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In all the time i've built and grown my own profile from scraps (SCT=Vicky Secret/Fingerhut/ etc) i am still no expert on it by any stretch, and still learning which i think is a great long term lesson for everyone that really never ends. The variables are everything as already mentioned above but so many factors go into it. and depending on your personal preference of lender that produces good reasonable results for your situation, the biggest help is constant study over time.
Like others, i seen mid 600 FICO scores and even dragging around a collection or two on occasion approved for more than i could muster from some lenders with a clean file and high lines.
Whoever said that it's a marathon and not a sprint hits it right on the spot. For me it's the time element of regular usage/PIF etc. even aside from the income equation. You have to LEARN the habits from them just as much as they measure the habits of our spend & payments IMO,
@Anonymous wrote:
Why lock at 20k? Potential identity theft?
Reason is just personal preference, financial profile, and the way I use and pay cards.
I do not need more for utilization, or large purchases.
I am financially at a point where I have no need to use a CC for a BT, low APR loan or extended travel.
I feel having extremely large revolving CL's is not necessary or prudent for me.
Many CC users have or might need a low APR card for short term loan or a card for BT offers.
In both situations a card with large CL's and overall large CL's would be desirable.
Many travel for weeks and between air, hotel, car rental, wife & kids spending, etc might also need large CL's
Everyone's spend, type of cards, payment time frame, use, financial profile, etc is different.
Many in this forum dream about, change spend patterns, get certain cards, track moon phases, etc to get larger CL's.
I am not the norm in this forum, on this and many other subjects !!
Income is definitely less important than you would think to some lenders. I have $15.2K in exposure with NFCU and $12.7K with Disco and I only have $18K in income. It depends on what the lender likes from their customers — NFCU and Discover both don’t mind customers who carry a balance for a long time and rack up a lot of interest so they’re a lot more likely to issue higher lines to lower income individuals than lenders that don’t like customers who carry high balances for elevated periods of time.
Income is just one factor of many when determining risk and credit limits but my success tells me that it really doesn’t matter that much at all — I mean I’m approaching 3 times my annual income in limits and I’ve got a BK on file until next year still.
Income $95K 3 trade lines over $39K
$25K total revolving credit limit. $9K owed on a $12.5K car lease (aka loan). $28.8K non-taxable income, $10.2K taxable income for a total of $39K.
Thank you all for the input!
I am in the process of my rebuild and I am learning to use credit wisely for the first time in my life really. I just got curious (with reading in the approvals thread and) seeing all of the great SLs and I had to ask.
Got some great info and I appreciate every response.
I have five Chase cards, the last two of which I got in 2015 and 2018.
Those last two cards both brought my total Chase credit limits to exactly 50% of stated income (I applied using a rounded income figure on both apps).
FICOs fluctutate between 740 and 800. I occasionally get a new card for a bonus, only have revolving history (5.5 years), and usually let a balance report on about 8 cards.
Reading this thread is interesting. When I applied for a card after 2+ years of gardening in Aug 2018 I had 780+ to 800+ scores in all models with the exception of 2 very old models, but mid 700's, made over 160K, DTI of 10%, 1 old 30d on 2 bureau's set to expire this year, AoOA 22y+, AAoA 13y+, AoYA 2y+ which was 10y+ prior to that and they gave me 5K. My largest card is 25K but grew to that over 18yrs but no rewards and can't product change. Wanted a rewards card with high CL to do some remodeling and was disappointed with the low CL. My other cards with rewards would not give me CL increases.
But I was told on the forum that spend is the likely reason because I report less than 1K (usually $300 or less) on 1 or 2 cards. Rotate 9 cards just to keep them open.
The truth is I don't need any more credit just wanted a rewards card with high CL for a project. After reducing my CC UTL from 80%+ to basically 0% between 2015 - 2017 I simply don't want to charge much and haven't needed to.
One of the big things I am gathering from many of your posts is that using the cards a lot helps increase limit.. like use alot and pif monthly or maybe more than once monthly. Does that sound about right?
For example.. if you have some great limits on your cards but dont run your purchases through them (as in don't really use them much) then you arent likely to get good CLIs or to get big SL with new cards?
Personally, Right now I use all my cards to their limit or at least close and pay them off before the statement date so that I am using them but not reporting big balances.. now that I got the reporting dates down anyway.. I am doing AZEO for score help trying to qualify for my mortgage. wondering if once I manage to get my mortgage there is some other strategy to get better limits on my better cards once I qualify (God willing).
Thanks again for all the great answers!
I don't know if it's spend or reported balance although I stated reported. For me there's not been much difference. But I assume it's spend as I recently received a 1K credit limit increase on an older card (17 yrs old) I keep around due to age and less risk if compromised since the limit is low, now $3,100. Got the increase because I've recently become addicted to Amazon Prime plus I need to spend. Yet I pay on it before stmt close but still report a small balance. I've requested an increase in the past and like all of my cards , denied due to low use. Even my other bank cards have similar language.
From what I've gathered a company want's to see use, possibly making money on interest or whatever benefit they may gain from usage.