AMEX 61 day CLI with high SL... how high should I try?

[Anonymous]

I recently got my first Amex card with a SL of $25k. When my 61st day hits what is a reasonable CLI to ask for? Asking 3xSL doesn't seem like a smart move in my case. I would prefer not to have to do a financial review and although $75k would be nice for utilization purposes it sounds a little crazy to me. Anyone with any experience with Amex CLIs on high SLs? 

[Artemis092]

I thought I read somewhere on here that going over $30K is asking for trouble.

[pizza1]

Asking for $75k would most likely trigger a FR. I would tend to venture on the safe side and either leave it as is, or ask for $35k if you have the financial resources.

[FinStar]

Actually, common misconception on the FR side of things. At worst, I would think they would request IV before any FR is triggered, all things considered and the account is getting moderate usage (no unusual or questionable transactions).

How high are your CLs with other financial institutions? What's the typical usage on the AmEx card at the moment? Is this your only AmEx credit card? You mentioned utilization, is it within adequate levels?

If you want to play it safe, you can try $40K or $50K? But, just because 3x is possible doesn't mean you have to act on it.

[HeavenOhio]

@Anonymous, how high would you like your limit to be?

A request for a large CLI is more likely to hit you with a request for income verification (which is optional) vs. a financial review (which isn't). If you're hit with a request for income verification, hit your browser's back button and request a lower amount. If you're still hit with that request, rinse and repeat. You'll receive income request forms in the mail which can be safely ignored or used as wallpaper.

I think I'd start at 40k. If hit with an IV request, try 35k. If that doesn't work, 34.5k probably will.

[Anonymous]

Yes, this is my first amex card. Don't know why I waited this long to app for one. So far I have only put a few charges on the card (<$200) as the card is still in the mail. Just apped for it a week and a half ago so this post is probably a little premature but have already been thinking about 61 days after reading all the amex 3x posts. I was planning on doing a BT of a few thousand on the card but will definitely keep it under 30% utilization. I did just read that amex likes very low utilization so might keep it under 10%. I have a handful of other cards with a range of 20k-30k but never have I had the "opportunity" to triple my SL. I also just recently started taking a closer look at my FICO scores and looking for any SP CLIs I could find so I definitely still have a lot of learning to do. 

[Anonymous]

@HeavenOhio

There's not really a limit I'd like to hit. I am happy I got a SL of $25k but of course would love for any CLI to keep overall utilization at a minimum. Right now my overall util is at about 23% so anything to help bring that down while paying down my debt would be awesome. Everyone seems to get all excited about the 3x rule so just really wondering what would be best in my case. I also read somewhere on the forum recently that any credit limit above I believe it was $39K doesn't help utilization because they don't count anything higher than that. Is this accurate? 

[jl4]

I've read some folks aiming high. If they got a FR prompt, they backed out, tried again, and repeated until they didn't get an FR prompt. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Felony_Phil]

There's someone on here that goes under Texasgal or something like that and she got bumped from 25k or 28k to 38k with no issues. If you look in the approval section and pay attention to the OP, I'm sure you'll find her thread.

Thread was on 8-01-18 by Txgal73.

[HeavenOhio]

Yeah, we've seen a couple members jump past 35k without a request for IV.

I don't think AMEX is that big on utilization. 23% certainly isn't going to concern them, and it's under the 28.9% threshold that's considered "responsible" borrowing. They love paying in full. But they're also happy to carry balances as long as long as payments to lower them are substantial.

I mentioned 40k as a starting point, but you could go for 50k if you'd like. If prompted for IV, you could try 50, 40, 35, 34.5. Or whatever you like.