How long did it take you to get into high limit territory?

[Imperfectfuture]

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@Anonymous wrote:

IMO, the Amazon store card is not in the crappy store card category. 5% back is pretty good. When my Discover IT is not running 5% on Amazon (which seems about 6 to 9 months of the year,) I put all my Amazon spend on the store card which is typically $300 - $400 a month. Plus getting a 5k+ SL is not hard. 

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Agree.  Only store card I have, just raised to 8k (though I like to make the CSR'a laugh).

When reports clean, started receiving cards with SL over 3k.  24+ months later (see scores in sig), in 10k+ category.  I believe in the power of scores.  

[barthooper]

I got my first card in January 2014 with only student loans on my credit report up until that point. Barclay Rewards Mastercard for $1500. In early May I was approved for the Sallie Mae at $4700 and in late August I was approved for a Quicksilver starting at $10k. That fall, Barclay's raised my Sallie Mae to $8700.

This past fall I got approved for Discover It at $11k which has since grown to $25k, and after some CLIs from Capital One I have my Quicksilver at $16k, and the Barclay cards remain the same.

[Anonymous]

Took about 3 years for me to break into the five digits, although it's very possible to do it much faster if you're aggressive with CLI requests and new apps. First card was a $500 limit which quickly climbed to $1500 or so. Then another card, can't remember exactly but limit was similar. About 3 years in I got approved for $15K on Amex Blue and the rest is history.

[galahad15]

Pre-CARD Act, my highest-ever CLs were ~$23k on a Citi DPR that I got in 2004 (now closed due to attempted RJ by Citi), and $25k on a Home Depot store card received in 2007.  Home Depot later CLD'd it to $5,000 though some years later b/c I hadn't been using it as much as before.  My first credit card account was in 1999, so i guess it took me about 5 years, to reach those high CLs?  Today, my highest CL is $11.9k, on my FNBO Amex.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My story is much the same as yours after almost 11 months in the US, although I haven't been able to reach such high limits yet.

I arrived in the US in Sept 2015. My goals were:

1) Get a 1.5% cash back card with no annual fee (I didn't want to be the only loser paying with a debit card, thus indirectly funding everyone else's cash back).

2) Have a limit high enough to forget the card and let autopay take care of it. I have yet to achieve this.

 In Nov 2015, upon landing a job, I applied for the Capital One secured credit card. It was backed by $50 and initially had a $200 limit.

Meanwhile, my company made me apply an AmEx Corporate Card. Although it is not backed by my company, only by me personally, it was approved with a $3000 limit. This card unfortunately does not report, so it does me no good credit score-wise.

In Jan of 2016 I applied for a JCPenney store card. I was able to save quite a bit on my purchase by getting it, so I figured why not give it a try. It was approved with a $400 limit.

In February I figured I would try my luck at getting a proper cash back card. I applied for Capital One's Quicksilver Rewards (1.5% cash back) card. I think my score was around 690 at the time. The application was denied.

Immediately after, I applied for USAA's Preferred Cash Rewards Visa card. It was approved with a $500 limit.

A few weeks later I tried applying for the Amazon store card. May as well take their $80 of free money, I figured. That application was denied.

The USAA credit card has been my primary method of payment ever since, and I've been paying it off 1-2 times a week to stay below 30% utilization. 

Around April, the Capital One secured card was auto-increased to a $500 limit. The JCPenney card was auto-increased to $700 around the same time.

Last week I applied for an increase of the USAA Visa card. It was increased to $2000.

To summarize what I have to show for after almost 11 months in the US:

- AmEx Corporate, $3000 limit (I only use it for business trips)

- Capital One secured card, $500 limit

- JCPenney store card, $700 limit

- USAA Preferred Cash Rewards (1.5% cash back), $2000 limit.

- A credit score around 719.

I've heard that airline cards generally have high limits, but

1) I don't care in the slightest about earning miles

2) I certainly don't want a card with an annual fee, such as the Delta AmEx.

I think my next move will be to apply for a 1.5% cash back card with another bank. USAA seems a bit conservative with their credit limits. I just need to figure out where I will get the highest limit. CreditKarma seems to think that my chances are "Very good" of being approved for AmEx Blue Cash Everyday and the Chase Freedom Unlimited. But if I'm approved and get anything less than a $3000 limit, there is no point.

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I figured I'd post a follow-up since I've been able to drastically increase my available credit in the short time since I wrote the above post.

After waiting for a few weeks for my USAA Visa card to report its increased $2000 limit to the credit bureaus, my credit score increased by about 18 points to 737. I decided at this point to apply for the AmEx Blue Cash Everyday. The reasons for applying for this card:

1) I had read on this forum that I'd be able to triple the credit limit after 60 days. I was counting on an initial credit of $3000, hoping to increase that to $9000 after 60 days.

2) It would earn me more cash back on gas an groceries than the USAA card with its flat 1.5% cash back on everything.

3) I've had a corporate card with AmEx for 9 months, so I figured I would have a positive record.

4) Also, can't compain about the the $150 sign-up bonus.

When I applied, it was instantly approved with a limit of $10,000. Keep in mind that my highest limit prior to that was $2000. Quite a leap. Now I don't even care about applying for a CLI after 60 days. $10,000 is plenty.

I consider myself in high-limit territory now, so to answer the question posed in the title of this thread: In my case, it took about 11 months after landing in the States with a blank credit score. But I had only a debit card for the first few months; I got my first credit card in Nov 2015. So it has really only taken me 9 months to go from a $200 secured CC to a high-limit unsecured cash-back card. Eureka!

[Anonymous]

You're doing things the right way. Congrats on the CLIs!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
It's taken me 10 years to get my first high limit card. Don't make the same mistakes I did. I was recently approved for Navy Federal $17,900, plus an Amex charge card with no preset spending limit, but until last month all my cards since bankruptcy in 2006 were subprime or low-limit cards that never grew.

My biggest mistakes were going on too many app sprees and getting less valuable cards, rather than gardening with a smaller number of better cards. I also kept my utilization way too high and did not PIF.

OP, you are certainly on the right track. I highly recommend joining NFCU if you're not already a member - they'll likely beat your $6K limit.

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Thanks! I guess I did do everything right. I purposely kept my utilization at 1 percent in preparing to get my 3rd card. Unfortunately I have no military affiliation so I can't join NFCU. I do bank with USAA, but they just denied me for my credit history being too short, so thus I went to Barclays.

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Agreed. Look into the big CU's (NFCU, PenFed, Alliant, NASA) for a high limit card.

[mjb59463]

Took about 4 years for me. My first ever 5k card was the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Got that after 2 years of maintaining my Freedom card well, which was the 3rd card I opened. Before that, I only had a Sears card with a 1k limit, a US Bank card with 800 dollar limit and a Citi Forward with a 2k limit. 

Last summer, I apped for the Ritz. Got an 11k limit. First double digit limit ever.

Around Christmas of 2015, Barclay raised my limit to 12.5k. 

Things do get better. Time and staying on top of your bills are the biggest factor.

[sarge12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm only 10 months into my credit history and I now have what I consider to be high limits. It all happened much quicker than I anticipated. I had read on here that some people have 1 year or more of history and are still struggling to get high limits. I suppose it depends on what lenders you go with. It seems like AmEx and Discover are the best entry into high limits quick.

Here's what I did...

October 2015: Opened my first card, the Capital One Secured, with only a $200 limit. In April 2016, I was given a CLI to $500.

April 2016: Opened my 2nd card, the Delta AmEx, with a $1k limit. At the 61 day mark, I did the 3xCLI to $3k.

August 2016: Opened my 3rd card, the JetBlue Barclays, with a $6k limit. Stunned by how much they gave me. I did wait until my 3k limit with AmEx was reporting before I went for a 3rd card, as I knew that would most likely increase my chances of getting a high limit. But all I expected was for my 3rd card to match my limit with AmEx, so I'm more than pleased.

Very happy about how all of this turned out. There are a few reasons to want high limit cards...such as utilization, more attention from other lenders, etc. There are also a lot of cards that are only Visa Signature/World MasterCard that you may not be approved for if your largest limit is only 1-3k. I'm glad I didn't go the route of getting in with Chase or another lender who would stick me with toy limits until I did a hard pull for a CLI.

Just posting this for anyone who is just starting out and is wondering the same thing. I'd also be curious to hear how long it took others to get up to 5k+ territory. I'm going to the garden now, and by the time I come out my limits with AmEx/Barclays will be even bigger.

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I have been having to tell most card issuers recently to not go over 10k lately. High overall credit limits help your credit until they reach some high bar and then additional limit can actually hurt your score. My overall revolving limits are now at about 150k so I am concerned I may hurt my score by getting cli's now. Gardening for me now!