For those of you that have multiple Credit Card Limits over 10,000...

[Anonymous]

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? 

I'm building my credit and have been approved several credit cards, none of which are over 6000, but together total more than $20,000+ in credit limits. I only use my credit cards for utilities and monthly bills and immediately pay them off. I've gotten out of the habit of carrying balances and rotate each card for usage. What kind of expenses can I use my cards for as my credit limits continue to increase?

[Shooting-For-800]

Profiles vary dramatically on here.  Some people make $20k and some make $420k.

Plenty of cards offer high limits without high usage. 

High scores, decent income, and thicker file will bring higher credit lines among many banks and credit unions.

GL!

[Peteyglad]

While I don't completely utilize all my limits it is nice to have a cushion. If my wife has some refundable business expenses it isn't out of line for us to charge 20k-25k a month between her purchases and our normal purchases.

Just a couple months ago she had to pay a permit fee of almost 30k alone. That was a nice month for rewards!

[wasCB14]

Just because your limits rise doesn't mean your spend has to!

The "lumps" that can make my CC spend spike are home renovations and tax payments. But many months I have more modest spend.

[Andypanda]

I have 11 cards, with 7 at $10kor above( plus one charge card). My total uti is at 3%. I alwayse pif, and spend within my means. I like to have the high cl to kepp my uti on individual cards below 8.9% or at worst 28.9%. I like to have the high cl in case i have a high spend month on a certain card, and not to have to jake multiple payments to keep uti down. I have an income to support the higher cl, and show responsible usage.

[Guyatthebeach]

Give yourself time. As your credit file gets thicker, your accounts age, your payment history and utilization become more solid, you will start to see those $10k+ credit limits.

There's no right or wrong strategy because so many people have diverse credit backgrounds.

Guyatthebeach 

[frugal47374]

I have 11 cards with credit limit of $10k or more.

Most of that goes unused most of the time, except for some expensive vacations.

And SDFCU offers me 0% money every year.  I make complete use of that.  And Citi Simplicity has occasional 0% offers.

But, for the most part, I don't come close to using those limits.

[sarge12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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? 

I'm building my credit and have been approved several credit cards, none of which are over 6000, but together total more than $20,000+ in credit limits. I only use my credit cards for utilities and monthly bills and immediately pay them off. I've gotten out of the habit of carrying balances and rotate each card for usage. What kind of expenses can I use my cards for as my credit limits continue to increase?

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You are assuming that high credit limits equate into high credit usage. I have 18 cards and probably 250k in total credit limits. I pay them all in full every month, and pay almost everything with cards, usually based on which card saves me the most with rewards. Rewards are the key to why so many cards...SUB is often 200 bucks, then some cards get 6% back on groceries, anothe 5% on Amazon, and another for 3% on car insurance...etc. Also high credit limits with low utilization boost my credit scores alot. If you think having many cards mean I spend more, you would be wrong. It just gets me cash back on what I would be buying or paying for anyway. I would estimate I make 500 dollars a year off of my credit cards, and never pay a cent in interest. It is as close to free money as anything else ever, if you have the self discipline to handle the cards right.

[dynamicvb]

You do not have to spend the limit for it to grow. I only have 3 cards and they are all over 10K, well capone is just 10K and they won't give me anymore. Get the reason spend is not enough. I did not understand these limits at first either, but its nice to have a cushion in case you spend a little more one month. Then you can still keep your utilization down and not take a hit on your scores if one gets close to the 8.9%

Amex will let you request a 3x increase every 6 months as long as your scores and profile support it. So it does not take long for an Amex to grow fairly big.

[KJinNC]

Just to echo what a lot of others have said, you don't need to be a big spender to get CLs above $10k, and if you get a CL above $10k, you don't need to start spending more to justify it. The main purpose of a higher CL is to pad your utilization. Suppose you want new kitchen countertops and they cost $4k. If you charge $4k to a card with a $5k limit, that's going to look a bit risky. If you charge $4k to a card with a $10k limit, maybe less so, and if you have multiple cards with good limits, much less so. It helps your credit scores and also helps avoid a lender freaking out over 80% utilization.

Along with helping credit, it's also good to have more options and flexibility. That can create opportunities to get cash back for larger spends (example: someone may have cash on hand to pay for a new fence around their yard, but choose to pay with a card to get cash back or points or miles, then immediately pay the card off) or gives you a backup option in case of emergency.

You can get a higher CL simply by regularly using and paying a card, even if the balance never comes close to the CL. Also, you sometimes get higher CLs with new card applications. My four highest CLs are my four newest cards. I haven't requested CLIs on them yet, that's just how they were issued. My fifth highest CL (PayPal MC, $8k) was issued in September at $3k. I have used it steadily and requested CLs a few times so it's grown to $8k despite the balance rarely if ever being above $1k.

I barely qualify as having "multiple credit limits over $10k." I have two above $10k. I also have one that is actually $10k and another that is $9500. So I'm on the low end of the group you're talking to. In an ideal world, I'd like all of my cards to be $20k+, but not sure how realistic that is with my spend. For whatever reason, Amex and Citi like me, Sync thinks I'm OK, and Discover hates me. Sometimes you can figure out why one lender likes or does not like your profile and sometimes you can't, but results can vary enormously - my Discover card is older than my Amex cards, but I have over 20x the CLs on Amex credit cards altogether as I have on Discover (admittedly just one Discover card). Why? Who knows? It will all come out in the wash ...