Credit Line Increase - does it boost score?

[Anonymous]

I was thinking about calling my store cards that are in good standing and ask for a CLI.  Will these help lower my utilization percentage overall?  Does it count as a hard inquiry or do they just do it if you are a good customer?

[traveler2005]

Hello

There are a lot of store card companies that will soft pull to do a CLI such as GE cards walmart, sam's penny's etc. It is always best if you can to ask if it is going to be a hard pull or soft, but to be honest some csr's don't know the difference. Buy lowering you utilization, your score should go up depending on what percentage you end up at. Hope this helps, best wishes

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was thinking about calling my store cards that are in good standing and ask for a CLI.  Will these help lower my utilization percentage overall?  Does it count as a hard inquiry or do they just do it if you are a good customer?

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+1 to traveler's post.

Out of curiosity, do you have a specific reason for the increases? Is it for score, need the credit, or want the credit? Might be useful to go in with a number in mind regardless, and a reason why (for example, "My account is in good standing and I like this card, and want to be able to use it more." I would avoid something like, "I really want X but have no other way to pay for it.")

[marty56]

IMHO asking for a CLI to boost your FICO score is not a good strategy.  Could lead to AA or a hard INQ.

[Anonymous]

To answer your question:

CLI's do NOT increase Fico scores. Reported utilization does. There are categories in which reported utl are weighed:

0%,

1%-9%

10%-20%

etc.

The higher your utl goes the worst off you will be. Also, there is a small ding for having 0% utl so 1%-9% is optimal range for Fico scoring. Anything under 30% is acceptable.

So if your spending stays the same CLI's may help (assuming your utl falls into a favorable bucket). If you increase your spending with increased CLI's there is a chance there is not effect. You can control your reported utilization by paying off/down your CC balances prior to the statement cut date (in most cases).