Should I try for Amex CLI?

[vinster95]

Hey everyone! So just had an idea and wanted to run it by whoever can give some input here. I have an Amex Delta Gold card. I got it about 5 and a half years ago. They started me at a 3000 limit and it still is today. I also have a Platinum card with them, which for some reason they limited to 4100 and never gave me a straight answer as to why, meanwhile I've never not paid my card in full.

Anyway, my Delta Gold has been maxed at 3000 for a quite a while. Back working now and paid it off this month to $0! I'd like to get a Chase card but would like my utl lower first (currently at 54 percent because a Dell Installment acct for some reason reports like a revolving).

So I figured if I do the 3x CLI that people do with Amex, that brings my Delta card to 9000 limit. Then Dell is 4000 limit. 3700 on Dell and now UTL is 28 percent before I apply for Chase. And I get a CLI in the process.

Thoughts on this? Should I wait because I just paid Delta Gold down last week? And would they hold me asking for a CLI right away against me as a sign I need money or something?

Any advice is greatly appreciated! 

[Aeon]

1. I'd wait 90-180 days at a minimum before applying for a CLI after paying off a balance that had been lingering for years. You want to show Amex that you are now able to spend and PIF, spend and PIF, rinse and repeat. If you are going to sock drawer the card, I wouldn't expect that Amex would see any reason to increase your CL by 3x. You don't have to spend much; I'm a low spender and I average less than $500/mo on my BCE and Amex has given me $16k in CLIs this year. But I always PIF. 

2. My undertanding is that Amex uses the FICO score from two months ago when making lending decisions. That score is probably surpressed for you if you just paid off the card last week. Another reason for you to wait before applying for a CLI. 

I waited 6 months after paying off my WF balance before asking for a CLI. I was granted a $700 increase, but my two subsequent ones I asked for were for subtationally more. Again, I showed WF over the course of the year that I PIF and don't carry balances on my cards. 

[NAVYCHOP]

I think there has been discussion on this forum that AMEX will not increase anyone's credit limits on anyone's credit card if they have placed a specific spending limit on a green/gold/platinum charge card.  Thus, you can certainly apply for a CLI but I would bet that they will send you a letter that they do not approve any CLIs for card members who have a preset spending limit on their charge cards.  No harm or foul if you apply for a CLI and are turned down, but my guess is the pre-set spending limits on your gold and platinum cards will be the hindering factor.

I have a platinum card where they slapped on a $4k spending limit when I had a high credit utilization on non-AMEX cards.  Oddly they never reduced my Delta Reserve limit of $40k while I had a Platinum spending limit.  I applied for a CLI and received such a letter that they would not entertain a CLI on another AMEX card while I had a preset limit.  Over about four years my preset platinum limit went from $4k to $7k to $10k and then NPSL again.  Once it returned to NPSL I received an instant CLI on the card I wanted and with NPSL they quickly allowed my Platinum monthly spend to go up to 6x my last preset spending limit.

Thus, if you get denied, just keep pouring monthly spend on the Gold card paying it off weekly if necessary for your spend until their algorithms return you to NPSL and then reapply for a CLI.

Until you get NPSL again, my suggestion like I did is to pour your day-to-day charges on your gold or platinum card as the AMEX gold or platinum charge card balances do not calculate into credit utilization other than with FICO mortgage 2.

[vinster95]

@NAVYCHOP Great info, thank you! So a couple of follow up questions for you if you dont mind. One is when they eventually raised your Platinium limits and then eventually put you back to the NPSL, did you have to ask for that at all or was that just automatic from them over time? And my second question is when they did all that, did you have to go through like connecting a bank account to the account, income verification, tax returns or any of that stuff or was it all just them giving the NPSL back to you little by little?

[vinster95]

Also great info here, thank you! Yeah, after hearing answers here and doing my research into it, it seems like the best way to go about getting my amex limits up is to wait for them to put me back to a NPSL naturually on my Platinum Card and working on getting my other limits higher first on non Amex cards, if/when I get them. Then from there go for the Amex increases.

[SouthJamaica]

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@vinster95 wrote:

Hey everyone! So just had an idea and wanted to run it by whoever can give some input here. I have an Amex Delta Gold card. I got it about 5 and a half years ago. They started me at a 3000 limit and it still is today. I also have a Platinum card with them, which for some reason they limited to 4100 and never gave me a straight answer as to why, meanwhile I've never not paid my card in full.

Anyway, my Delta Gold has been maxed at 3000 for a quite a while. Back working now and paid it off this month to $0! I'd like to get a Chase card but would like my utl lower first (currently at 54 percent because a Dell Installment acct for some reason reports like a revolving).

So I figured if I do the 3x CLI that people do with Amex, that brings my Delta card to 9000 limit. Then Dell is 4000 limit. 3700 on Dell and now UTL is 28 percent before I apply for Chase. And I get a CLI in the process.

Thoughts on this? Should I wait because I just paid Delta Gold down last week? And would they hold me asking for a CLI right away against me as a sign I need money or something?

Any advice is greatly appreciated! 

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IMHO what you should be focused on is paying that Dell account off, as I told you in your previous thread.

[vinster95]

@SouthJamaica Yeah in a perfect world I'd like to have that paid down, but the reason I got the Dell account (assuming it would be an installment account) is so I didnt have to worry about it and I could pay it down each month. By the time I'd probably be able to pay the Dell account down with you be probably 3-4 months and I don't want to wait that long for a new card, since I have some holiday stuff coming up. I'd rather get a new CC and pay that down in 2 months

[NAVYCHOP]

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@vinster95 wrote:

@NAVYCHOP Great info, thank you! So a couple of follow up questions for you if you dont mind. One is when they eventually raised your Platinium limits and then eventually put you back to the NPSL, did you have to ask for that at all or was that just automatic from them over time? And my second question is when they did all that, did you have to go through like connecting a bank account to the account, income verification, tax returns or any of that stuff or was it all just them giving the NPSL back to you little by little?

I have never had a financial review or been asked to provide bank statements or financial records.  I did have the preset spending limit placed on my card for a couple years and when I asked to have it raised, customer service always said there was nothing they could do and I had to wait for the limit to come off with their computer system.  So I paid multiple times per month and ran the card up to the pre set spending limit until I started receiving messages that my account was frozen until I made a payment and always zeroed out the account prior to the statement cycle date so that I had a zero balance.  Now they took the spending limit off about two months ago and they have let me run this month's balance up to $60k (6x their last preset spending limit) without any income verification or bank records.  I am going to let the balance generate on my bill this month just to ensure I have this new high balance and I hope once I pay the card off I will have reestablished  a strong NPSL spending pattern.

This also underlines the value of the Platinum card.  I don't have any other conventional credit card with a limit as high as what I charged on the Platinum and if I did, the card would be reporting maxed out.  Since I am not carrying any balances currently, it is very rewarding that I can run up a high balance on the AMEX card and it doesn't kill my credit utilization.

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