Having a tough time understanding why I can't get a high CL credit card.

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone. I'm new to the boards as a registered member, but have been lurking for several years. It appears now that I cannot find an answer to my question and thought i may ask the community. 

My username pretty much explains my credit situation. I've been stuck at 720 +/- 5pts for the last few years. I wouldn't call that an excellent score, but i do have some good tradelines that i would imagine shows financial responsibility.My issue now is that I am having a tough time getting high credit limit credit cards, especially through Amex despite my heavy spending through my Amex charge cards. 

I currently have 3 amex cards. Business platinum that I run $50k per month on average (doesn't report to my credit though), a gold card that I run $12-15k per month, and a recent blue cash rewards card that I received a conservative 2k limit on. i waited 3 months and got denied a 3x cli and cannot understand why. I've been having problems getting high CL's with all credit cards for that matter; and I suspect this has to do with the fact that i've had very few credit cards in the past; but shouldn't the gold card pull some weight in credit worthiness?

Just some brief history on what my credit report looks like. 

-$76k auto lease (reporting about 50% of vehicles price as it is a lease) $2300 per month. 

-$15k high balance on gold card. Pay in full every month for past 2 years at average of $13k per month. 

-$5700 Salie Mae; Original loan value $20k. $600 payment per month on average for past 2 years. 

-$6200 Salie Mae; original loan value $20k. Same history as above. 

-$3300 Limit discover IT; High balance of $1800. average $1300 charges Pay in full every month (just got this card 6 months ago)

-$2000 limit amex. High balance of $1400. Average $1000 pay in full every month. 

-Several closed by consumer credit cards and retail cards. Highest CL was BOFA Visa @12k. Most others were probably hurting my credit more than helping with the very low limits $300, 600 etc. 

-No Late payments ever, nothing derog. 

With all this info layed out, can someone tell me why I can't get a high CL? Especially through Amex? Does amex not care about the gold or business platinum? Does discover not care? Any suggestions on which cards i should apply for to get a $10k + limit on my current situation.  

Thanks for any and all help anyone contributes. The knowledge on this board is second to none and always appreciated. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Everyone. I'm new to the boards as a registered member, but have been lurking for several years. It appears now that I cannot find an answer to my question and thought i may ask the community. 

My username pretty much explains my credit situation. I've been stuck at 720 +/- 5pts for the last few years. I wouldn't call that an excellent score, but i do have some good tradelines that i would imagine shows financial responsibility.My issue now is that I am having a tough time getting high credit limit credit cards, especially through Amex despite my heavy spending through my Amex charge cards. 

I currently have 3 amex cards. Business platinum that I run $50k per month on average (doesn't report to my credit though), a gold card that I run $12-15k per month, and a recent blue cash rewards card that I received a conservative 2k limit on. i waited 3 months and got denied a 3x cli and cannot understand why. I've been having problems getting high CL's with all credit cards for that matter; and I suspect this has to do with the fact that i've had very few credit cards in the past; but shouldn't the gold card pull some weight in credit worthiness?

Just some brief history on what my credit report looks like. 

-$76k auto lease (reporting about 50% of vehicles price as it is a lease) $2300 per month. 

-$15k high balance on gold card. Pay in full every month for past 2 years at average of $13k per month. 

-$5700 Salie Mae; Original loan value $20k. $600 payment per month on average for past 2 years. 

-$6200 Salie Mae; original loan value $20k. Same history as above. 

-$3300 Limit discover IT; High balance of $1800. average $1300 charges Pay in full every month (just got this card 6 months ago)

-$2000 limit amex. High balance of $1400. Average $1000 pay in full every month. 

@-Several closed by consumer credit cards and retail cards. Highest CL was BOFA Visa @12k. Most others were probably hurting my credit more than helping with the very low limits $300, 600 etc. 

-No Late payments ever, nothing derog. 

With all this info layed out, can someone tell me why I can't get a high CL? Especially through Amex? Does amex not care about the gold or business platinum? Does discover not care? Any suggestions on which cards i should apply for to get a $10k + limit on my current situation.  

Thanks for any and all help anyone contributes. The knowledge on this board is second to none and always appreciated. 

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If you have access to NFCU I recommend giving them a shot. Next best would be a Capital One Venture for high limits. Even if you end up not using it past the spend bonus you could use it to springboard you into higher limits.

[Anonymous]

How's your debt to income ratio? You have some big payments each month. If your DTI is high, that may be the cause.

[Momof5]

check the cap 1 site and see if you are pre-qualified for a Venture.  Get that high SL and it should breed others.

[taxi818]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Everyone. I'm new to the boards as a registered member, but have been lurking for several years. It appears now that I cannot find an answer to my question and thought i may ask the community. 

My username pretty much explains my credit situation. I've been stuck at 720 +/- 5pts for the last few years. I wouldn't call that an excellent score, but i do have some good tradelines that i would imagine shows financial responsibility.My issue now is that I am having a tough time getting high credit limit credit cards, especially through Amex despite my heavy spending through my Amex charge cards. 

I currently have 3 amex cards. Business platinum that I run $50k per month on average (doesn't report to my credit though), a gold card that I run $12-15k per month, and a recent blue cash rewards card that I received a conservative 2k limit on. i waited 3 months and got denied a 3x cli and cannot understand why. I've been having problems getting high CL's with all credit cards for that matter; and I suspect this has to do with the fact that i've had very few credit cards in the past; but shouldn't the gold card pull some weight in credit worthiness?

Just some brief history on what my credit report looks like. 

-$76k auto lease (reporting about 50% of vehicles price as it is a lease) $2300 per month. 

-$15k high balance on gold card. Pay in full every month for past 2 years at average of $13k per month. 

-$5700 Salie Mae; Original loan value $20k. $600 payment per month on average for past 2 years. 

-$6200 Salie Mae; original loan value $20k. Same history as above. 

-$3300 Limit discover IT; High balance of $1800. average $1300 charges Pay in full every month (just got this card 6 months ago)

-$2000 limit amex. High balance of $1400. Average $1000 pay in full every month. 

@-Several closed by consumer credit cards and retail cards. Highest CL was BOFA Visa @12k. Most others were probably hurting my credit more than helping with the very low limits $300, 600 etc. 

-No Late payments ever, nothing derog. 

With all this info layed out, can someone tell me why I can't get a high CL? Especially through Amex? Does amex not care about the gold or business platinum? Does discover not care? Any suggestions on which cards i should apply for to get a $10k + limit on my current situation.  

Thanks for any and all help anyone contributes. The knowledge on this board is second to none and always appreciated. 

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Hello. welcome to the forum. well after all you said. there is no way your score would not go up. except it looks like you are not playing the utilization game.

okay. forget about all those loans for a moment. and lets focus simply on the 2 biggest scorers in fico.

Payment history.

Utilization.

it appears your payment history is fine.

but utilization is not based off your loans. moreso. just focus on the credit cards.

Don't count the business cards nor the charge cards. just the revolvers.

As they are going on your personal credit.

You are doing fine. as far as paying. but its not good to pay everything in full.

even if you leave just 2 dollars on 1 card and let it report. then pay it off as well.

Due date. then statement date. that will drive your score way up with your history. working that will allow you to get the high limit cards you are looking for.

That amex revolver. have you asked for credit limit increase yet>?

it will grow very fast to 25k if that is what you are look ing for. even higher. if your income can support it. any way. good luck. just trying to understand what the issue is

[Luscher]

Don't expect any high limits with Discover. On the AMEX side they should have no problem upping your limits. I would keep trying.

If you are open to opening a new card I would probably try BOFA as they upped my limits pretty fast, and I spend no where close to what you do.

[jamesdwi]

perhaps they are concerned about your high level of spend vs your income, you report almost 20k of spend each month, that must be a lot of bussiness exprenses or a really nice paycheck.

maybe move some spend around to the revolvers even if you have to make multiple payments a month perhaps maxing out the cards multiple times a month will trigger some auto cli luv. Yes it will bring back sub-prime memories, well it would for me,  but I would give it a try for a few months, and see what happens. 

[Anonymous]

I would wait another 3 months and try again for the CLI. 

As others have mentioned, CCCs generally only look at your credit card utilization and payments. Your charge card and business cards don't count for the purposes of credit cards. That only gives you the Amex and the Discover, both of which have fairly high utilization. 

You have two reasonable options ahead. High CLs beget other high CLs, because the companies compete with each other. You can thus apply for a card that is known for giving out high limits, such as Venture, and use that to springboard to other high limits in the future. Or, you could apply for another useful card and shift some of your spend to it. This will have the effect of lowering your overall and per card utilization. If you really want to play the game, you can also take the third option of paying most of your Amex & Discover cards down before the statement date, so that they show low utilization.

However, I think Amex probably just needs more credit card time from you. Give it another 90 days, and see what happens. You can always call and ask for reasons if they didn't approve you afterwards. 

[bch238]

I wonder, but don't know, whether NOT having a mortgage but having a relatively expensive car lease is suppressing your score.

[Ghoshida]

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@bch238 wrote:

I wonder, but don't know, whether NOT having a mortgage but having a relatively expensive car lease is suppressing your score.

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No lease, no mortgage, and 750 TU 08 from Barclays. I think they come in handy to cross over the 800 hurdle. Plus you need some good AAoA. I'm at 1.4 years right now.

OP could get some score bumps by playing the utilization right, that's what is hurting them right now, in my opinion.