Advice on AmEx credit line increase

[Anonymous]

I have the BCE from American Express. My credit is currently in the rebuilding mode as I had some trouble with credit cards in the past, including AmEx but they took me back. But they only gave me $1,000 starting credit limit, which even as a light spender, it makes it hard for me to put bills on my card because it runs up my balance and I have to make payments throughout the month to not run into my limit. 

My my credit score was around 670 when I applied for this card in June, but it's taken a pretty big hit due to high utilization. It's currently at 643 (Experian). I'm coming up on my three months to apply for a credit limit from AmEx.  I know about the fabled 3x limit AmEx gives by reading this forum. A $3,000 line of credit for them would be perfect. Is now a good time to try for that increase or should I wait for my scores to keep going up? I pay in full every month even though I have a 0% promotional APR for a year. 

[Anonymous]

the good thing is AMEX will grow with you, and everyone I know with the card has gotten increases over time for sure. sooner or later you should be able to get a 3k limit as thats an obtainable goal. paying in full is good but you would want to make sure whenever your statment cuts that the balance on that statment is low because thats whats actualy getting reported to the credit agency for your scoring. your due date and statment cut date are different, so pay it down before it cuts if that makes sense. So until then ill wait it out until you get an updated score with a lower reported balance, do you have anything else on your credit profile that can hinder you?

[Anonymous]

I have student loans coming up as well as a small car loan that I've auto payed for two years, so that's helped me. 

I have another card from a Chase that is my backup card. No other negatives since I started back into credit cards this year(I guess that in of itself is a negative). I have an old capital one card that is helping my AAOA that i don't use. 

[Anonymous]

I recently tried for a CLI and was denied, 7-10 letter. 

I had a 680 exp when I applied but for some reason its 655 even though my profile has only gotten better in the last two months. my util is always less then 10%

[Anonymous]

I would wait until your scores go back up. Yes Amex gives out 3X CLIs but it's a big misperception on these and other forums that these CLIs are guaranteed or easy to get.  Thye are not.  The initial $1K limit they gave you is an indicator of their concerns about your overall credit and it's going to take time to build up your profile to the point where they will grant CLIs.  While it's not the end of tne world if you ask at 3 months (only needed to wait 61 days) but if denied you will have wait another 90 days to try again.  In time as long as your scores improve you will be able to get the CLIs.  In the meantime I would continue to use the card and make multiple payments per month.  If you're lucky they even grant you an auto CLI.  Good luck.

[Anonymous]

You were a borderline approval. I find Am Ex increases are more successful with scores over 700.

I would definitely wait and try to get the score up over the next few months before attempting a cli.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I'm thinking about it. I don't want to ask too early and then put myself out of getting one for another 3 months, since as you say I was a 'borderline' approval. I think they will appreciate me not carrying any balance and using the card heavily. I am confused about when I am actually eligible for a CLI though. I chatted with a rep last night using the chat feature and he told me that I was looking at November 14th as my next date because I last applied for one in August. He gave me a number for their credit increase team though so I called that this morning and was told that since I wasn't technically eligible for an increase in August, and last applied before that in July, I am technically currently eligible for an increase right now.

I might wait another month or two anyway for my scores to go up and build even more payment history with AmEx before applying anyway, but getting two different answers from two different people with AmEx is confusing!

[Anonymous]

A couple of things.  One, you are able to obtain a CLI from Amex 61 days after approval.  You have obviously gone past that date, so in terms of time you are fine.

Your score is a different story.  It's not a good look if you were approved (and likely "on the cusp" with that approval) with X score and then 3 months later your score is X-20 or X-30.  I personally wouldn't ask for a CLI unless my score was at least equal to the approval score.  My score at 61 days was 8-10 points higher than my approval score, and I received a 3X CLI.

If your score drop is strictly utilization-related, honestly, it's a pretty simple fix and one that only takes as long as it takes you to fix that utilization.  It's not an issue that takes time such as account aging, inquiry aging, baddie aging, etc.  What was your aggregate utilization at the time of approval and what is it now?  Can you pay down aggregate utilization to 9% or less?  how about 29% or less?  If you can answer yes to either of these last 2 questions, chances are you'll see a score bump back to near where you were when you applied.  I don't know enough about your profile to say that for sure, but that's my gut feeling. 

I would sit tight on the CLI request for now until you can be sure you EX score is 670+; if you can do that I think your chances of favorable CLI results increase greatly.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure it's possible to get my utilization that low unless I start putting purchases on my debit card which I really don't want to do because I like getting rewards on my purchases. I try to pay down as much as I can but I usually have at least $700 out of a total of $2250 in available credit when my statement. UTs. 

[austinguy907]

If you want your score to go up and get a CLI you need to keep your UTIL 10% or less.  That's all there is to it! If you don't have the discipline to keep it within that range your journey is going to be long and difficult.  Pick a monthly bill that's less than 10% of your limit and put it on there and auto PIF each month.  

Worry about rewards when you're 740+ and 15K limit is there instead of shooting yourself in the foot and being sub 650.