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Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

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Trudy
Valued Contributor

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

I'm pretty convince the major player is spend as my profile may indicate in post #18.  CC companies, ALL companies are about making money so it makes sense.  As long as you don't trigger a risk (multiple lates, recent lates or other derogs), they'll give you more credit so you spend more and hopefully they'll make money from it.  They've been gambling on us since they first gave us credit.  The odds are in their favor and probably more so if you spend. But we know from here there are those that know how to work it.  I say, do what you need to do Smiley Wink  Congrats for knowing what to do!

 

From the forums I assume many got high limits when they are/were heavy spend although they may have reduced their spend since.  As long as you stay current there may be no need to balance chase when one may be a good candidate for making money off of them. Who knows.  

 

I see here the many avenues taken to reduce UTL, get rewards, SUB's, reduced APR etc.  I see the benefit, but at less than 50% of my income I'm actually good.  Don't really need more since I don't want to charge much after getting out of credit card debt.  I'm hopeful that I never need more than what I have because that means I might have a problem.  And using credit may help, but not the answer.

But I do wish I could PC my higher limit cards to take advantage of rewards, like now when I want to buy all new furniture Smiley Frustrated 

FICO - 8: 05/05/23
Message 31 of 62
xaximus
Valued Contributor

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

Currently have around 275k to 300k ish in CLs. Income is in the mid 100's.

Personally, I think it depends on the lender and factors they use when handing out CLs. Some may put more weight in history and payments while others may put more weight in income. It's hard to tell since we don't know the algorithms lenders use.



Scores - All bureaus 770 +
TCL - Est. $410K
Message 32 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

I'm sure spend is the biggest factor in CL, and CLIs. Due to my spend being spread across 13 cards, each one only get small usage. If I were to only use one card for all of it, I could possibly see better results with CLIs. However, I'd rather have sevaral CCs with $10K+ limits. Than only have a few with $30K limits.  Several of my bills do not accept Amex, some don't even accept CC. And if I could pay my Rent without incurring a $39 fee, I would use a CC for that. I put almost every expense on a CC, though I've never tracked my yearly spend. I'm losing out on $15K spend yearly by not putting rent on a card. Would it even be worth it for $480 annualy in fees, just to show them spend?

 

None of my CCs with a Balance are incurring interest, they're on BT promos. So it's not like they're making Money off of me that way. 

 

Message 33 of 62
Viva-LV
Frequent Contributor

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

$385k in credit lines, $62k income.  3.5 years of effort in building credit lines.  Topped out by a couple of lenders, slow growth by others.

In my case, income was important for initial growth, followed by spend (i.e. Am Ex).  Most of my spend now is Am Ex, and I get around $4k tcl increases per year.  Scores: 720's to 760's.

Am Ex | BOA | Chase | Citi | Disc | PenFed | USB | 400K Club
Message 34 of 62
sjt
Senior Contributor

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

I think income plays a roll in determining your credit line, once you pass other criteria (credit record, utilization, etc.)

American Express: Platinum Charge, Optima, Business Gold, Delta Business Reserve, Business Cash, Business Plus
Barclays: Arrival+ WEMC
Capital One: Savor WEMC, Venture X Visa Infinite
Chase: Freedom U Visa Signature, CSR Visa Infinite
Citibank: AAdvantage Platinum WEMC
Elan/US Bank: Fidelity Visa Signature
Credit Union: Cash Back Visa Signature
FICO 08: Score decrease between 26-41 points after auto payoff (11.01.21) FICO as of 5.23, EX: 812 / EQ: 825 / TU: 815
Message 35 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

There are a few variables to justify CL's that are granted.

 

1. income - you have to be able to pay your bills.  With lower tier cards you'll see disclaimers requiring at least XX,XXX amount to open an account with that particular lender

 

2. spend - as some have mentioned some people spend a ton i.e business reimbursable expenses come to mind, extensive travel, etc.  Some of the spend is organic for higher net worth individuals and small business owners or a large family with expenses and high income

 

3. score - scores correlate with 1 & 2 showing you can handle the expenses you're using cards for and therefor net you a higher score 

 

4. time - the more time you have under your belt influences #3 provided you're 100% on time payments and don't have stangnant accounts colelcting dust for an extended period of time risking closure 

 

5. lender - the lender you choose based on information gleaned here or other places determines what sort of limits you will see down the road as your profile improves i.e Cap1 rebuild cards tend to be lower CL's, Chase hands out new accounts with hgiher limits but their CLI's lack oomph, AMEX grows easily once you're in the door, Citi tends to hand out low end CL/CLI's in most cases unless you pay them an AF

 

All in all though it's all subjective to each individual.  

Message 36 of 62
Aim_High
Super Contributor

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..


@Anonymous wrote:

There are a few variables to justify CL's that are granted.

 

1. income - you have to be able to pay your bills.  With lower tier cards you'll see disclaimers requiring at least XX,XXX amount to open an account with that particular lender

 

2. spend - as some have mentioned some people spend a ton i.e business reimbursable expenses come to mind, extensive travel, etc.  Some of the spend is organic for higher net worth individuals and small business owners or a large family with expenses and high income

 

3. score - scores correlate with 1 & 2 showing you can handle the expenses you're using cards for and therefor net you a higher score 

 

4. time - the more time you have under your belt influences #3 provided you're 100% on time payments and don't have stangnant accounts colelcting dust for an extended period of time risking closure 

 

5. lender - the lender you choose based on information gleaned here or other places determines what sort of limits you will see down the road as your profile improves i.e Cap1 rebuild cards tend to be lower CL's, Chase hands out new accounts with hgiher limits but their CLI's lack oomph, AMEX grows easily once you're in the door, Citi tends to hand out low end CL/CLI's in most cases unless you pay them an AF

 

All in all though it's all subjective to each individual.  


+1  ... I just found this old thread.  Great topic and discussion.  It certainly is a complex topic and there is no single correct answer.

 

However, I must disagree with anyone who says income is an insignificant factor.  It's not the main thing but there has to be income to support the limit.  As @  said, you have to be able to pay your bills. When a lender underwrites any type of loan, whether for a credit card, auto loan, mortgage, or anything else, they evaluate your ability to make payments and your risk of not repaying.  Even perfect credit scores by themselves will not get you the highest available credit lines without the income to support it. 

 

Exactly how heavily each of the factors are weighted depends on the particular credit file and the lender's underwriting criterion.  That's why it is a complex topic.  I wrote a recent posting that detailed my analysis of credit lines and will post the link below.  Not only did I identify the five factors from  @ posting above, but I think there are at least five others!  I also weighted them a little differently.  To me, while income and credit scores are both also essential and important factors, the two that lead most often to higher credit lines are age of credit (overall and with a lender) and/OR spending patterns that justify higher limits.  (The spending patterns and showing an ability to borrow and repay may work more quickly to increase credit limits.)

 

My ten factors are (same as above five); 

Age (time), Spend, Scores, Income, and Lender ...

plus also:

 *Debt-to-Income ratio (All debts, not just credit cards)

 *Assets with Lender

 *Use of Credit Lines

 *Leveraging of Limits

 *Type/Brand of Credit Cards

 

*For anyone interested, my original and longer posting can be read here:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Credit-Card-Management-So-many-cards-So-many-limits/m-p/5724730#M1664057

 

Here are just my theories about what goes on when an app is reviewed.  I believe that if you continue to apply for new credit lines that put your available total credit as many multiples of annual income, either the approvals will slow down or at least, if you had the ability to compare them, you might get much lower limit approvals and/or higher APRs that you would have been offered if you were not perceived as being close to overextension.  And someone who has more assets invested with a bank may be able to push those limits higher than they would have been able to without the investments.  But who knows for sure. 

 

I imagine most credit underwriters have directions from their financial instituions to limit maximum credit lines to a customer based on a percentage of their annual income, perhaps no more than 25% to 50% of reported income with a single lender.  And also in some cases, perhaps a limit across all accounts (with all lenders) based on the multiple of annual reported income.  This may be where the DTI ratio comes more into play as well.  As total DTI increases, I imagine lenders tighten how much total credit lines they think is safe to approve.  I don't have and think I've never had a single lender who approved me for even 50% of my annual salary on a credit card.  So I believe you "max out" on a card or with a lender when the FIRST of two conditions are met:

(1) you hit their internal institutional limit on lending for a particular credit card or across all accounts as a customer;

(2) you hit the upper limit they will lend based on your income, assets, and DTI.

 

In my case, I can definitely see how my limits have grown as my income and assets have grown over many decades.  It's not coincidental.   Right now, I am a little over 1x annual personal income.  For my 35+ years credit history, I would estimate my total credit lines have generally been between 50% annual income and less than 1.5 times annual income.  I don't think I would want to get total revolving credit lines above 2x annual income!  I just don't need it and there is no point.  For right now, I like the higher limits because even though I'll never use all of them, they allow me to keep my utilization rates super-low (less than 10%) without having to really think about it.  If I don't remember to PIF early on any one card, I'll still have super-low utilization when the statement posts.   


Business Cards


Length of Credit > 40 years; Total Credit Limits >$850K
Top Lender TCL - Chase 156.4 - BofA 99.7 - AMEX 95.0 - CITI 94.5 - NFCU 80.0
AoOA > 30 years (Jun 1993); AoYA (Aug 2023)
* Hover cursor over cards to see name & CL, or press & hold on mobile app.
Message 37 of 62
black_citi
Established Contributor

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

Only card I know that DOES care about income is the AMEX centurion or black card as we know it. I've heard that you have to give amex monthly bank statements to show what your income is even AFTER you've gotten the card. If your income isn't high enough (amex determines that) they will cancel the card.
Make More, Spend Less
Message 38 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

Many factors go into determining limits, income being just one.  I think Debt-To-Income (DTI) is more relevant than just income.  Spend, scores, credit history, and the policies of the lender.  Also, starting limits on new cards often are lower and people get higher limits through CLIs over time.  Requesting them every so often leads to the 5 figure limits some people here have even with more moderate incomes.

 

Spending and payment history can contribute to CLIs being granted, and existing lines can beget higher (or lower) SLs on new accounts.  Auto CLIs are more likely (and often bigger) on heavily used cards that are PIFed often.

 

My history is quite varied with limits.  One card grew from a SL of $5000 and eventually reached $16500 before auto CLIs stopped as I never ran it any higher than $3-4k on it at any time.  During times of tight money I've often requested CLDs as well... I always keep one card with a locked $500 limit for use in gas pumps, for example (less worry about skimmers this way).  Now my highest limit is $6000 (SL on my newest card).  I've never requested a CLI ever... all I have ever received were automatic.

 

Message 39 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please give some data points..credit limit/income..

Not true about centurion.
Message 40 of 62
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