Chase Credit Limit Increase Strategy?

[JakeRogue]

Credit limits on my Chase cards are as follows:

Amazon Prime Rewards $6K

Sapphire Preferred $6K

Freedom Unlimited $10K

Freedom Flex $5K

Business Ink Cash $3K

Gross income is $40K annually (pandemic resulted in job loss so I'm starting over).

Any shot at me getting some of these limits up and what's the best way to try and do that?

[Remedios]

In relation to your income, you might be close to what's considered a limit for some, 50% of income.

That's not universally true for everyone, and it will depend on a lot of other factors, not just the income. 

Since you cannot cycle multiple times through your limit during the month, the best strategy is to take a hard pull on a card your require it the most. 

You might get a small increase, a large increase, or nothing. 

HP increases with Chase are quite unpredictable, since they not only evaluate how you manage their cards, but your entire profile. 

[dragontears]

You have $30,000 in CL from Chase with $40,000 income. It is doubtful that they will increase your limits and a possibility of a decrease if a human lays eyes on your account. 

[SecretAzure]

Out of curiosity how long have you had all of these cards? A lot of people get some auto-CLI's a few months after gettting the card. If any of these are new, there's still hope. I do agree with the above that your exposure with them is a significant part of your income but that doesn't always mean you won't get a CLI. 

I'd imagine that the business card wouldn't go by your income but I am not that familiar with business cards in general and perhaps it does. In either case, it's sitting at a minor portion of your total portfolio of Chase cards. 

I've had a HP CLI with Chase in the past and just spread the awarded amount across my two cards. I'd imagine you could do the same (though I'm not sure about the Amazon card allowing that). The increase they gave me was some small amount, maybe $3K. Was making $50K at the time too. 

[Aim_High]

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@JakeRogue wrote:

Credit limits on my Chase cards are as follows:

Amazon Prime Rewards $6K

Sapphire Preferred $6K

Freedom Unlimited $10K

Freedom Flex $5K

Business Ink Cash $3K

Gross income is $40K annually (pandemic resulted in job loss so I'm starting over).

Any shot at me getting some of these limits up and what's the best way to try and do that?

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Agreed that with $30K limits on $40K income, any CLI is unlikely. Chase often caps at no more than 40% to 50% of income, so they are already being very generous. (Perhaps your prepandemic income was much higher?).  I tapped out with six cards at less than 40%. Then they started approving cards but reassigning limits from existing cards.  

If there are any cards you can live without, Chase will easily allow you to combine limits. You can usually move all except $500 and then you can close the donor card.  You just can't move limits between business and personal accounts. 

Normally, heavy spend-and-pay on a Chase card can result in auto CLI but that is profile-dependent.  In your situation, I'm not sure it would help.

[JakeRogue]

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@Aim_High wrote:

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Agreed that with $30K limits on $40K income, any CLI is unlikely. Chase often caps at no more than 40% to 50% of income, so they are already being very generous. (Perhaps your prepandemic income was much higher?).  I tapped out with six cards at less than 40%. Then they started approving cards but reassigning limits from existing cards.  

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Correct, I lost my job during the pandemic so my credit limits have remained but my job and salary have changed drastically. I figured income was the limiting factor but was curious to people's thoughts.

[Aim_High]

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@JakeRogue wrote:

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@Aim_High wrote:

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Agreed that with $30K limits on $40K income, any CLI is unlikely. Chase often caps at no more than 40% to 50% of income, so they are already being very generous. (Perhaps your prepandemic income was much higher?).  I tapped out with six cards at less than 40%. Then they started approving cards but reassigning limits from existing cards.  

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Correct, I lost my job during the pandemic so my credit limits have remained but my job and salary have changed drastically. I figured income was the limiting factor but was curious to people's thoughts.

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Sorry to hear of the career setback, @JakeRogue.  I went through one of those myself so I can identify.  Yes, income (and/or Debt-to-Income) is probably coming into play.  The DTI is sort of a double whammy in a situation like yours.  Income alone can limit CLIs but as it decreases, the DTI ratio also increases on existing debt, even without adding anything to the mix.  Probably best to sit tight and be patient.  Hopefully you can get salary increases or work yourself back into equivalent employment over time.  Also, paying down total debts as you can afford to do so might help you get an increase.  Best of wishes with that! 

[JakeRogue]

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@SecretAzure wrote:

Out of curiosity how long have you had all of these cards? A lot of people get some auto-CLI's a few months after gettting the card. If any of these are new, there's still hope. I do agree with the above that your exposure with them is a significant part of your income but that doesn't always mean you won't get a CLI. 

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I've had all these cards since 2016-2018 minus the Freedom Flex. Got that when it came out as I'm trying to maximize my Chase UR points.

[Anonymous]

Have you updated your income with Chase on those accounts, or are they still going off of your old/greater income?

I agree with the others that where your limits are currently relative to your income there likely isn't much room for further growth. 

[FlaDude]

My income is over 3x higher, I had three Chase cards with total CL of 30k. When I app'ed for a new Chase card they would not give me any new CL, they would only approve the card if I moved CL from one or more of the others. Given your circumstances, I'd let sleeping dogs lie.