A question about CLI's

[Skye12329]

I was wondering if anyone had any answers to some of the following questions about CLI.

1. What kind of score do you need for a decent increase? Rough Estimate, and what i mean by a decent increase, like an increase  of at leat a $1000

2. How do you know on how much to ask for?

3. Age of account to start asking?

[js0319]

1. It's going to depend on your current credit situation.
2. Some companies are more liberal with CLI's vs. others, and vice-versa.
3. I wouldn't ask any earlier than 6 months. Once again, it's going to depend on the lender.

[Anonymous]

There is no direct correlation between CLI and credit scores.  Can't think of credit scores as some kind of indication of size of credit lines.  You can have people with 850 credit score with $500 credit cards and 680 credit score people with $20k credit lines.  The 680 $20k person more likely to get 5k CLI than 850 $500 person.

As for your other questions, as last poster said, YMMV.  However there are two basic strategies.  Either you are proactive or reactive.  Reactive person just grooms their credit and usage and waits for lender to give CLI.  The proactive person researches who to get cards with and their CLI policies and actively tries to increase their CL.  I can tell you the proactive person will see higher CLs MUCH MUCH faster if they take care of their credit.

As such, if you have questions about particular lender or a particular situation, you'll get more specific advice.

[seat3a]

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@Anonymous wrote:

There is no direct correlation between CLI and credit scores.  Can't think of credit scores as some kind of indication of size of credit lines.  You can have people with 850 credit score with $500 credit cards and 680 credit score people with $20k credit lines.  The 680 $20k person more likely to get 5k CLI than 850 $500 person.

As for your other questions, as last poster said, YMMV.  However there are two basic strategies.  Either you are proactive or reactive.  Reactive person just grooms their credit and usage and waits for lender to give CLI.  The proactive person researches who to get cards with and their CLI policies and actively tries to increase their CL.  I can tell you the proactive person will see higher CLs MUCH MUCH faster if they take care of their credit.

As such, if you have questions about particular lender or a particular situation, you'll get more specific advice.

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A very concise and valuable reponse! I have been in the reactive category because I didn't know any better. Do you know which cards are more generous with CLI's and do they start you off with lower CL's because of this policy?

[enharu]

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@seat3a wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

There is no direct correlation between CLI and credit scores.  Can't think of credit scores as some kind of indication of size of credit lines.  You can have people with 850 credit score with $500 credit cards and 680 credit score people with $20k credit lines.  The 680 $20k person more likely to get 5k CLI than 850 $500 person.

As for your other questions, as last poster said, YMMV.  However there are two basic strategies.  Either you are proactive or reactive.  Reactive person just grooms their credit and usage and waits for lender to give CLI.  The proactive person researches who to get cards with and their CLI policies and actively tries to increase their CL.  I can tell you the proactive person will see higher CLs MUCH MUCH faster if they take care of their credit.

As such, if you have questions about particular lender or a particular situation, you'll get more specific advice.

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A very concise and valuable reponse! I have been in the reactive category because I didn't know any better. Do you know which cards are more generous with CLI's and do they start you off with lower CL's because of this policy?

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Most lenders can be very generous with CLIs, as long as you have the income and credit history to support it. Heavy usage on the card(s) you want a CLI on will help as well. 

As for initial CL, they usually just start off with whatever CL they think you qualify for, rather than to lowball you.