USBank Altitude Reserve low SL - Why?

[TomWB]

I got the Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite card a few days ago with a $5000 SL. I wasn't aware that Visa Infinite is supposed to have a much higher SL until I checked other DPs on AR approval here. The usual seems like 15K to 25K. Why do I get such a low SL, and what's the CLI strategy for USBank?

[GZG]

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@TomWB wrote:

I got the Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite card a few days ago with a $5000 SL. I wasn't aware that Visa Infinite is supposed to have a much higher SL until I checked other DPs on AR approval here. The usual seems like 15K to 25K. Why do I get such a low SL, and what's the CLI strategy for USBank?

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USB historically offers cards below the traditional $5k minimum for visa signature cards, as low as $500

it wouldn't surprise me if $5000 is the lowest they give out for the AR, despite pretty much every other visa infinite on the market being a $10k minimum approval

your other limits, IMO, don't suggest you'd be given a $15-25k limit, particularly with USB who are more conserative 

but I imagine you'll be able to get a SP? CLI at 6 months though 

[TomWB]

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@GZG wrote:

your other limits, IMO, don't suggest you'd be given a $15-25k limit, particularly with USB who are more conserative 

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Would you mind elaborate on this? I thought with higher total credit-to-income ratio, lenders are less likely to give out higher SL because you won't be able to use that much. But I'm fairly new to the game so I could've been given false information.

[GZG]

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@TomWB wrote:

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@GZG wrote:

your other limits, IMO, don't suggest you'd be given a $15-25k limit, particularly with USB who are more conserative 

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Would you mind elaborate on this? I thought with higher total credit-to-income ratio, lenders are less likely to give out higher SL because you won't be able to use that much. But I'm fairly new to the game so I could've been given false information.

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you tend to get credit limits similar to those in your profile, with a margin for error for the bank/card you open,

USB being conserative, so they hand out limits typically lower than what you might get elsewhere

if you opened a Navy federal (very not conservative) card, it wouldn't shock me to see you get $25k

5, 5, 7, 10, 10 

I would imagine any card you open will be roughly in that range, which is why it's important to push limits higher if higher limits are important to you

very few lenders are actually skittish to your total amount of available credit, so few in fact that I honestly wouldn't worry about it.

I wouldn't go out of my way to open a $20k care credit card you'll never use just to have a higher TCL, but get everything you want and will reasonably use and if some small CU says no thanks, that's a them problem and not a you problem.

[Kforce]

Did not get the Altitude Reserve Infinite.

However with my first card from them received about half of my normal starting CL.

At that time almost all issuers were handing me 20k and the Cash+ received 10k.

It did grow to just shy of 20k, but took 5 years.

From my limited experience I would call them very conservative with limits.

The Cash+ was/is a 5% with cap card, so that might play a roll in how they figure limits?

I believe it was about 1 year before I got a CL increase, and all were between 2-3k, about

a year apart. I probably only asked once a year, my norm at that time.

[CYBERSAM]

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@TomWB wrote:

I got the Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite card a few days ago with a $5000 SL. I wasn't aware that Visa Infinite is supposed to have a much higher SL until I checked other DPs on AR approval here. The usual seems like 15K to 25K. Why do I get such a low SL, and what's the CLI strategy for USBank?

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1st Congrats on USBank Altitude Reserve!

I just got mine few days ago with 17K that is lower than my other CCs, however two days later I got approved for Cash+ with same 17K SL.. Therefore my profile was good, but they just don't want to give out high SLs.

By the time you to cover the 4.5K spend to get the signup bonuses, I would think the next CLI would be decent.

[CreditUp26]

I don't recall my SL on that card but it has grown by about $10K each year I've had it. 

[expatCanuck]

A couple years back, USB issued the Altitude Go to me.  With a $2K limit 

(wait ... wut?!?) -- by far the lowest line of all my cards (including their Cash+, which had a CL over $10K).  My income and spend supported a higher limit.

I called them a few months later to request an increase.  Although USB required a hard pull, it increased the line to $20K.  Fair trade.

The Go is now my go-to dining card.  Except when Discover has a restaurant 5% quarter.

[mgood]

Just to pile on to what others are saying, my Cash+ came with a $2k SL. That's well below the usual $5k minimum for Visa Signature cards and well below most of my other credit limits. I heard of many people getting $500 SLs. After 6 months I got a 5x increase to $10k but had to take a HP for it. Yeah, they're conservative with SLs, but their cards can grow.

Last month I opened the Shopper Cash Rewards and got a $7k SL. That's ok, but nothing to get excited about.

Also, until very recently, wasn't the Altitude Reserve the one you couldn't even get without some prior relationship with US Bank?

[xenon3030]

A few years ago, I got my first card from US Bank, which was Cash+ with a SL of only ~3k. After around one year, it received auto CLI to 13k, without HP. A few months ago, I PC'ed it to Altitude Reserve Infinite Visa without issue while CL is still below 15k.

I think, there is no solid rule to have 15k for any infinite Visa card.

If you require higher limit, you may call them to see whether they can re-allocate some CLs from your other cards, without using HP (some banks would do it while not sure about US Bank).