@Anonymouswrote:Reading through this forum I see persons who post they have multiple cards with 10-15K+ limits. How do persons with such high credit limits utilize this much personal credit? How do you manage to spend so much monthly?
Welcome to My Fico Forums, @Anonymous 
This is a common question, especially for newcomers. Credit limits are complicated and there are many factors that go into them. Most of us with high limits have grown them over not just years but decades managing our credit. And over the years, many of us have slowly increased our income, which also helps slowly increase credit spending. While high spending alone (CAN) be a factor that helps some people get very high credit limits, most people grow them slowly as they build trust with lenders.
So find some good solid credit cards with stable banks or credit unions, use them regularly and responsibly, thicken your overall credit file with a mix of revolving debt (like credit cards) and installment debt (non-revolving like auto or home loans), ask your lenders periodically for more credit if they don't offer it automatically, and be patient. Even if you open new cards, try to keep older cards open as they may become your largest credit lines besides the fact that they are anchoring your average age of accounts (AAoA.) In time, you'll find your credit scores will rise and lenders will probably offer you better terms.
I've written some longer messages in previous threads with my observations about credit limits. (The first link also has links to other previous threads.) It might help you to read these as well as comments from our other members in those threads. A link is below.
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/How-to-get-high-CL-s/m-p/5814975#M1682042
@Aim_High wrote:
@Anonymouswrote:Reading through this forum I see persons who post they have multiple cards with 10-15K+ limits. How do persons with such high credit limits utilize this much personal credit? How do you manage to spend so much monthly?
Welcome to My Fico Forums, @Anonymous
This is a common question, especially for newcomers. Credit limits are complicated and there are many factors that go into them. Most of us with high limits have grown them over not just years but decades managing our credit. And over the years, many of us have slowly increased our income, which also helps slowly increase credit spending. While high spending alone (CAN) be a factor that helps some people get very high credit limits, most people grow them slowly as they build trust with lenders.
So find some good solid credit cards with stable banks or credit unions, use them regularly and responsibly, thicken your overall credit file with a mix of revolving debt (like credit cards) and installment debt (non-revolving like auto or home loans), ask your lenders periodically for more credit if they don't offer it automatically, and be patient. Even if you open new cards, try to keep older cards open as they may become your largest credit lines besides the fact that they are anchoring your average age of accounts (AAoA.) In time, you'll find your credit scores will rise and lenders will probably offer you better terms.
I've written some longer messages in previous threads with my observations about credit limits. (The first link also has links to other previous threads.) It might help you to read these as well as comments from our other members in those threads. A link is below.
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/How-to-get-high-CL-s/m-p/5814975#M1682042
I'm going to agree with what everybody else has said, but I also want to tell you my story. For about ten years, I was un/underemployed, burned the credit cards I had (mostly low level cards, my highest was an old-school Amex Optima (as opposed to the current version) and was pre-rejected for every credit card imaginable. Late in 2016, I was pre-approved for a Capital One Platinum and ended up with a $500 limit. I was the happiest man in the world.
I came on here in March of 2017 and basically asked the same question you did. Fast forward to today. I now have multiple $10K plus lines with two as high as $30K and one at $50K. What happened? My wife's income took off like a rocket, my income doubled and my credit scores zoomed upwards. In one case, I was contacted by a local credit union after being approved for a $5K rewards card that I was also approved for a $30K platinum at 12.15% APR. The $50K card started out at $5K, then $7,500 and then after showing proof of income, jumped up to $50K, their max.
So basically, it's a combination of scores, income and how you manage credit that leads to the multiple five figure cards. Also, sometimes, you will get lucky (look at the approvals for Navy Federal Credit Union cards on here for reference). But ultiimately, it is a question of credit management as I prefer to PIF everything.
No credit news is good credit news!
@bizarrocreditworld wrote:So basically, it's a combination of scores, income and how you manage credit that leads to the multiple five figure cards.
Concur that those are often major factors.
Time is key for most of us everyday people however; "how you manage credit" to most lenders is demonstrated over a long period of time.
I neglected to mention in my earlier post that I agree with what many others had posted, in terms of people who carry high credit lines are often not actively using a great proportion of them at any one time. Many of us with high credit scores and high credit lines keep our utilization down to 1% or less of total credit. I often pay-in-full before my statements cut also. Many lenders will you to keep credit limits that are much higher than your everyday spending as long as you are using your account regularly and maintaining a clean credit file with low debts. Others may close accounts or decrease the credit line (CLD) if you aren't using a good percentage of your limits. And if some of us were to run up large balances on the limits that we have all at once, our lenders might take adverse action (AA as it's nicknamed) to decrease credit limits or close accounts to protect themselves from default.
Also, I'll mention that some banks or credit unions care more than others about whether you have demonstrated that you "need" a higher limit. For the average person, getting a limit on most cards over time up to $10K, $25, sometimes even $50K not difficult, even with just modest use of the account. Depending on the lender, $50K to $80K can be possible with great credit scores, strong income, low debt, and/or substantial history with that lender but some will want to see a need for limits that go that high. Limits can rise well over $80K and sometimes well into the six-figure range. But usually, those are reserved for people who either (1) spend-and-pay off large balances regularly such as business travelers who show they 'need' that much credit or (2) are wealthy and may have large investment accounts with that lender.
@Viva-LV wrote:Quite a bit of my monthly spend is reimbursable business expenses, all on my personal cards. ... Show lenders consistent spend, they will reward you.
^ ^ ^ +1
And this is what I was talking about. For those who can charge reimbursable business expenses to their personal cards, it can be easy to have spending well in excess of what normal income and household expenses alone will support. Which is a great reminder that there are many different circumstances of My Fico members so comparing your profile to others can be tricky and often may not make sense on the surface. There are a lot of unique variables that we can't or don't disclose in our postings or our signature summaries.
I see you have decent limits on your Chase Cards. How'd you go about getting those limits increased? I've banked with Chase 10 + years and have only had 2 increases on my cards because I was in the bank for a car loan. Is it an in person process?
