Why do you need high limits if you don't use it?

[Drew]

I have them purely for show and tell.

[ojefferyo]

Some people like myself use them, I push a minimum of $8k/month through some cards.

[Anonymous]

We push between 3-5+k/mo through CCs. It's nice to have some breathing room.

[Imhotrodcrazy]

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@Involver wrote:
You do it because you can.

It's also great for utilization purposes to maximize FICO scores if you're looking for home or auto purchases.

Mostly it's just a game though, at least to me.

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+1

I  like the numbers game.  I am striving for 850 across the board.  Why?  Why not?  It's a challenge for me,,,,,,,and it keeps this old man off the streets and out of trouble. 

[Anonymous]

I'm new to the credit game. My goal is to have 100k to my name eventually. why? because, why not? I'll never spend anywhere near that amount, but it will make me feel good knowing that amount has been granted to me.

[awp317]

THe short answer is. Why not? My long answer is everybodies situation is different. I have large limits because I actually do use them. My company has a lot of cash flow going through it each month. Some months I have over 200k on credit, that will be paid when materials are paid for by customers. But I always hated asking for money to buy materials I would rather supply the materials myself and then get paid back for them. I also do spend quite a lot on my own, DW and I are blessed to both make an excellent living. We spend quite a lot and its nice to have credit cards to reflect our spending, so that way if we want to splurge on something we dont have to put it on more than one credit card. Im paid twice a month so I can buy something today, and pay off the card with next weeks pay check. I treat the cards like short term pay check loans. But like I said everybodys situation is different. 

[Anonymous]

It's great to not have to worry about utilization. 

[gen-specific]

The same load I tell to underwriters

"Lower my utilization and float larger balances"

[Anonymous]

Love my credit cards. Worked hard to get good credit. As a reward to myself, I get more credit cards. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you don't let it go to your head and start spending more than you have.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Why do you need high limits if you don't use it?

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Utilization.  Guideline is not to exceeed 30% and to only allow one balance to report 10% or less for optimal scoring.

I don't need to fully use the sum of my credit limits but they allow me to keep my utilization at about 12% without any of the micromanagement (paying before statement date, allow time for payment process, wait for balance to report, pay remainder by due date, etc etc).

I could only have limits for the amount I spend but without micromanagement I'd have high utilization.  I have had high utilization in the past and my scores suffered, approvals were less likely, limits granted were lower, APR's granted were higher and I was balance chased.

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@Anonymous wrote:

What would your respond be to my friend?

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Why do you need to respond to your friend?  Do what works for you.  Your friend can do whatever your friend wants to do.  Situations and preferences vary.  I recently charged a kitchen remodel and with your friend's recommended limits it would have been a hassle.  Instead, I charged the entire amount on a single card with no problems.  While regular spend can be a handy metric for determining desired limits to keep utilization in check people sometimes have irregular expenditures like that or vacations, etc.

While the guideline is "don't exceed 30%" that doesn't mean that one could not benefit from having lower utilization.  Again, 30% is a suggested max.  It is not suggested as an optimal utilization level.