? 

2. If so, should I request 3x cli from the initial 5k that was the actual approved cli, or should I request 3x from the current 10k cl?

3. Should I just request the $5k cli on the 1st card that has no balance?

All help and advice is greatly appreciated!

[Ficoproblems247]

You may only be approved for one CLI from AMEX every 181 days per cardmember, not per card. Unfortunately you will not be able to request for a CLI on both cards as you were planning. My vote is to move an extra 2k to the card which currently has 10k bringing the total of that card to 12k. Then request your CLI on that card and ask for 35k total, which is the highest amount you can often get away with without an IV request. Not everyone gets hit with one for asking for more, but that is kind of the known cut off before requests begin to become much more common. 

[Repairman]

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@Ficoproblems247 wrote:

You may only be approved for one CLI from AMEX every 181 days per cardmember, not per card. Unfortunately you will not be able to request for a CLI on both cards as you were planning. My vote is to move an extra 2k to the card which currently has 10k bringing the total of that card to 12k. Then request your CLI on that card and ask for 35k total, which is the highest amount you can often get away with without an IV request. Not everyone gets hit with one for asking for more, but that is kind of the known cut off before requests begin to become much more common. 

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I know that you can't request on both at the same time, I was just expressing  that I do want to eventually get limit increases on both. What  one of my questions was, is will carrying a balance on the 1 card prevent me from getting approved for a cli on that 1 card, and therefore, should I just ask for the smaller cli on the other card. Also, I don't want to move any limit over before requesting, because the last time I requested a cli, I was able to only go up to 30k, not 35k.

[Ficoproblems247]

Got it, sorry I misunderstood. The way I understand it is that AMEX looks at your portfolio with them as a whole more so than as individual cards. Therefore if they would deny you a CLI on one card for carrying a balance, they would likely do so on the other card as well, regardless of which card the balance was parked on. AMEX is a PIF kind of bank. While I don't think they would necessarily deny you over a 5k balance on one of their cards, if that balance has been sitting there for a bit without very large chunks being paid on it then they may see that as an issue. How long have you been carrying the balance and what sort of payments have you been throwing at it? 

[AverageJoesCredit]

I dont think carrying a balance will matter much. If you are eligble you are eligble. I would go for the biggest increase you can get which would be the 10k card. Shoot 3x , 30k . They could approve or counter. You can always move limits so that a bonus. If denied its only 3 months to try again where you can try on the 25k card. Good luck

[FalconSteve]

AmEx says that, but I got a 2x CLI after 36hr

[Repairman]

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@Ficoproblems247 wrote:

Got it, sorry I misunderstood. The way I understand it is that AMEX looks at your portfolio with them as a whole more so than as individual cards. Therefore if they would deny you a CLI on one card for carrying a balance, they would likely do so on the other card as well, regardless of which card the balance was parked on. AMEX is a PIF kind of bank. While I don't think they would necessarily deny you over a 5k balance on one of their cards, if that balance has been sitting there for a bit without very large chunks being paid on it then they may see that as an issue. How long have you been carrying the balance and what sort of payments have you been throwing at it? 

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No worries. I've been carrying the balance since it was opened 3 months ago, making a little more than the minimum payments on it, because the card has a 18mo 0% Intro APR. The other AMEX I mentioned is used as my daily card and is PIF every month. I also have 2 other AMEX cards. 1 sitting at a 0 balance for the past 2 years, and the other one was PIF a few months back, with just a small recurring charge every month that is of course PIF each month.

[Repairman]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:

I dont think carrying a balance will matter much. If you are eligble you are eligble. I would go for the biggest increase you can get which would be the 10k card. Shoot 3x , 30k . They could approve or counter. You can always move limits so that a bonus. If denied its only 3 months to try again where you can try on the 25k card. Good luck

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Cool beans. Thanks for the advice. I will try that.

[Repairman]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:

I dont think carrying a balance will matter much. If you are eligble you are eligble. I would go for the biggest increase you can get which would be the 10k card. Shoot 3x , 30k . They could approve or counter. You can always move limits so that a bonus. If denied its only 3 months to try again where you can try on the 25k card. Good luck

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Just an update...today was the day I went for the 3x CLI, and I followed your advice but was unsuccessful with the bigger increase on the 10k card. I was denied for 30k, 25k, and 20k, so I then went back to my original plan and requested a 5k increase on the 25k card and was instantly approved.