The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide

[Raccoon290]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I waited even more than the 60 day period and, last month, requested a limit of $15k (from my initial limit of $5k).  I was denied with the reason "Your overall debt with other creditors listed in your credit bureau report and the credit limits on your American Express Cards in relation to your reported income."

I think part of it was because I wasn't paying attention before the statement closed and had a balance of like $720 (Had bought stuff for my girlfriend's birthday and threw my mother's groceries on the card) that got reported for the month of April.  As of last week, the reported balanced dropped because I paid that all.  If income isn't the problem (not really sure where I even update reported income to reflect a new payrate) how long do I have to wait before applying for a 3x CLI? 60 days? 6 months? 

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This was me.  Anyhow, the denial for the 3X CLI happened on April 18, 2013.  I made sure I just paid off the balance on the card (was $20 and change at last statement close. Charged $200 i"ve made over the few weeks) so I don't show a huge utilization again.  

With the +91 days from the 18th of April, I should be good on This thursday, correct? Or should I wait until friday?

also, I can't update my income in my profile, it says I have to call.  Is there a field in the request CLI form or do I really have to call? I tried last week but I got bounced around between a few people and eventually put on hold. I ended up hanging up.

[MustangSaluki]

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@Raccoon290 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I waited even more than the 60 day period and, last month, requested a limit of $15k (from my initial limit of $5k).  I was denied with the reason "Your overall debt with other creditors listed in your credit bureau report and the credit limits on your American Express Cards in relation to your reported income."

I think part of it was because I wasn't paying attention before the statement closed and had a balance of like $720 (Had bought stuff for my girlfriend's birthday and threw my mother's groceries on the card) that got reported for the month of April.  As of last week, the reported balanced dropped because I paid that all.  If income isn't the problem (not really sure where I even update reported income to reflect a new payrate) how long do I have to wait before applying for a 3x CLI? 60 days? 6 months? 

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This was me.  Anyhow, the denial for the 3X CLI happened on April 18, 2013.  I made sure I just paid off the balance on the card (was $20 and change at last statement close. Charged $200 i"ve made over the few weeks) so I don't show a huge utilization again.  

With the +91 days from the 18th of April, I should be good on This thursday, correct? Or should I wait until friday?

also, I can't update my income in my profile, it says I have to call.  Is there a field in the request CLI form or do I really have to call? I tried last week but I got bounced around between a few people and eventually put on hold. I ended up hanging up.

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July 18 is the 91st day, so yes Thursday http://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadded.html?m1=04&d1=18&y1=2013&type=add&ay=&am=&aw=&ad=91

You can mention the income during the CLI process itself. There is a field to input that during the application. All the best! Please don't forget to give the stats as requested in the earlier post

[Anonymous]

Love this forum! Got my 3x CLI today! 2k to 6k! I have carried a balance of no more than 10% from month to month. Salary 71.5k and overall util across cards is around 15%

[Raccoon290]

Apped again for 12k (not even the full 15)

Got 7-10 days message with an instant email.

Reason(s) for Our Decision

Your overall debt with other creditors listed in your credit bureau report and the credit limits on your American Express Cards in relation to your reported income.

Not entirely sure why.  My last amex statement closed at $20.  I'ts currently at $0.   

Capital one and GE both using 0% 

Discover hasn't updated since April so I haven't had the CLI increases reflected but it's 0.7% utilizatiion.

i dunno what's up.  The CSP I just got approved for hasn't reported yet. 

[MustangSaluki]

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@Raccoon290 wrote:

Apped again for 12k (not even the full 15)

Got 7-10 days message with an instant email.

Reason(s) for Our Decision

Your overall debt with other creditors listed in your credit bureau report and the credit limits on your American Express Cards in relation to your reported income.

Not entirely sure why.  My last amex statement closed at $20.  I'ts currently at $0.   

Capital one and GE both using 0% 

Discover hasn't updated since April so I haven't had the CLI increases reflected but it's 0.7% utilizatiion.

i dunno what's up.  The CSP I just got approved for hasn't reported yet. 

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Thanks for the info. Sorry it didn't work in your favor

I think it means they don't like your Income/Credit available. Can you please provide these info if you can

MyFico/Other Handle:
Initial CL:
61 day/181 day CLI:
@Anonymous Utilization @ CLI:
@Overall Utilization @ Last EX Soft Pull:
Ratio of Income/(Overall Available Credit) (4 decimal places):  
Number of new credit lines opened since opening Amex account or last Amex CLI:
Total $$ value of all transactions since Amex account opening or last Amex CLI:

[Raccoon290]

MyFico/Other Handle: Raccoon290
Initial CL: $5000
61 day/181 day CLI: Denied $7000 increase
Amex Utilization @ CLI: 0%
Overall Utilization @ Last EX Soft Pull: 0.3%
Ratio of Income/(Overall Available Credit) (4 decimal places):  2.3776 (Does not includ yet to reported cli of 4k on one card, and new $6.6k limit card)
Number of new credit lines opened since opening Amex account or last Amex CLI: 0 (1 not yet reported)
Total $$ value of all transactions since Amex account opening or last Amex CLI: $7067.45

Is there some internal limit that it's possible I hit?  I wasn't even offered a counter, where $7500 or $10000 would have been okay with me.  

[Anonymous]

Wow. Thanks for this thread. I just got an instant approval for $12,000 on my American Express Cash Blue Everyday card after using the "Increase Line of Credit" button on the Amex website. I went from $4,000 to $12,000. I only had the card for 8 months. I spent about ~$220 monthly and paid the balance in full every month with autopay. My salary is $37,440.

My brother who got this same card around the same time I did, requested 3x  CLI ($22,500) but was counter offered $14,100. His salary is $35,360. 

I noticed that nagisa on this forum posted:

"Your request for line of credit increase of $20,000 can be approved for $19,700. Your new line of credit would be $19,700." and his salary was $50k.

From these three data points, I started to see a trend in Amex CLI approval calculation.

1) Initial credit limit: $4,000

    Requested credit limit: $12,000

    Approved credit limit: $12,000

    Salary: $37,400

   Approved credit limit / Salary Ratio: 32.1%

2) Initial credit limit: $7,500

    Requested credit limit: $22,500

    Approved credit limit: $14,100

    Salary: $35,400

    Approved credit limit / Salary Ratio: 39.8%

3) Initial credit limit: $7,600

    Requested credit limit: $20,000

    Approved credit limit: $19,700

    Salary: $50,000

    Approved credit limit / Salary Ratio: 39.4%

Before my brother submitted the request, I actually guessed that he was going to get counter offered with a limit 40% of his salary and I was right! I feel that if I would have requested a higher limit, I would have got approved.

It seems that the gerenal rule is around: 3X CLI but less than ~40% of your salary.

[MustangSaluki]

Congrats mrmbluth!

Can you still post the following? Thanks in advance.

MyFico/Other Handle:
Initial CL:
61 day/181 day CLI: (please indicate whether 61day/181day also)
Amex Utilization @ CLI:
Overall Utilization @ Last EX Soft Pull:
Ratio of Income/(Overall Available Credit) (4 decimal places): 
Number of new credit lines opened since opening Amex account or last Amex CLI:
Total $$ value of all transactions since Amex account opening or last Amex CLI:

[MustangSaluki]

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@Raccoon290 wrote:

MyFico/Other Handle: Raccoon290
Initial CL: $5000
61 day/181 day CLI: Denied $7000 increase
@Anonymous Utilization @ CLI: 0%
@Overall Utilization @ Last EX Soft Pull: 0.3%
Ratio of Income/(Overall Available Credit) (4 decimal places):  2.3776 (Does not includ yet to reported cli of 4k on one card, and new $6.6k limit card)
Number of new credit lines opened since opening Amex account or last Amex CLI: 0 (1 not yet reported)
Total $$ value of all transactions since Amex account opening or last Amex CLI: $7067.45

Is there some internal limit that it's possible I hit?  I wasn't even offered a counter, where $7500 or $10000 would have been okay with me.  

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Wow very bizarre. Your profile looks solid in my opinion. As far as I can tell it could be that they recently saw (two?) inquiries and or maybe the salary threshold but 2.3776 is good!

[Raccoon290]

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@MustangSaluki wrote:

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@Raccoon290 wrote:

MyFico/Other Handle: Raccoon290
Initial CL: $5000
61 day/181 day CLI: Denied $7000 increase
@Anonymous Utilization @ CLI: 0%
@Overall Utilization @ Last EX Soft Pull: 0.3%
Ratio of Income/(Overall Available Credit) (4 decimal places):  2.3776 (Does not includ yet to reported cli of 4k on one card, and new $6.6k limit card)
Number of new credit lines opened since opening Amex account or last Amex CLI: 0 (1 not yet reported)
Total $$ value of all transactions since Amex account opening or last Amex CLI: $7067.45

Is there some internal limit that it's possible I hit?  I wasn't even offered a counter, where $7500 or $10000 would have been okay with me.  

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Wow very bizarre. Your profile looks solid in my opinion. As far as I can tell it could be that they recently saw (two?) inquiries and or maybe the salary threshold but 2.3776 is good!

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The two (maybe 3) inquiries they would have seen were inqs for a personal loan (denied) and an auto loan (approved but never taken because i found a better deal on a car) in March 2012. Not extremely recent   Depending on how quickly chase reported it, they might have seen an inquiry from Chase when I apped (and was approved) for a CSP. 

It is infact, very strange. It looks like they pulled from EX, which I mentiond before in another thread, has a CO from my stepfather opening an account in my name (this is also why I was denied the personal loan. It also, for some reason, is only reported on EX. TU and EQ removed it when I disputed it). It has been marked as disputed and has caused no difficulties getting approvals (including from chase) or CLIs from other banks. The denial reason doesn't seem to suggest that would be it.

Just the limits, util, and my income.