I've had an Amex Blue for a little over 3 years, it has a paltry $1.3K credit line, yet I've never been late on any of my credit cards or prior auto loans, and i have fairly good credit. In January 2010 I had requested a CLI for my Amex Blue and at the time my utilization was 70% and they denied it, reporting that my interest rate was jacked up to 30% due to a mailed in check payment arriving 2 days late March of 09 (not reported, but justified a rate increase 
). The customer service representative informed me that they would need 12 months of payments on time before they lowered the interest back down. Since all of my payments had been early since then, it would just be a matter of months before I could make a new CLI / Int rate adjustment request...
I was quite offended by the rate they jacked me up to (I was using auto bill pay to manage that smaller card) and promptly paid down that credit card to 1% utilization in a month and have been waiting for a year to pass so they can lower my interest rate and give me a credit line that is a bit more commensurate with my other creditors (BOFA, Wells, with $10K LOC, aged 5 years always on time). It's been over a year of early payments, so it's about time to request again I think...
They struck me as being overly strict with their lending and have me wondering how frequently I should be requesting CLI? I usually request one every 1-2 years and my creditors (3 CCs total) have always approved, with no hard inquiries. Amex is the only one that hasn't been too friendly with me.
AMEX wants you to wait at least 6 months inbetween requests for a LOC increase. It will be auto denied if less than 6 months. AMEX also does a soft pull every month, so MAY NOT do a hard, but that can't be promised and the CCP on the phone can't say if they will or not.
As to the APR, go ahead and call at this point. You can even call each and every month. Although the standard is a 12 month waiting period, I've seen them lowered prior to that.
Just remember, if you get a survey, anything less than an EX 9 or 10 hurts the CCP, even if they are only the one delivering the message.
Starting Score: EQ 650 TU ???
@Anonymous wrote:I've had an Amex Blue for a little over 3 years, it has a paltry $1.3K credit line, yet I've never been late on any of my credit cards or prior auto loans, and i have fairly good credit. In January 2010 I had requested a CLI for my Amex Blue and at the time my utilization was 70% and they denied it, reporting that my interest rate was jacked up to 30% due to a mailed in check payment arriving 2 days late March of 09 (not reported, but justified a rate increase
I was quite offended by the rate they jacked me up to (I was using auto bill pay to manage that smaller card) and promptly paid down that credit card to 1% utilization in a month and have been waiting for a year to pass so they can lower my interest rate and give me a credit line that is a bit more commensurate with my other creditors (BOFA, Wells, with $10K LOC, aged 5 years always on time). It's been over a year of early payments, so it's about time to request again I think...
They struck me as being overly strict with their lending and have me wondering how frequently I should be requesting CLI? I usually request one every 1-2 years and my creditors (3 CCs total) have always approved, with no hard inquiries. Amex is the only one that hasn't been too friendly with me.
typically won't accept 2 card holder initiated limit increase requests within the same 6 mos period.
they'll get friendlier with lotsa usage and PIF but if you give them ammo, things head south.
