@Joleybear wrote:Does anyone know of a compilation of responses and data like this online?
I'm curious as to how score, income and other factors affect offers from different banks. For example, there was a time when I applied for 2 cards close together. For one store card I was offered a modest limit of a couple hundred dollars, but with the other, much better card offered over 5k for start.
I'd like to see some stats if anyone wants to chime in or is interested in hearing from others to compare.
*What was your highest started CL offer?
*What was your FICO score?
*What bank or card was it?
*What was your annual income at the time? (if you're comfortable providing it and if not obviously skip it lol)
*Did you have any other cards from the same bank/issuer?
I believe my highest starting limit, not including "pre-approvals", was from Chase which offered me 5.5k in 2020 to open a Disney Premier Visa Rewards account. My credit score had actually declined a bit at the time and was only in the low to mid 600s. The income reported was probably around 60k.
Fun Fact: I was denied so many times before I was approved that I lost count because I didn't know about the 5/24 rule and was opening accounts constantly. 😆
$30,000 last February. Had some $25k approvals over previous 5 years. 791 EX FICO 8. Wells Fargo Active Cash. Income sufficient to support $80-100k total limits with other lenders. First time applying for a Wells Fargo product in about 15-20 years, and previously declined for being out of their market. (Edit: Just remembered I did apply for one of their cards around 2015 and declined for high revolving utilization.)
This topic has come up periodically on the forums, @Joleybear. I would first refer you to >this 2022 thread< with six pages of replies for a starting point.
For me, highest SLs:
- USAA Rate Advantage Visa Signature: $35K
- Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa Infinite: $35K
- CITI AAdvantage Executive WEMC: $35.5K (with a 30-day recon and 2nd HP - $30.5K to $35.5K)
- Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless: $33K
I don't recall exact FICO for USAA but it was probably 750 to 775 back in 2013. The others I was well over 800. Income ranges from low to mid six figures, depending on the card. And yes, at the time of application for all, I had an existing or prior relationship, although I don't think that was a crucial piece of data.
No, there's not a single "compilation of stats" available anywhere that I'm aware because it is a highly complex topic with many variables. There are two major considerations for CL expectations: individual profile and the lender. Each one has their own set of factors.
For the lender:
- Internal underwriting guidelines. I believe there are predetermined thresholds for each card in their lineup, and those thresholds may even vary between the cards. As @CreditMarathoner alluded to, it has appeared to me that the higher potential limits are on premium travel cards, and the higher the AF, the greater the potential of a higher limit. That was my exact experience in applying for multiple Chase cards in 2018-2019. So, for example, BankX might say to be approved, you need (this) set of criteria including (this) FICO score. The closer someone is to minimum standards, the greater the odds of a lower approval. Those criteria might include not only FICO, but derogatories, income, all debts (revolving and installment), and thickness of credit file. A "minimum" approval often has a lower-end CL of perhaps $500 to $1000. On premium cards, that lower limit approval might be $5K (Visa Signature), $10K (Visa Infinite), or even as high as $15K on certain cards (Chase United Club VI.) On the other end of the spectrum there might be an upper limit set after approval of say, $25K, $50K etc - regardless of how strong a profile. Those cards may or may not be able to grow further later-on, with heavier spend and length of relationship. For example, a few cards I have (AOD FCU Visa Signature) started at $25K and that's the highest CL they offer on that card. Sometimes, the willingness to offer high limits appears to be roughly linked to the financial size/strength of the lender. There are some outliers, but the largest banks and credit unions tend to offer higher limits more easily.
- Overall relationship. On a young, thin profile, a deposit account relationship may help to get an earlier approval for a card. Also, deposit accountholders sometimes get streamlined "preapproved" offers for cards. However, lenders may put an upper cap on how much credit they will extend one consumer, often based as a percentage of gross income (maybe 40% to 50% for example) (OR) an upper cap such as Bank of America's $99.9K lending ceiling for most consumers.
- High Net Worth profiles and Wealth Management. Money talks and having large assets under management from a lender can lead to exceptions of the normal rules.
For the individual consumer credit profile:
- FICO score
- Length and depth of credit history
- Income. The ability to repay is crucial, regardless of FICO or other factors and lenders take how much one can repay into consideration.
- Debts burdening the reported income - including not only credit cards but from mortgages, auto loans, personal loans, student loans, etc. High debt will wipe out the strong influence on SL of a high income. Meanwhile, low debt will help to optimize the SL of a lower income. It's all relative.
- Other credit limits. (We've had cases of high income members with undeveloped credit profiles that were given lower limits, consistent with what they had shown they could manage. Lenders tend to follow the pattern with existing limits and often don't like being far outside the averages. So one technique of raising overall limits is what I call leveraging: raising limits on existing cards as much as possible before applying for new credit, which may increase the chance of higher approvals.)
- Amount of credit-seeking behavior. This can be huge and I think often underestimated by some consumers. Credit approvals are based on a risk assessment of default, and that can affect not only APR (lower risk often = lower APR) but also SL. Higher credit-seeking = higher risk, regardless of other factors. Taking myself as a case-in-point, after I came to My FICO, I applied for a lot of cards over a couple of years. Even with FICO as high as 850, high income, low debt-to-income, and thick credit history, I was declined for two cards in 2020 due to excessive credit-seeking and my later approvals in that spree saw my SLs slowly decline. Applying for new cards at no less than six month intervals will increase the odds of a higher SL under most circumstances.
I would also suggest watching and studying the Approvals forum and look for profiles with data points similar to your own. It would give you a good idea of what to expect, as lender's underwriting guidelines may change over time. Just remember, though, that when comparing ourselves on My FICO, it's tricky since someone may forget to mention a pivotal piece of information or you might underestimate the impact of the variables.
I've written a lot about my perspective of the complexities of credit limits. If you care to read more, go to >this link< and then follow the embedded threads back in each one to some earlier postings.
@Joleybear wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:This topic has come up periodically on the forums, @Joleybear ...
Thank you for taking so much time replying with this information. I found a lot of it very useful. I haven't had a new card in about 2 years and I have a relationship with Chase Bank - 4 Bank accounts and 2 credit cards - so I was sort of wondering if that will help or hurt my chances of a high SL. It definitely seems very complicated.
You're welcome and I'm glad it was helpful. Having other cards with the same lender can help as long as your existing overall exposure with them doesn't exceed their comfort level. Chase tends to limit TCL with them to about 40% to 50% of gross income under most circumstances. Let's say you make $80K (divided by 2 = $40K TCL ceiling) and already have cards worth $15K and $20K with them. They might approve you for $5K, or they might also approve you for $10K but lower the $20K card to $15K to keep TCL in-check.
But yes, credit limits are definitely complicated and therefore compiling any single "list" for expectations would be very difficult.
My highest SL was Affinity FCU at $32,500 in 10/21. My scores were in 780's at that time.
@Joleybear wrote:Does anyone know of a compilation of responses and data like this online?
I'm curious as to how score, income and other factors affect offers from different banks. For example, there was a time when I applied for 2 cards close together. For one store card I was offered a modest limit of a couple hundred dollars, but with the other, much better card offered over 5k for start.
I'd like to see some stats if anyone wants to chime in or is interested in hearing from others to compare.
*What was your highest started CL offer? $35000
*What was your FICO score? F8's around 790
*What bank or card was it? Chase Amazon Prime Visa
*What was your annual income at the time? (if you're comfortable providing it and if not obviously skip it lol) $175K
*Did you have any other cards from the same bank/issuer? Yes, the Chase Trifecta
I believe my highest starting limit, not including "pre-approvals", was from Chase which offered me 5.5k in 2020 to open a Disney Premier Visa Rewards account. My credit score had actually declined a bit at the time and was only in the low to mid 600s. The income reported was probably around 60k.
Fun Fact: I was denied so many times before I was approved that I lost count because I didn't know about the 5/24 rule and was opening accounts constantly. 😆
@Kforce wrote:With good 780+ Ficos
My average starting limits are (~2 times gross monthly income)
That's an interesting way to look at SL metrics, @Kforce. I've never analyzed them from a GMI perspective, so that adds a new angle.
I would wager to say I've not had average SLs at 2 x GMI myself, however. I'm probably closer to 0.75 to 1.25 monthly gross if I were to make a rough guess. I attribute that to the effects of overall profile/debts in previous years and higher incomes that skew the equation on the other end in more recent years. (My higher $35K SLs were less than 1x gross monthly household income, but I think I was possibly hitting the upper initial lending ceilings that I discussed on those cards.)