I laughed at the most members here have tons of store card CL's. I have none, all the CC's in my signature are from banks and CU's.
So, based on your initial post, you have two challenges to address. Experience with high limits & low payments (basically low usage I think since you often PIF).
1. You need to get an account (preferably regular tradeline rather than store card, but either will help. You have a Capital One Venture at $3k. I don't think they issue that card under $5k any more. I would suggest combining your existing capital one cards into a single account which would get you about a $12k limit, then apply for the Venture. Since you have history with Capital One, they might approve for $15k or $20k or $30k. Another step would be to try to get a store card that's known to give high limits. Barney's (although Comenity is skittish these days), Lowes and some others are known for giving high limits. Just follow the methodology (either automated phone lady with Comenity or credit solutions with Synchrony) and try to get yourself a $10-20k limit.
2. Your second issue seems to be that your spend is too low. Credit limits are based not just on credit worthiness & score, but also income & usage. There's little reason for a lender to offer you a $25k limit if you only spend $200 a month. It would be all risk and no reward for them. My suggestion here would be to identify your favorite cards/lenders and concentrate all your spend with those 1-3 cards. Capital One is known for rewarding usage on their cards with high limits on future cards, but all lenders find that to be positive. If you're spreading your fixed spend each month over 5 or 10 cards, they likely see that you're limit is sufficient for your needs and won't offer you more.
Good luck!
@DeeBee78 wrote:
@Benzman wrote:Have acquired quite a few Master/Visa cards over the past two years, most starting out with lower limits around $2,500. I have got one or two CLIs in that time, but most card companies are saying "we cannot approve a CLI at this time due to insufficient experience of your current credit limit", or "your payments are not high enough". Granted, I am retired on disability, my debt ratio is less than 4%, scores in the upper 600s/lower 700s, with no late pays, collections, or other baddies, and maybe have total debt of approx $2,600 overall, sio I would think it isn't too bad. I always pay my smaller amounts in full, and the larger ones ($500+) are still on free interest promos but I still pay more than the minimum..
What I find interesting is reading all these posts on MF of members saying they got CLI even before using their new card, or hitting luv button when they first get the card, and having success. It just isn't working for me. Plus, how do you folks get these credit totals in the 100-200k range. It just amazes me. Any help is appreciated.
I'll let you in on a secret. Most people in these forums that claim $100K+ of credit have it tied up in store cards. I have $72K in credit lines, but only $13,400 is in Visa/MC's.
For your Synchrony cards, I would call credit solutions and request your CLI's through them. The Chat/Luv buttons are only good for some people.
For your Capital One cards, I'd combine all of them into a single Venture or Quicksilver (depending on what meets your needs).
I have 174k in credit cards. Only 5800 of it is store cards. But I put the spend on the cards to warrent high limits and I have the income to support it. To the OP here is what worked for me. I use my cards and pay them off. I have keep pushing my limits with new cards. But I woud recomend that you should think of ways to make your profile more attractive. Combine limits at banks that will allow you so you have higher limites. Then next time you open an account a bank will want to extend a higher limit to you because you have shown that you can manage them.
