Help me understand the buzz behind CLI's

[Anonymous]

I used to care about CLIs when I first started out. Now, I go for cashback

[Anonymous]

As others said, and for me it's true as well, it's recognition of a job-well-done while rebuilding credit.  Just 15 months ago I wasn't paying attention to credit at all and responded to a Capital One so I could rent a car.  Got $300 limit, and it felt so good after 10+ years exiled from the "credit club" and now with some pruning and hard work I have decent scores, a 5 digit limit, and even just bought my first house two months ago.  Is it possible to build credit with a $300 card, maybe, but it helps a lot better if you can show you can manage something that is at least mildly usable, I think.

[Viva-LV]

Higher cli's was/is a personal goal for myself. I remember times (like many others) when I didn't have enough limits. When I got serious about it, I (like many others) pursued cli's, which turn into higher sl's. I'm almost where I will feel comfortable, another year should do it. With adding accounts and raising cli's, I've increased my credit limits from under 20k to 200k in less than two years, with my utilization at 3-5%. Is it a game or a contest? Only for the person in the mirror!

[mystikal1]

There are many different reasons for CLI. After having a divorce and BK killing my credit I didn't care. A few years later I woke up and realized I should care about my credit.Looking towards the future, if I take care of my 5-15k approvals get rid of some, CLI the rest to 15-20K, I can get the cards I want and take a dream trip (2 weeks in Italy, and 2 weeks in Scotland for golf) I can use points and get cards in the SL range I want so that with free bonus miles, cash back, rooms and 0% for 21 months or so it will be very easy to do so and save cash on it. So the CLI of today have me look forward to the possibilties for tommorrow.

[Anonymous]

It honestly seems like you've never had to deal with these types of situations. So it's simple, you just wouldn't understand unless it'd happened to you.

[Anonymous]

For me personally after i get an increase up to a point where i am comfortable with my utilization and ability to pay back , the CLI looses its relevance for that card. its like if there a rush or obsession about equaling more CLI =  money security , i try to be aware that i can only spend what i can pay back and more cli does not do a thing realisticallly after it has already helped utilization to a certain level  and an understanding of emergency back up to some extent.  after that point more cli is to me for that card or bunch of cards becomes irrelevant. for me to get out of such obsession i need to clearly see that they dont serve my purpose after a certain level. this same with any addiction. we just need to see how they dont serve us ,for the reason for that addiction to become irrelevant and then we dont see any sense in continuing the addiction. nice thread and nice answers btw. each one's need is different . people do what they think is best for them and we cannot judge anyone without knowing what their reality is.

[sarge12]

High achievers do not ask for CLI because they plan to use that much credit. It is all about how important utilization is in the credit scores. At some point though you can go to far and have too much available credit vs income and actually damage scores. Both overall credit utilization, and credit utilized on a single card can affect score. I like to keep my overall utilization to less than 5%, and credit utilized on a single card under 10%. If my credit limit on a card is 10k, then I try to only use 1k of that, and under no circumstance will I exceed 20% utilization. People who achieve 800+ credit scores usually achieve them by having a strategy, and utilization is part of that, thus the CLI requests. I now only ask for CLI's on my go to cards...currently Citi DC WEMC, and American Express BCE! I also always PIF! Scores are all near 800 or above!

[kdm31091]

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@sarge12 wrote:

High achievers do not ask for CLI because they plan to use that much credit. It is all about how important utilization is in the credit scores. At some point though you can go to far and have too much available credit vs income and actually damage scores. Both overall credit utilization, and credit utilized on a single card can affect score. I like to keep my overall utilization to less than 5%, and credit utilized on a single card under 10%. If my credit limit on a card is 10k, then I try to only use 1k of that, and under no circumstance will I exceed 20% utilization. People who achieve 800+ credit scores usually achieve them by having a strategy, and utilization is part of that, thus the CLI requests. I now only ask for CLI's on my go to cards...currently Citi DC WEMC, and American Express BCE! I also always PIF! Scores are all near 800 or above!

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The thing is that your utilization can still be low without chasing constant CLIs. Beyond that, while utilization is a scoring factor, it's a very temporary one. You can manipulate it and get the points month by month, unlike other scoring factors which are more long term. So while it may help you achieve a given score, it's not important to optimize it monthly unless you're applying for something.

Most people with high credit scores, to be honest, probably give little thought to obsessing over utilization. They just have long term good payment history and are not in debt. They keep utilization low relative to income, sure, but I doubt many do the maximization tricks. Most of the general public, including those with good scores, don't put that much effort into these things.

[Anonymous]

Ive already posted in this thread a while back, but nothing has changed. Hard work and discipline of rebuilding permits creditors upping a limit on an existing account, but the smile on your face from getting a generous STARTING limit from prior sucess and dedication "feels" great. I can "work at" my store card and bank card limits to higher than other members with way better scores, but i still assume that if we both cold apped for the same products they would fare better starting off. 

Ive said before that saving money is more important than your credit scores. However the good deals with good bonus that effectively pay you to use their cards, you need the score at 700 and up. Once your scores are higher, the stating limits arent $500 anymore.

[sarge12]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

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@sarge12 wrote:

High achievers do not ask for CLI because they plan to use that much credit. It is all about how important utilization is in the credit scores. At some point though you can go to far and have too much available credit vs income and actually damage scores. Both overall credit utilization, and credit utilized on a single card can affect score. I like to keep my overall utilization to less than 5%, and credit utilized on a single card under 10%. If my credit limit on a card is 10k, then I try to only use 1k of that, and under no circumstance will I exceed 20% utilization. People who achieve 800+ credit scores usually achieve them by having a strategy, and utilization is part of that, thus the CLI requests. I now only ask for CLI's on my go to cards...currently Citi DC WEMC, and American Express BCE! I also always PIF! Scores are all near 800 or above!

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The thing is that your utilization can still be low without chasing constant CLIs. Beyond that, while utilization is a scoring factor, it's a very temporary one. You can manipulate it and get the points month by month, unlike other scoring factors which are more long term. So while it may help you achieve a given score, it's not important to optimize it monthly unless you're applying for something.

Most people with high credit scores, to be honest, probably give little thought to obsessing over utilization. They just have long term good payment history and are not in debt. They keep utilization low relative to income, sure, but I doubt many do the maximization tricks. Most of the general public, including those with good scores, don't put that much effort into these things.

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I personally do not chase constant CLI's. For fico high achievers, paying on time, avoiding derogs and such are a given. Most other credit factors can only be affected by time. The main items you can use to affect your scores, besides those I just mentioned are Utilization, Inquiries, credit mix, and new credit. Of all factors except score killing derogs, payment history and utilization have the most affect on your scores. It is all about having an overall credit strategy, but yes, many people do overstress about CLI's and I would not ever close a good card because I could not get a CLI. I might however relegate a lower limit card to the proverbial sock drawer. PS...Utilization has absolutely nothing to do with a relation to income...that is DTI, and is not part of the credit score model, but may be considered by a creditor. Utilization is credit used relative to credit available and is in the 30% of your credit score catagory. Income is not considered in your credit score period!!! By law income can not be part of a credit score!