How to increase credit limits over time?

[scmami]

Ok, so things are looking much better for my husband and I in the credit dept. He's low 700s, I'm high 660s prior to the new cards, and both are steadily increasing. I'm AU on all of his accounts, but he's not on mine (no reason for this, he can be if necessary). Over time, should we just check every 6 months for CLI? We make around $95k/year combined. He just got a $10k Amex, and I want our other cards to increase like this in the future. What's the best way of doing this based on our situation?

Here are the cards we now have after a mini spree earlier this week:

Me (balance/credit limit):

CapOne Orchard MC 0/$800 (just got $500 CLI 11/3 via luv button)

CapOne Platinum $1941/2000 balance

BarclayCard NFL $180/$500

Amex Everyday  $0/$2500 SL (new as of 11/3)

Bank of America Cash Rewards $0/$2500 (new as of 11/3)

Lowe's $0/$500

Hubby (I am AU on all):

CapOne QS (upgraded from Plaitnum and 3x limit in the last week) $180/$2250

Amex Everyday $0/$10,000 (new as of 11/3)

Barclaycard $850/$1300 

Best Buy $0/$600

I know I need to pay down/off my CapOne and his Barclay....May be doing a 0% BT to the $10k Amex since there's a 15 month 0% offer. I'll update with new scores after the new cards post in a couple weeks too. AAoA was 4 years or so for each. No inquires until this week now 3 on mine and 1 on his... and all but 1 resulted in a new card (I was turned down by Chase SW card and he didn't try for it). We also have a mortgage, 3 years old, and an auto loan w/3 years left (and one we just PIF).

Any other suggestions?

Thank you for looking!!

[takeshi74]

You can certainly just try every 6 months if you want but I'd recommend reading up on each creditor as CLI's with the different creditors are very common topics.  How often a creditor allows CLI request can and will vary from creditor to creditor.  However, that's just one part of the equation.  To get a CLI your credit and income have to qualify.  Time itself wont guarantee qualificiation.

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@scmami wrote:

I know I need to pay down/off my CapOne and his Barclay....

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That's understating it. 1941/2000 is 97%.  Get that down ASAP before worrying about getting CLI's.

[scmami]

Oh I will....I'm not trying to do anything immediately. I was wondering about a long term strategy.

[Anonymous]

Just my take on it. I would suggest getting all three credit bureau reports and reading what is there about all your accounts and other things. It gave me insight so that I knew what I needed to do next for a high score. Then you can make your plan, which should focus on utilization, imho. You will receive great advice/thoughts from others, too.

[scmami]

Thanks to you both! I have all my reports and monitor an review them quite often. I will definitely be waiting until I pay the balances off before I try any sort of requests going forward. Income, unless something drastic happens, should stay the same and I've seen people with half my household income, but twice the limits we have. Patience and time are my friend it seems It wasn't so long ago we were both in the 550s and clearing up baddies!! I think I'll revisit this in a year after the new accounts have aged and shown usage (and the old accounts are paid).

[Ghoshida]

Generic advice:

Pay down high utilization cards (currently, your Cap One card) to no more than 30% of your limit on an individual card. For best results, no more than 10%. For even better, only one card should "report" utilization (and at less than 10%) but use the others as well and pay them before they report / generate statement. 

For me, doing this got between 50 and 80 points jump. I didn't have any baddies, just high utilization and low AAoA. I still have low AAoA <2 years.

AMEX cards: try 3X CLI on activation; or after 61 days. If denied, you could try again after 91 days. If accepted, you could try after 181 days. There's a long thread about it on this forum. They're all SP CLIs.

Cap One cards: keep trying every 6 months. Also, product change to no-AF quicksilver (direct gain - good cashback). 

Barclay cards: give a call after 6 months for APR reduction. Then follow up with an SP CLI request. There's another long thread about it on this forum. Don't use the online CLI button - that always results in HP. Don't call asking for CLI directly, again HP.

I believe Lowe's has SP CLI option - but read on this forum before trying it. Dunno much about BoA except they're HP-happy. 

AMEX should give you a free EX FICO every month. Check your scores regularly. Cap One gives a TU FAKO. Use it to gauge your overall profile growth, not for apps. Barclay should give you a TU FICO every 2 months or so. In my experience, asking for CLI gets positive responses when scores are upward of 680-700, and it's not too hard getting there when all baddies are off the reports.

Good luck!