@Anonymous wrote:
@KJinNC wrote:Answering the question in the OP and thread title, I wouldn't worry about it unless you start getting denial reasons that you think might be related to this. It seems far-fetched to me that it would be a problem.
Well OP, a situation like mine is one good reason to request a CLD, and any other situation where your available credit becomes a risk to you, including where you think you might use too much of it and regret it later.
I have too much revolving available credit, I'll never use most if it. But it's good for utilization and the credit scores. I never worry about going on a spending spree or being tempted to take them to the casino for the high roller table.
That's one reason I lowered mine. It's too easy to run up a balance that can't easily be paid off.
Based on your siggy, assuming your annual spend is evenly distributed over 12 months and you aren't carrying balances, you could get by with $45.5k of credit lines and still not exceed 8% utilization. You could take a $199K CLD and not hurt your scores. 
My max monthly spend could be supported with $25K of credit without exceeding 8% utilization, but I feel more comfortable with lower limits since it forces me to spend less and keep balances low so utilization doesn't tank my scores. Paying before statement cut pretty much makes utilization moot other than when carrying a balance.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@KJinNC wrote:Answering the question in the OP and thread title, I wouldn't worry about it unless you start getting denial reasons that you think might be related to this. It seems far-fetched to me that it would be a problem.
Well OP, a situation like mine is one good reason to request a CLD, and any other situation where your available credit becomes a risk to you, including where you think you might use too much of it and regret it later.
I have too much revolving available credit, I'll never use most if it. But it's good for utilization and the credit scores. I never worry about going on a spending spree or being tempted to take them to the casino for the high roller table.
That's one reason I lowered mine. It's too easy to run up a balance that can't easily be paid off.
Based on your siggy, assuming your annual spend is evenly distributed over 12 months and you aren't carrying balances, you could get by with $45.5k of credit lines and still not exceed 8% utilization. You could take a $199K CLD and not hurt your scores.
My max monthly spend could be supported with $25K of credit without exceeding 8% utilization, but I feel more comfortable with lower limits since it forces me to spend less and keep balances low so utilization doesn't tank my scores. Paying before statement cut pretty much makes utilization moot other than when carrying a balance.
I could take a 199K total CLD with my spend and keep util low enough where if I needed a loan, my scores would not suffer enough to affect my interest rate. So yes, i don't need most of it.
For me, nothing outside of a major emergency would cause me to go haywire on spend. I'm not tempted to spend any more than I normally would because I have larger lines. If it were given million dollar lines on all my cards, nothing would change.
Reducing CLs doesn't seem like the most straightforward way to deal with spending problems, but whatever works for you, and I really mean that. I have noticed some gaps in my logic (for example, recurring transfers from one account to another don't feel real to me, so I end up raiding the account - while manual transfers do feel real, so I leave that account alone), so I know psychology can be as important as math.
Strictly in credit terms, to my knowledge, there is no upside and likely downside in reducing your credit limits, unless you are getting denials based on having too much credit. JMO. Either way, good luck!
