How much do current limits impact limits on new cards

[chalupaman]

My Chase AARP limit ended up being exactly the same as what my Walmart Store card was at the time so there was that and Paypal SC and Amazon Store card's growth have been correlated with how my Delta Amex has grown and when I got my BoA CLI, it almost closely matched Paypal SC's. 

[Anonymous]

i think this is also true as a general rule that high limits beget high limits. 

During the times when online savings accounts paid 6% interest, some people made money by signing up for cards that had no BT fee and 0% APR for the first year or two, and then did a BT directly into their checking account, essentially making money off the interest rate arbitrage. Of course for this to work you need a good sized limit, otherwise you won't make much. One of the the main "rules" for achieving this was to make sure that you only have very high limits when you apply. since very rarely will a bank give you a limit lower than all your other current limits. 

[Anonymous]

I am one of those very much disbelieving in "matching" and "high limits begat high limits".   Basically, for every match story there are counter examples.  So in this thread Barclays was named confidently as matcher, and several others posted otherwise.   In my case, Barclays is my lowest limit, 1/10 of my highest limit at the time, and less than 1/2 of my next lowest limit.

As for higher limits.getting higher limits, I still believe that this is misinterpreting cause and effect.    Basically, when you get a high limit from a "normal" bank (i.e. not those who give large CLs to anyone who might have had a pulse) it's because your CR is good enough.   And when the next issuer looks at it, hey, it's still good, and they give you a similar limit.  And with a large sample, sometimes identical, but often not.     And, when issuers have different evaluation criteria, there won't be anything like a match, obviously Barclays was concerned I had too much available credit so gave me a small line.

And: it would be pretty irresponsible for a UW to match another bank, at least not without full consideration of their own banks standards and rules.   The fact that Wells Fargo gave you $10K shouldn't influence my judgement as to what an appropriate limit should be, especially if that limit was from a while ago.   Of course, there is also some pressure (although Barclays didn't feel it with me!) not to go too low in comparison with others, so that the card will get used.

[Anonymous]

Amex and chase will always try to out duel each other. Boa, citi, and barclays marchs to their own beat.

Credit union will always try to match or out limit others.

Its fun to watch amex and chase duke it out with my wifes' account.
Freedom 3500
Spg 5000
CSP 10,000
EDP 15,900
Hyatt 17,000

[red259]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

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@juggalo9er wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

Do the limits on cards you have with lenders impact your limits when you app for new cards with a different lender (assuming lenders don't feel you have too much credit)? I know sometimes it feels that way, but didn't know if there was any real basis for this feeling. 

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There are few banks out there that will match your highest CL. I will name one of them which is Barclay.

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barclay started as my highest and is now my lowest

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My highest is Chase with my instant credit line. Second highest is amex after a 61 day 3x credit increase. 

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If this is true, then Chase has been attempting to play catch up with AMEX, seeing as they have given me 22.5K of credit in a 2 month period.

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Possible I know chase gave me my highest initial credit line.

[newhis]

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@Chris679 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

Do the limits on cards you have with lenders impact your limits when you app for new cards with a different lender (assuming lenders don't feel you have too much credit)? I know sometimes it feels that way, but didn't know if there was any real basis for this feeling. 

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There are few banks out there that will match your highest CL. I will name one of them which is Barclay.

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Amex did this when I opened ED card in April 2014.  My highest limit was $12200 and that is exactly what they started me with.  Pretty hard to argue that it was just a coincidence. 

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I was expecting the same. I got my Amex PRG in Oct., Freedom Nov. with $3,500, but then I was added to my wife's Sapphire, so maybe that made them offer only $2,000 with my ED this past week. I wanted $3,500 to get over $10,000 after 61 days.

[red259]

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@TruBlu wrote:
Interesting discussion. How does Citi feel about matching other lenders high limits?

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Citi has never matched my high limits. They gave me respectable lines, but usually several thousand behind my top cards. 

[Anonymous]

Looking back, I don't think I've EVER had a match, except that my last 3 Amex all stared at exactly the same CL, and 3 of my last 4 Citi cards did as well.   And yes, in fact the CIti and Amex CLs were the same, but at the time I got the Citi cards, I didn't have those Amex limits.

[Chris679]

I have always maintained that starting limits are WAY more arbitrary than people seem to want to believe.  There are people setting these limits and they could be making their decisions based on how good of a day they are having that day.  I don't think there will ever be a definitive answer on this topic but there is no question that your existing limits can affect your starting limit.  What would make sense to me is that this would come into play more when they are giving out a higher starting limit vs a lower one.