@LendLong wrote:
Hello all - long time lurker, first time poster here.
I got 2 cards with BoA last month with 1 hard pull - CCR and UCR with 23k limit each. I transferred 20k of CCR limit over to UCR as I'm paying taxes with it and needed the higher limit. Current limits 3k on CCR and 43k on UCR. I'm ~815 credit score and have 120k at Merrill for Platinum Honors.
My long term goal is to get to the 99,900 limit. Any tips? Here are different angles I've considered:
- should I request CLI on both cards or just 1 at a time? Which one?
- should I pay off the balance before the due date?
- how much utilization should I leave on the card on the due date?
- should I set up a direct deposit or do anything else with my checking account to help the relationship?
Insofar as CLI requests:
BoA uses an autobot that scans accounts 6 nights a week that will flag accounts it determines are eligible to request a CLI and if you log in online those individual accounts will be flagged with a blue "request a credit limit increase" hyperlink. Eligibility to request doesn't equate to eligibility to get, you can click through and still be denied. By the same token, not having a hyperlink also doesn't equate to being ineligible to get; people can and do get CLIs by calling in even when the autobot hasn't flagged the account as being eligible to request.
If you click through the hyperlink and complete the process the hyperlink will remain for the rest of that day, but if you click it again to make another request against that account it will automatically be processed and forwarded for manual review. That isn't worth doing if your 1st request was either denied or your approval was a counteroffer that was less than what you had originally requested. Similarly, if you didn't get all you asked for on a card it isn't worth trying same-day on the 2nd card.
There's a good chance a manual review will be completed by COB next business day but they can take up to 5 business days to come up with a decision. If a request is approved or met with a counteroffer you'll normally see the updated CL online within 15 minutes.
One caveat here is that BoA will sometimes silent reallocate limit from a different BoA card to fulfill all or part of a CLI request, so if you have an approval you will also want to check the current CL on your 2nd card.
IMO letting balances report is fine, carrying balances wouldn't be beneficial.
Having a checking account can be handy if you don't want to redeem earnings as statement credits or you don't have an eligible Merrill account to redeem into but isn't necessary. As a Platinum Honors member an Advantage Relationship Banking account should be free.
BTW their $99.9K aggregate limit on CC isn't a hard one, they'll waive it for high-value clients. I don't know if $120K of assets in Merrill would do it but I do know that you don't need to have Diamond Honors status or be a managed services client, Merrill Edge is sufficient.
(10/2025)
FICO 8 (EX) 838 (TU) 846 (EQ) 850
FICO 9 (EX) 850 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850
$1M+ club
Artist formerly known as the_old_curmudgeon who was formerly known as coldfusion
