@plasticguy wrote:
With all the talk about Increases, has anyone ever REQUESTED A DECLINE in your CL and if so why?
I have not ever asked for a decrease in a credit line. Just wanted to respond. 
Obviously there is never a FICO related reason to decrease a credit line. It is contrary to all logic in that sense.
I am sure there have been people though that read FAKO score reports and were advised to lower their available credit.
Starting Score: 627 EQ, 621 TU - 11/15/08
@cdtotten wrote:Obviously there is never a FICO related reason to decrease a credit line. It is contrary to all logic in that sense.
I am sure there have been people though that read FAKO score reports and were advised to lower their available credit.
There actually is one reason, although it sure doesn't apply to many people.
CC's and other unsecured revolving credit accounts (think HELOC's) are ignored for util when their CL's are over a certain figure. We don't know exactly what that figure is, and it seems to vary by bureau, but I know that my $50K CL HELOC is excluded from util calculations, thank goodness.
If you have one mega-limit card like this, plus a couple of other smaller-limit cards like store cards, and you let balances report on those, you can get hit on util because that $50K isn't being added into your total available CL. Some people who discovered this on their own reports asked for CLD's to a mere $30K or something so that it would be treated like the rest of their cards.
It's not a problem that most of us have 
, but it does happen.
--oh, and another instance, although this seems to be evolving: Some people have gotten auto-CLI's on existing cards, and when this happened, the card turned into a Sig or World, with the other scoring issues.* They had to get a CLD to get the card to revert to normal reporting status. More banks seem to be figuring out how to get these cards to report with CL's, though, so this isn't necessarily a useful tactic.
* Note, before Mr. Cranky comes back from wherever he went 
: it is actually NPSL cards that often have scoring issues. Since Sig and World cards are usually NPSL, I mentioned them, because people are more aware of them. FWIW, I have a Sig that does not report the CL, and two World cards that do, and all are NPSL, so as always, your mileage may vary.
Funny you should mention the World cards. I use to have A Chase Freedom World that has a 50.5k limit that didn't report and it was suggested to me that I switch to a regular platinum card, lower the credit line in order for it to report. I didn't like that answer, so I called the back door #and they were able to convert my World Card to a Reg Freedom, keeping the limit, so now it reports.
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@cdtotten wrote:Obviously there is never a FICO related reason to decrease a credit line. It is contrary to all logic in that sense.
I am sure there have been people though that read FAKO score reports and were advised to lower their available credit.
There actually is one reason, although it sure doesn't apply to many people.
CC's and other unsecured revolving credit accounts (think HELOC's) are ignored for util when their CL's are over a certain figure. We don't know exactly what that figure is, and it seems to vary by bureau, but I know that my $50K CL HELOC is excluded from util calculations, thank goodness.
If you have one mega-limit card like this, plus a couple of other smaller-limit cards like store cards, and you let balances report on those, you can get hit on util because that $50K isn't being added into your total available CL. Some people who discovered this on their own reports asked for CLD's to a mere $30K or something so that it would be treated like the rest of their cards.
It's not a problem that most of us have
--oh, and another instance, although this seems to be evolving: Some people have gotten auto-CLI's on existing cards, and when this happened, the card turned into a Sig or World, with the other scoring issues.* They had to get a CLD to get the card to revert to normal reporting status. More banks seem to be figuring out how to get these cards to report with CL's, though, so this isn't necessarily a useful tactic.
* Note, before Mr. Cranky comes back from wherever he went
Hauling - thank you for mentioning that... I completely forgot about LOC reporting. Definately a reason some people may want to lower the limit... but lowering a LOC limit is a little different than a credit card. For those with signature models that want a CL to report, you could request the company change it to a regular visa/mc, rather than a signature/world without affecting the limit. It isn't the limit that is causing the reporting issue.
People often ask for decreases to one line to make room for another card. For example, if you apply for a new card with Chase and they decline you because you already have too much credit with them, on a recon you could ask that they decrease one of your other lines so you can be approved for this card. This is an effective way to get additional sign-up bonuses for new card offerings.