Amex shuffling around Credit Limit?

[GlowInSoul]

Hi all!!

I had a topic open about which card to apply for with my credit profile to get cash back and a 0% APR offer with a high limit. 

Since I had an Amex Hilton card with a $33k limit, an Amex card was suggested so if I don't get approved for the limit I needed, I could move some of my Hilton line over to the new card. 

I got approved for the Magnet card with a $20,800 SL and was over the moon that it was 'so easy'..

Well, got my statement for the Hilton today and my limit is not $33k anymore, but 'only' $17,400.

So instead of the total $53,800 I thought I had for Amex now, it's  $38,200.

Don't get me wrong, that's still plenty, but shouldn't they have let me know? 

I planned on shuffling around limits to minimize utilization, but that's now not as effective as I thought it would be... 

Any experience with this? There's probably no recourse? 

Thank you!

[coldfusion]

As a courtesy they should have let you know, but AMEX isn't the only issuer that does it.  Bank of America is pretty notorious for doing it, even with CLI requests.  You can try to recon but keep your expectations in check.

You will be able to shift some limit from the Magnet back to the Hilton card at some point; YMMV if they'll make you wait for the Magnet to be held for 12 months or not.

[GlowInSoul]

@coldfusion 

No, I'd want to shuffle more limit to the Magnet.

I hardly use the Hilton. Basically just for hotel reservations and such. So I don't need the limit on it, I need it on the Magnet for taking advantage of the 0% (specific purchase planned). 

Do you think they'll let pull some more from the Hilton to the Magnet? 

Thanks for your input!

[coldfusion]

As long as you've held the Hilton card for more than a year moving over a large portion of your CL should be no problem.  If you've held it for less than 12 months it will be a YMMV.   You'll be able to initiate the reallocation yourself online

[Jordan23ww]

Sorry to hear what happened to you! Thank you for sharing your experience with us! Also congratulations on the Cash Magnet approval! Hopefully you can move some of the money back! 

[GlowInSoul]

@Jordan23ww 

I really don't use my Hilton card much, I don't need the limit on that card. My plan was to shuffle some of the $33k limit over to the new Magnet card where they touted the horns they approved me for $20k (so have a $40k credit line on that one for example).

But, since they shuffled my limits around instead of giving me new credit, they actually only approved me for $5k. No mentioning that they actually reallocated my other limit. 
The 20k limit on the Magnet will give me just enough to do the purchase I'm looking for, but I wanted to use some of my 33k limit to help with utalization and now that's out the window... 

I would still not be happy fully happy if they had communicated this, but without any kind of notifcation, on the contrary, celebrating my 'new' $20k limit is kind of misleading and leaves a bitter aftertaste.

[GZG]

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@GlowInSoul wrote:

Any experience with this? There's probably no recourse? 

Thank you!

---

are you able to ask for a CLI for your older card, if you can, just try that and ask for what you want. I would assume it would prompt a POI request at your CL

I didn't have any problem as a new customer moving CL from my personal card to my business card, but you can't go back from business to personal 

you can also move from personal to personal card

account services -- transfer available credit to another card

[SouthJamaica]

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@GlowInSoul wrote:

Hi all!!

I had a topic open about which card to apply for with my credit profile to get cash back and a 0% APR offer with a high limit. 

Since I had an Amex Hilton card with a $33k limit, an Amex card was suggested so if I don't get approved for the limit I needed, I could move some of my Hilton line over to the new card. 

I got approved for the Magnet card with a $20,800 SL and was over the moon that it was 'so easy'..

Well, got my statement for the Hilton today and my limit is not $33k anymore, but 'only' $17,400.

So instead of the total $53,800 I thought I had for Amex now, it's  $38,200.

Don't get me wrong, that's still plenty, but shouldn't they have let me know? 

I planned on shuffling around limits to minimize utilization, but that's now not as effective as I thought it would be... 

Any experience with this? There's probably no recourse? 

Thank you!

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Amex is known to do that sometimes. I don't know why.

[NoHardLimits]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@GlowInSoul wrote:

Hi all!!

I had a topic open about which card to apply for with my credit profile to get cash back and a 0% APR offer with a high limit. 

Since I had an Amex Hilton card with a $33k limit, an Amex card was suggested so if I don't get approved for the limit I needed, I could move some of my Hilton line over to the new card. 

I got approved for the Magnet card with a $20,800 SL and was over the moon that it was 'so easy'..

Well, got my statement for the Hilton today and my limit is not $33k anymore, but 'only' $17,400.

So instead of the total $53,800 I thought I had for Amex now, it's  $38,200.

Don't get me wrong, that's still plenty, but shouldn't they have let me know? 

I planned on shuffling around limits to minimize utilization, but that's now not as effective as I thought it would be... 

Any experience with this? There's probably no recourse? 

Thank you!

---

Amex is known to do that sometimes. I don't know why.

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Amex has done that to me in the past too.  Other banks have just issued a denial and then offered to move credit limits around when I called for reconsideration.  I'm not sure which method I like better.

[K-in-Boston]

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@GlowInSoul wrote:

Hi all!!

I had a topic open about which card to apply for with my credit profile to get cash back and a 0% APR offer with a high limit. 

Since I had an Amex Hilton card with a $33k limit, an Amex card was suggested so if I don't get approved for the limit I needed, I could move some of my Hilton line over to the new card. 

I got approved for the Magnet card with a $20,800 SL and was over the moon that it was 'so easy'..

Well, got my statement for the Hilton today and my limit is not $33k anymore, but 'only' $17,400.

So instead of the total $53,800 I thought I had for Amex now, it's  $38,200.

Don't get me wrong, that's still plenty, but shouldn't they have let me know? 

I planned on shuffling around limits to minimize utilization, but that's now not as effective as I thought it would be... 

Any experience with this? There's probably no recourse? 

Thank you!

---

Amex and BOA definitely will both automatically reallocate to err on the side of giving you a usable limit and an approval if you've reached the maximum amount of credit they are willing to extend to you.  That actually happened with Player 2 recently; new Amex Marriott card approval at $50k and completely floored, but when looking later noticed they robbed $40k of it from a card that hadn't been used much so really just a $10k approval.   The suggestion for the Amex was because you needed to carry a $10-15k purchase at 0% and this was pretty much the only "sure thing" to get the limit required to make the charge and have breathing room.

As I stated in the original thread, I haven't seen anyone run into an issue with donor/donee cards need to be 1 year in a long time and have moved in both directions with new cards numerous times in the past 6 years.  So you should be able to still move the majority of the Hilton limit to the new card and still have some decent breathing room.   As long as your profile is strong, you can have a card or two with high ultilization and still have scores well into the 800s.