Should I close Target Red Card?

[AverageJoesCredit]

---

@mgs2010 wrote:

Does Target even do manual CLI? It's been many years since I have called them to ask but If I remember correctly, they said something like they do not review customer initiated requests for limit increases. 

I use the card monthly for small purchases because my rule of thumb is to never go beyond 6% util on any account ever...so this $600 limit makes it rather difficult to do any real shopping on. I guess it doesn't hurt to keep it around, but it would sure be nice it Target would recognize the effort that I've put into literally rebuilding my credit from absolute trash to over 800s today. 

---

Imo micromanaging a credit card to not go over a certain percentage is overkill. If you are pif the charges before the statement cuts there really is no reason to cut yourself from utilizing your credit line. If you have a 10000 card, it's not written you must  use only 3000 or the heavens will fall lol. Honestly, just use your cc, pay it on time, update your income periodically and you might get better results. Just my take on things

[dragontears]

---

@mgs2010 wrote:

Does Target even do manual CLI? It's been many years since I have called them to ask but If I remember correctly, they said something like they do not review customer initiated requests for limit increases. 

I use the card monthly for small purchases because my rule of thumb is to never go beyond 6% util on any account ever...so this $600 limit makes it rather difficult to do any real shopping on. I guess it doesn't hurt to keep it around, but it would sure be nice it Target would recognize the effort that I've put into literally rebuilding my credit from absolute trash to over 800s today. 

---

Last I heard there is no customer initiated CLI option. 

If you really want to "grow" the card you need to use it, spending $36/month doesn't show a need for a higher CL. Your scores are not going to suddenly drop into the 500s if you let balances >6% report. 

When I reached the 800s, I decided that it was time to make credit work for me instead of working for credit. So I started letting all of my balances report and even when I let a card report >80% utilization my scores still stayed in the 770-780 range.

No lender really cares how well you rebuilt, they care about making money. If you are not making them money they don't care about you. 

[mgs2010]

That's a good point - I guess I should stop obessing over cc util so much because at my current scores, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. The scale doesn't go beyond excellent! I'll try using the card some more and paying it down before the cycle date rather than limiting myself to tiny transactions hoping for luv from Target.

[Aim_High]

---

@mgs2010 wrote:

That's a good point - I guess I should stop obessing over cc util so much because at my current scores, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. The scale doesn't go beyond excellent! I'll try using the card some more and paying it down before the cycle date rather than limiting myself to tiny transactions hoping for luv from Target.

---

If you value and use the card, this is probably your best course of action @mgs2010.  Except for a few outliers like NFCU who will give you an increase regardless of usage, most lenders want to see some regular usage of your existing credit limit to give you more.  Never spending more than 6% (and in particular 6% of $600 is only $36)   makes it appear the current limit is sufficient.  Yes, if you don't want more than 6% to report, paying it down early should give you the same results.  (While the total usage won't be reported to the CRB that month, the lender is well aware of how much spend you're putting on the card each cycle.)

[mgs2010]

Funny that you mention the comparison between NFCU cli & Target because NFCU is kinda how my expectations have been set for cli. Synchrony is real easy as well. USAA too. I opened cards with all 3 in the past decade and they all grant very generous limits & soft pull cli at the push of a button. I guess Target is a different flavor and I'll have to utilize the account some more rather than limit myself to 6%

Thanks to all who chimed in as I honestly had no idea that reported util matters more than overall util at any given moment. 

so the "high balance" figure on a revolving trade line doesn't mean anything? I guess I always feared that if the high balance is greater than 10% or so it would hurt your score IN ADDITION to the actual reported util. I hope that makes sense. Anyone know about that?? 

[AverageJoesCredit]

---

@mgs2010 wrote:

Funny that you mention the comparison between NFCU cli & Target because NFCU is kinda how my expectations have been set for cli. Synchrony is real easy as well. USAA too. I opened cards with all 3 in the past decade and they all grant very generous limits & soft pull cli at the push of a button. I guess Target is a different flavor and I'll have to utilize the account some more rather than limit myself to 6%

Thanks to all who chimed in as I honestly had no idea that reported util matters more than overall util at any given moment. 

so the "high balance" figure on a revolving trade line doesn't mean anything? I guess I always feared that if the high balance is greater than 10% or so it would hurt your score IN ADDITION to the actual reported util. I hope that makes sense. Anyone know about that?? 

---

No, only reported spend matters in regards to affecting your utilization. Even then, letting something report isn't the devil despite what Momma says Remember your lender can see your actual usage despite what you let report. 

[FinStar]

---

@mgs2010 wrote:

Funny that you mention the comparison between NFCU cli & Target because NFCU is kinda how my expectations have been set for cli. Synchrony is real easy as well. USAA too. I opened cards with all 3 in the past decade and they all grant very generous limits & soft pull cli at the push of a button. I guess Target is a different flavor and I'll have to utilize the account some more rather than limit myself to 6%

Thanks to all who chimed in as I honestly had no idea that reported util matters more than overall util at any given moment. 

so the "high balance" figure on a revolving trade line doesn't mean anything? I guess I always feared that if the high balance is greater than 10% or so it would hurt your score IN ADDITION to the actual reported util. I hope that makes sense. Anyone know about that?? 

---

While it's a good practice to periodically examine your reports and its data to stay on top of your scores, etc., don't overcomplicate things.

The "High Balance" metric simply displays the highest balance reported for any specific tradeline at any given point. It doesn't mean you're always at that level. Some lenders use that value for their own analytics, but the metric that is actually weighed for your scores is the reported utilization (i.e. your account balances) whether in aggregate and by each specific tradeline.

So, specific to your Target CC (if you are concerned about the ideal utilization thresholds), as long as a balance of less than 10% reports periodically you should be ok. And as others have mentioned, if you're only spending about $30 per month on the card, then there's really no incentive for them to increase your limit.

[dragontears]

---

@mgs2010 wrote:

Funny that you mention the comparison between NFCU cli & Target because NFCU is kinda how my expectations have been set for cli. Synchrony is real easy as well. USAA too. I opened cards with all 3 in the past decade and they all grant very generous limits & soft pull cli at the push of a button. I guess Target is a different flavor and I'll have to utilize the account some more rather than limit myself to 6%

Thanks to all who chimed in as I honestly had no idea that reported util matters more than overall util at any given moment. 

so the "high balance" figure on a revolving trade line doesn't mean anything? I guess I always feared that if the high balance is greater than 10% or so it would hurt your score IN ADDITION to the actual reported util. I hope that makes sense. Anyone know about that?? 

---

To specify address the "highest balance" questions.

Is it a score factor?

No, it is not a scoring factor as others have said. 

Does it "mean" something?

A definitive maybe. No one really knows but some (including me) have a theory that it is possible that a CC lender could use that information to "see" that you are capable of making and paying large amounts. But that is just a theory and I can point to no lenders that I know are doing this.