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I had a credit limit of $2400 on a fairly old Amazon Chase card.. I wanted to increase the credit limit since this is my only visa/mastercard with decent cashback (have to make a huge purchase in recent future and would appreciate the cash back, but they only accept Visa/Mastercard)..
So, I called one of the backdoor numbers for chase listed here.. The customer rep said it would be a hard pull - not my best option, but I was like fine, lets do it.. She came back and said my new credit limit is $2900.. I got really pissed off - a hard pull and a CLI of just $500.. I asked for the reason.. She transferred me to a lending analyst or someone like that.. He said my transunion report shows that my high balances are too low, so there is no reason for a credit line increase.. He said even though I have always paid my balances in full and there is nothing negative in my report, they just dont see the reason to increase my CLI since I have never maxed them out...
This was exactly the opposite that I had heard till now.. I though credit card utilization should be low, that's why I generally pay off any high-amount purchases before they appear on my credit card statements.. My highest balance on amazon chase was around $1000 and lesser on other cards.. I explained this to him, but he still insisted that all they look at is high balances reported on transunion report, and my high balances are too low to warrant a high CLI..
Nevertheless, after a lot of back and forth, he agreed to further review my account (no extra hard pull) and increased my CLI to $4500..
But this leaves me thinking - should I keep my high balances low or high!
EDIT: I always pay off all my credit card balances in full.. He was talking about the maximum credit card bills that I have had (that is what Transunion shows as high balances on its report)..
@crazee85 wrote:I had a credit limit of $2400 on a fairly old Amazon Chase card.. I wanted to increase the credit limit since this is my only visa/mastercard with decent cashback (have to make a huge purchase in recent future and would appreciate the cash back, but they only accept Visa/Mastercard)..
So, I called one of the backdoor numbers for chase listed here.. The customer rep said it would be a hard pull - not my best option, but I was like fine, lets do it.. She came back and said my new credit limit is $2900.. I got really pissed off - a hard pull and a CLI of just $500.. I asked for the reason.. She transferred me to a lending analyst or someone like that.. He said my transunion report shows that my high balances are too low, so there is no reason for a credit line increase.. He said even though I have always paid my balances in full and there is nothing negative in my report, they just dont see the reason to increase my CLI since I have never maxed them out...
This was exactly the opposite that I had heard till now.. I though credit card utilization should be low, that's why I generally pay off any high-amount purchases before they appear on my credit card statements.. My highest balance on amazon chase was around $1000 and lesser on other cards.. I explained this to him, but he still insisted that all they look at is high balances reported on transunion report, and my high balances are too low to warrant a high CLI..
Nevertheless, after a lot of back and forth, he agreed to further review my account (no extra hard pull) and increased my CLI to $4500..
But this leaves me thinking - should I keep my high balances low or high!
You should still keep your reported balances low but run some big bills through a card and PIF every now and then.
Thats the first time i've ever heard that reason for a denial on a higher CL.
I have edited my post to clarify that: I always pay off all my credit card balances in full.. He was talking about the maximum credit card bills that I have had (that is what Transunion shows as high balances on its report)..
Do you suggest that I should let my credit card bills go high once in a while and then pay them in full? I have always tried to keep my credit card bills low till now, and have paid off any high amount purchases next day itself!
really depends what you want and which company you are dealing with.
Some companies are okay with high balances as long as you don't just make the minimum payment and take forever to pay that balance. That's how they make money.
My Amazon Chase had an initial CL of 2000, but I swipe on average 4800 on it each month and I pay about 4500-5000 each month, by just paying a lot of times each month. I called for a CLI, and it was a HP as well, and they increased it to 5000 initially, but I called and haggled a bit here and there and got it up to 8500.
Big part of it also depends on your income.
there comes to a point where if you just swipe 200-300 bucks (for example) on average for 2-3 years a 2000-3000 CL card, its quite obvious you don't really need a CLI for any other reason other than to pad your utilization ratio, and banks don't see why it is of any concern to them or how it is beneficial to them by extending you more credit. The remaining 1700-2700 is more than enough to cover "emergencies" and if that isn't enough, you ought to get a personal loan anyways because of the ridiculous APR on CCs.
@sarkell wrote:
I think they like to see some higher spending once in awhile that's how they make money. A lot of cli in the past happened at higher spending.
If I run an unusually high amount on a card in a month, I let that balance report before paying in full. Then i make the full payment. EX tracks your balance history and payment history, some creditors (namely Amex) uses this info in setting your CL
This strategy has been working pretty well for me, as I've gotten a nice CLI from Discover, and nice CLs from Amex and NFCU
I have never asked for a CLI on my Amazon card though. I plan to do that next year.. 5k is sufficient for what I use the card for.
Thanks a lot everybody for all the helpful info.. Even I am thinking of starting to let a balance report, if I spend high in a particular month, and then pay it in full once the statement is out..