@s_haliz wrote:I would like to share my experience (Approval of CLI is not that important/exciting)
I had passed 64 days and decided to ask for CLI. For me, 3XCLI would be $60K. But I think that's bit too much, so I had decided to go for just a paltry $40K. I used online feature through website. Here are the results...
Asked for $40K......Got 7-10 days message
Asked for $35K......Got 7-10 days message
Asked for $30K......Approved. (This was a third trial)
I am bit disappointed. Here's why. My total balance between all my credit cards ($168K limit available) is just $1.35. Income is in $220s. First statement balance was $26 paid in full next day. Second statement balance was $1.35. First month usage was $1,500. Second month usage was $1,100. All other cards were paid in full before statement cut. Home mortgage is just $692/month. FICO for EX was gone up from 792 to 807 in last two months since AMEX was approved. No other credit card applications or CLI on any existing card.
With $30K limit, AMEX BCP is my third highest card. For me Chase Marriott had higher limit at the start of $32K than even increased AMEX BCP. Those who claims that AMEX is most generous, in my case it is not despite very conservative use and paid ahead of time. Of course YMMV.
Oh I forgot to mention, my oldest card is this AMEX (MSD 9/1987) and BoA (5/2001). AAoA is 6 years.
With the amounts stated used per month, it didn't necessarily equate to a higher than 30k CL.. Just remember that just because you have high CLs with some lenders doesn't mean others will match. In my experience, Amex doesn't match if you have a great amount other places.
In the end, you will get what you want with Amex, I believe, if you reward them with continuous usage and a reason to give you a CLI with large usage at times. Just give it some time... you never know. 
But congrats on the CLI!
congrats
@Kenny wrote:
@s_haliz wrote:I would like to share my experience (Approval of CLI is not that important/exciting)
I had passed 64 days and decided to ask for CLI. For me, 3XCLI would be $60K. But I think that's bit too much, so I had decided to go for just a paltry $40K. I used online feature through website. Here are the results...
Asked for $40K......Got 7-10 days message
Asked for $35K......Got 7-10 days message
Asked for $30K......Approved. (This was a third trial)
I am bit disappointed. Here's why. My total balance between all my credit cards ($168K limit available) is just $1.35. Income is in $220s. First statement balance was $26 paid in full next day. Second statement balance was $1.35. First month usage was $1,500. Second month usage was $1,100. All other cards were paid in full before statement cut. Home mortgage is just $692/month. FICO for EX was gone up from 792 to 807 in last two months since AMEX was approved. No other credit card applications or CLI on any existing card.
With $30K limit, AMEX BCP is my third highest card. For me Chase Marriott had higher limit at the start of $32K than even increased AMEX BCP. Those who claims that AMEX is most generous, in my case it is not despite very conservative use and paid ahead of time. Of course YMMV.
Oh I forgot to mention, my oldest card is this AMEX (MSD 9/1987) and BoA (5/2001). AAoA is 6 years.With the amounts stated used per month, it didn't necessarily equate to a higher than 30k CL.. Just remember that just because you have high CLs with some lenders doesn't mean others will match. In my experience, Amex doesn't match if you have a great amount other places.
In the end, you will get what you want with Amex, I believe, if you reward them with continuous usage and a reason to give you a CLI with large usage at times. Just give it some time... you never know.
Thank you for your input. In a way I am in agreement with you. However CLI is not always (necessarily) based on the usage but I think utilization % is what counts. At least one member had reported $0 usage and still got CLI after 61 days. The only thing I can think of is old soft pull. At that point my EX FICO was 785 (it was even dropped from 792 because of AMEX application inquiry). Now it is 807 and rising (hopefully). So it may go $40K and beyond (if I wanted to) the next time I would go for CLI (in 180 days). Thanks a lot.
Update (note): It is possible that I could have been approved for any amount between $30,001 and $34,999. We would never know since I had only tried in multiples of $5K. So it is possible that I may have asked for less than AMEX system would have set approval amount.
