I'm coming up on 6 months with my Rewards Mastercard, and am also leaving for several weeks of travel on the 24th of this month. My 6th statement will cut on the 24th, but I'd like to know before I leave how much additional credit I'll have available, so I'm willing to take a HP to request a couple weeks early. I'm wondering how much to ask for.
Right now my CL is 3k, my income is 75k, my TU score is 686, and my overall utilization across all cards is 25%. I'll be able to pay down a chunk of my balance next week, so I'll have about $500 reporting on the Barclays card at the time I request a CLI (but will have PIF'd the previous month's balance).
I was thinking about asking for an increase to 6 or 7k. Does that seem reasonable? I know there's an extensive Barclay's thread but it seemed more focused on ideal use patterns rather than CLI requests - but feel free to redirect me if this has been answered elsewhere.
Starting score 3/30/13: 570s across the board
Some people on here have reported an automatic CLI after the 6th cut statement. Are you leaving the country? If not, you can always request a CLI after the 24th even if it is a HP. If approved, it will be available immediately. Why do it two weeks early?
I got a 6 month auto increase from $1200 to $2200 on my Barclay Apple.... my 12th statement cuts next week. I've used the card consistently for the last year... $300-$400 per month and PIF.
Hopefully I get another auto CLI when the statement cuts... but either way I won't ask for one. Don't care for the HP... I've got my foot in the door with Barclay with plans to app for their better cards in early 2015 (when my TU score rebounds to match my EQ/EX)...
I'm pretty sure they'll give you an auto increase on your 6th statement OP...
For those with lower limits (1k to 5k) probably have a higher chance of increase. For me (7500) I'm not holding my breath. I wont ome near that. My highest balance statement was 2k which doesnt even come close. I'm not sure I want to get declined for a CLI either so I may apply for the Sallie Mae and transfer the line over, or close my arrival and transfer the line.
Just wanted to bump this up for a clarifying question.
To one of the earlier posters - I actually am leaving the country for about four weeks on 9/23, and my statement cuts on 9/24. So if I don't get an auto-CLI, I'll already be on the trip for which the CLI would be really useful. That said, I'll be in Europe, so I'll certainly have access to the internet & phone to ask for one if I don't get one. That said, my concern is that if I don't get one from Barclays, I know I'm pre-qualified for some Chase cards so maybe it would make sense to go ahead and app for one to have as a backup card before leaving. So I think I have two choices:
1) Ask Barclays for a CLI this Friday (after making a payment on my balance). If I get it, great. If not, I have time to app for and receive the Chase Freedom or Southwest (the latter is attractive because of no foreign transaction fee, but I think it's harder to get than the Freedom, right?)
2) Wait it out till my statement cuts on the 24th or 25th, and manage my travel spending based on whether or not Barclays gives me a CLI. If they don't it's not a disaster, I'll just come home with their card getting really close to its limit. (currently 3k)
What would you do, myFICO friends?
Thanks to you both! Really appreciate the insight.
Creditaddict - the CSP looks like an awesome card indeed. Do you think I'd get approved with my scores? When I go to their preapprove link only Freedom and Slate come up.