Obtaining that first, large CL. What's the secret?

[Anonymous]

Seeing as most of my other general questions have been answered, this one has been lodged in the back of my head for sometime now.  I have a 6 year, 4 month credit history with my largest CL being $2600 (through Capital One).  My other cards that follow are $2000 (store), $1800 (store), $1800 (HSBC) and $1250 (PNC).  I have a total of 4 lates in my history (one 60, three 30s... the 30 led to 60 on one of them).  What can I do in the next year to take the next step to get closer to a $5000+ limit? 

[Jazzzy]

Credit Union?

Keep your nose clean. Let things age. Don't know how many inquiries you have, but let them fall off. Then, apply to a credit union.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure that income also plays a role.

[haulingthescoreup]

How old are your lates? That's a biggie. Lenders want to see a nice long trail of squeaky clean behavior before the issue something big.

My big CL's are on credit union cards + USAA (long-term member) plus on BofA. I got the high CL on BofA by doing a BT to the card ($8.4K on $10K) and then calling to say that the util was hurting my scores, and could they raise the CL enough to get me below 50%. They raised me to $18K.

This was back before the melt-down, though. They CLD'd me to $9K but reinstated it when I pinky-swore that I'd do another BT again one day, which I have.

[Anonymous]

With a few exceptions, it really has been the CU and CU like banks that have been issuing the larger CL's, IME and IMO.

NFCU

PSECU

PenFed CU

Alliant CU

USAA FSB

Nationwide (bank)

I have heard of a few people getting $10k+ with Discover, Citi, Chase, BoA, etc.  But these usually have been to people with longer history, clean and having other CL's all ready in the range.

NFCU is the famous one for giving someone there first $7500, $10k, $15k, $20k or more when they only had a $750 to $2k CapOne or builder card previously.  Nobody that I am aware of does this like NFCU.  But income is a big part of this too. 

And I REALLY HOPE that everyone who is getting in with NFCU treats them right and cuts off their left arm before defaulting....cause I hate to see one of the last really generous lenders go ultra conservative on us.

THE OTHER FACTOR will lie in not going app spree happy with a lot of new accounts on builder/store/etc.

IMO IME 

Message Edited by txjohn on 02-04-2010 06:06 AM

[Anonymous]

My lates are all 4+ years old at this point. 

[MidnightVoice]

I suggest a pristine credit report for 7 years, a large reportable income, credit history in double digits (years), including a good mix of credit (plus motrtgage) and an old CC, plus a high score in the 750 range 

[Anonymous]

All of my CL's started small. I got my first cards in 1989-1990. Over the years of paying on time, the limits increased slowly on their own. I did not make it into the double digits until 1998. I now have cards with limits of 50K. Other than paying on time, and no negatives on my report, I have no real understanding of how they got this high.

[Anonymous]

You should be fine with that score if the inquiries are low (1 on mine) and utilization is low (1%).  My FICO is less than yours (around 720s).  $4500 was my largest CL only two years ago.  My 60 day lates (2 of them) appeared in mid 2006.  It's been pristine since 2006.  Per the previous posters, you have to go with one of the major CU/CU like places.  Everything I've received in the last 3 months has been over $10k- Alliant, Penfed, Nationwide, Addison Avenue.  Discover, Amex and Chase are still under $10k.  So there is light at the end of the tunnel.   

[haulingthescoreup]

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MidnightVoice wrote:

I suggest a pristine credit report for 7 years, a large reportable income, credit history in double digits (years), including a good mix of credit (plus motrtgage) and an old CC, plus a high score in the 750 range 

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MV, may we all take turns borrowing your reports?