So what's the secret (if there is one) to getting one of those really big CL's?

[Dervrak]

I see people posting all the time about getting really crazy credit limits, sometimes upwards of $30,000 on a new application. So what am I missing? I seem to have hit some invisible "wall" at $10,000 on all my accounts and they haven't budged in over three years. About once a year I'll go through and do the "increase credit limit" option (on the cards that allow it). But nothing.

My credit score is currently setting at 763. I have a mortgage, two car loans and $91,500 in open credit across 13 cards of which my usage is currently sitting at about 5%. My income (I'm single) is $115,000 Gross ($88,000 net). No late payments, collections, etc whatsover. 100% on time payment history. The only minor "ding" on my credit report is my average credit history is only 8 years old.

When I get the rejection letter for the CL increase the reasons vary, but three seem common (paraphrasing) "Balances on Real Estate Loans too high" "Balances on Automotive Loans too high" and "insufficient history at current credit limit". Now I kind of understand the first one, I just got a 30 year mortgage less than two years ago and have only paid off about 4% of the balance. The car loans though are harder to understand, one started at $22,000 and is now down to $6,100 and the 2nd started at $26,000 and is now down to $14,000. Those balances seem quite reasonable to me. As for the 3rd? Just how long is a sufficient history at current credit limit, it's going on three years now!

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

Why don't you list the cards you have now and their credit limits.   It might just be the particular lenders.   We can advise you where to go for bigger limits if we know what you've got now and with whom.

How much is your total mortgage payment?    How much are each of the two car loans?

I make a little under 100K and I have about 275K  in open revolving credit lines -- and I have a bankruptcy.   I think you're just fishing in the wrong part of the stream.

[Anonymous]

You’ve gotta find a lender who is willing to be the first to break that barrier. NFCU did it for many of us — if you’re eligible, that’s a good place to start looking. 

[jamesdwi]

In some cases it comes down to lenders, and sometimes even specific cards.  Take for example chase, the chase saphire preffered (CSP) has a minimum starting credit limit of 5,000.  They don't like giving any one total credit limits of more than 1/2 there annual income,  YMMV but most here see evidence of this. While I was approved for the CSP at 10k, shortly after that I applied for and got the Chase South West card, with a $20,000 starting limit as its a co-branded card they tend to give higher limits that just a chase alone card. Chase also allows you move your credit limits around, if you have a chase card you aren't using you can move its credit limit to a chase card you are using in some cases. 

Syncrony bank is the place of legendary credit limits with time, and sometimes just a phone call or a chat, people here with decent files and good income go from a $450 starting limit to $10,000 or even more with a single phone call. Sam's Club can get to $10,000 with just the luv button or a call, many here have Lowes cards with $20,000 limits.  Internal limit is rumored to be  $99,000 total credit limit across all your Syncrony  cards

Amex may start you out with a lower starting limit, as long as its more than $2,000 you can grow it quite rapidly, with Soft pull CLI at 91 days of using the card, that can be as much as 3 times your starting limit, and can do the same every six months, so a $5,,000 card becomes $15,000 at 91 days, and possibly $45,000 if your income and moderate spending. 

Be warned if you are ever given a $500 or $1000 credit limit with a prime lender (major banks, Amex, Citi, Discover, Chase, Capital One), the card may never grow or very slowly if you are given one of these while rebuilding, use it,  build your credit, and then when you have a clean file, and low Utilization and low number of Hard Pulls, you can apply and get a card with a better starting limit, that will grow with you and close the older low limit card if it has an annual fee, or it no longer benefits you. 

Discover cards grow with you over time, if you hit the credit limit increases every 90 days or so. Some times fast, some times slow. 

as with all things in the credit world   YMMV. 

[Aim_High]

There is more info you can give us to help evaluate such as:

 - how much is the mortgage and what is your total debt-to-income counting the auto loans?

 - how many credit cards do you have and what are their limits?

It sounds like you're doing pretty well with 8 years credit history and the profile you describe.  It also sounds like your debt-to-income ratio is at play, so you may not see a lot of movement until you make more money or owe less money; I don't think they are just giving you an excuse.  However, as others pointed out, there are some lenders who just give out unusually large credit lines that may not jive with what you see at other banks, so 'fishing in a different stream' may be another tactic.  (Thanks, @CH-7-Rebuilding .)

If you google "high credit limit", the industry technically defines that as $10K or above.  So you're actually there by definition.  Yes, many do give out higher, sometimes crazy high.  With scores of over 800, 30+ years of credit history, 1% or less utilization,  and very high income into six figures, the highest INITIAL credit lines I've ever been given were $35K.  Even with excellent credit and high income, $20K to $25K isn't unusual for starting limits, although they can grow.

One technique that I think helped me grow my credit lines was to leverage the banks off of each other by growing one limit and then trying to get others to follow suit with CL requests.  That seemed to help for me.  At the same time, I closed my lower-limit store cards.  (Not only did I not use them as much, and at the time I was trying to simplify, but it is also my opinion that a bunch of lower-limit cards may hold you back from high limits by lowering your average credit line.)  Another technique is applying for new lines of credit and then combining them if the bank will allow. (Some do not.)  Time and persistance may get you there.

[Anonymous]

I'd say your debt to income ratio is limiting your credit card limits.
Those car loan sizes, depending on how many years you financed them for...looking at $350-500/each. Already at $700-1000/month. Add in your new mortgage...somewhere around $2k/month I'd venture a guess? Add in all your assumed monthly bills...water, elec, heat, cable/internet, phone(s), bank may assume another $250-300/month.
Already at nearly 40k/year. Without actual living costs (food, gas, car insurance, memberships, etc).

Banks 'probably' know if you're married/have children. If you are/do, they know you have more expenses to add on.

Yea, it is very manageable debt with your income, but if you tossed 15-20k on a card...the bank would be concerned about it.

Also, a few years of good payments on your car loans are great for scoring, but you still owe a good chunk on them. You getting hit by a car, falling into depression, getting fired, quitting/taking on a lower wage job for better work/life balance, going to jail for a long time for that hidden meth lab you've been secretly sponsoring (lol, mostly kidding...but some risk-management person at a bank likely has a statistical number on all of us for that one), and so on could instantly change your financial situation.
Going from one high income job to another to cover a 45% debt-to-income ratio is more difficult than a 45% debt-to-income ratio of a low income.


For reference: my income is a little lower than yours, have a smaller & shorter credit history (but all good), similar credit scores...but own both my cars & don't have a mortgage (housing market is a joke in the few zip codes I want to buy in...*sigh*). Getting a 34.9k card from amex was no issue (35k is when they start requesting tax returns). Checked my Gold card's "spending power" for laughs and typed in a 20k purchase and it was insta-approved.


Tl;dr: your debt to income ratio is high. And you are signed up to that debt for some years.
I'd wait until at least one car is paid off.
After the second, you should be golden to request a 30k+ card, if not able to after the first car is done.

[Dervrak]

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@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:

Why don't you list the cards you have now and their credit limits.   It might just be the particular lenders.   We can advise you where to go for bigger limits if we know what you've got now and with whom.

How much is your total mortgage payment?    How much are each of the two car loans?

I make a little under 100K and I have about 275K  in open revolving credit lines -- and I have a bankruptcy.   I think you're just fishing in the wrong part of the stream.

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Ok, here's the breakdown

Mortgage-

BB&T Mortgage Services - $54,000 - $414 Month (I sold a property I inherited and paid about 85% down)

Auto-

BB&T Auto Loans - 2012 Ford Escape - $22,000 Loan (currently owe $6,100) $253 monthly payment

Bridgecrest Auto - 2014 Mercedes C-350 - $26,000 Loan (currently owe $14,000) $298 monthly payment

Credit Cards-

USAA - $10,000

BBVA Compass - $10,000

BB&T - $10,000

Usbank - $10,000

Paypal (Syncrony) - $10,000

Lowes (Syncrony) - $10,000

Mercury - $7,500

Amazon (Syncrony) - $7,500

Barclaycard - $5,000

Wal-mart (Syncrony) - $5,000

Discover - $3,500

Citibank - $3,000

Amazon (Chase) - $2,000

The only card that curently has a balance is the BBVA Compass card with a balance of $4,800 (have a no interest for 12 month deal)....

[Anonymous]

That Lowes card should easily go past $10K. Have you tried calling Credit Solutions and asking for $25K?

A rough check of your DTI seems to be well below 30%, more like 15%, so I think it’s just a matter of getting one of your current accounts to be the first. 

[chfenton]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You’ve gotta find a lender who is willing to be the first to break that barrier. NFCU did it for many of us — if you’re eligible, that’s a good place to start looking. 

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I agree with this...even with good scores (740 ish across and no derog) and 20 year history once Citi gave me a $35K line every card after that has been at least 25k.  Before the Citi Breakthrough, I never got more than $10-15k.

[Anonymous]

There's no secret to large credit limits; they are a function of (1) the entirety of your credit profile, (2) income, (3) debt-to-income ratio, (4) credit useage, and (5) credit score.

Do you regularly request credit limit increases?  Much of your tradelines seem to be with mid-tier lenders but you should certainly be able to grow your Discover and Citibank cards through regular soft pull CLIs. You should be able to get a CLI from Citi every 180 days, and Discover you can ask as frequently as you want(but will be denied most of the time).  I'm not familiar with all the other lenders but they might require hard pulls for CLIs.  U.S. Bank for example, will give auto-CLIs on their Cash+ card but an increase on their Platinum card is usually a hard pull.

But importantly too, you have to use your cards to at least generate swipe fees for the lenders.  Banks are usually reluctant to increase credit limits if they don't see use.  My BoA Cash Rewards is $85,000 but you can bet that I use it often.