Is it worth the risk of a hard credit check to increase CL on CC?

[Madison]

I believe I can get increases in my Credit Lines on a couple of credit cards which would reduce my utilization %. But a couple of companies said they would have to pull a hard credit check to do it. I have declined because I didn't want hard credit checks to reduce my score. I was successful in getting Bank 1 to increase my credit lines on two cards by $1,000 each by just requesting it and they didn't need to run hard credit check. What should I do?

[John060675]

Hard inquiries only count on your FICO score for 1 year, so if you are not planning on buying anything big (house, car, etc.) then I would say do it.

I am not sure of your situation, but if the CLI's reduce your utilization % by a lot, then that could offset your point loss by your inquiries.

[Anonymous]

I agree with John. What ever loss of points you incur due to a hard inq, and GET that cli, will be offset with the higher limits, and the associated lower utilizations, which is ALWAYS a good thing.

Besides, you can recover rather quickly from those inq's if you are careful not to get more of them.

It's a value judgment that only you can decide. (I know I would, if my confidence level was high enough that'd I get that cli).

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Whats your credit look like since opening the card.  Sometimes a hard can result in an increase or decrease, depending on the lender.  I don't do hards because I feel the normal course of a credit card should be to reward good customers for their habits.  Though more and mroe banks are resorting to this process.

[UnderEstimated]

If you don't have any big purchases planned, go for it!  Also, some companies state that by requesting a CLI, you're allowing them to pull your credit file.  Sometimes they don't do a hard pull.  I've had 3 recent CLIs, and no hard pulls even though for the CLI I had to authorize them to pull it.