I agree with CGID that it would be very difficult for most to tell if a high credit line is being counted into overall utilization. I think most people that have a single credit card wtih a very high limit probably have at least a few other cards as well, and chances are a couple of them have reasonably high limits as well while perhaps not as high as their highest card in question. When you're talking people that generally run 1% utilization (or low single digit utilization regardless of percentage) it's nearly impossible to tell if you remove their single largest credit line from the equation as their utilization will still be the same or at least so close to it that it wouldn't be a factor resulting in a scoring difference.
To clarify from my statement on the previous page where I used the loose term "monster" limit, I'm simply referring to a limit that potentially could be eliminated from utilization under certain FICO scoring models... which as stated earlier in this thread could be $40k or $50k. CGID did a good job explaining this for me though following my post 
@Anonymous wrote:Our friend Brutal Body Shots reminded us on another thread that when the individual credit limit on a revolving account gets high enough it can cause the entire account to be dropped from utilization -- which in turn could lead to a significant change in your CC utilization Thus, for example, the following is conceivable:
* Bob has had an Amex credit card with a 14k Credit limit for a long time, which typically reports a couple hundred dollars.
* He applies for a new card and gets a 5k limit.
* He then makes a softpull CLI request to triple his limit. His CL is now 42k
* A few days later, he puts a 3k purchase on the new card.
* Bob's CC utilization has gone from 1% ($140/$14000) to 60% ($3000/$5000)
That reminded me of the question I ask at the top of this post. I had been wondering about that for a while. Namely....
Is there any practical advantage from trying to raise the credit limit of any particular card past (say) 29k?
Assume that we are not talking about a consumer who needs the card for huge monthly business expenses, or a person who engages in MS (Manufactured Spending), or someone who is outrageously wealthy and might easily drop 30k on a pleasure trip to the Bahamas. Just a regular guy with an income of under 200k.
One use that does occur to me would be if auto dealers are typically ok with you using a credit card to buy a car. If so, then have a Citi Double Cash with a 60k limit would be nice. You could buy a 50k car and get $1000 back tax-free (assuming you paid it off the following month).
Do auto dealers let you do that? Can anyone think of any other practical use for a single CL that is absurdly high?
My feeling is that once you start getting close to having a single tradeline with a CL over 29k, by that time you almost certainly have at least 4-5 credit cards of different rewards types. And once you do, it means you are already using one card for groceries, another for gas, a third for restaurants, a fourth for airfare and hotels, etc. Aside from that example I gave about buying a car, I am having trouble imagining the use for a single tradeline that is particularly big.
Curious to hear if anyone else has ideas.
Nice topic!
The only reason I have intentions on maximizing the CL for each card is to keep my utilization % low. I normally charge 3k-4k a month and prefer to have a util % below 10%, So, I will shoot for a 45k CL for each card I carry. This allows me to spend my monthly average on any ONE card AND keep my util below 10% on any one card.
So the higher limit isn't so much a praticality for me inasmuch that I would actually spend that much in one statment period (since I don't carry balances anymore), but it serves a purpose in keeping my util % down. Up until recently, I only had one CR with $2500 limit. I had to charge up and pay down atleast twice a month inorder to use it for my monthly expenditures. I hated doing that!. The larger CL prevents having to do this.
I recently used my Costco Citi card and put over $1800 charges on a $5,500 CL. That's a 33% util! Totally sucks! CLIs arein store for it for sure! Even with paying in full, if I can help it, I just don't want high util % at any given time on my cards! It seriously bothers me! 
The only other things I can think of in how I would use a high CL is for vactions, new furniture, expensive hobbies- easily can be 10-15K of charges, so yeah, useful in that respect staying within - say that 30% range. There are some hobbies items that can get pretty expensive where a high CL would come in handy! I don't ever see myself trying to buy a car or even paying for emergencies with a CC - I would turn to other methods of payment (emergency fund, personal line of credit, etc.)
@Anonymous wrote:
Nice topic!
The only reason I have intentions on maximizing the CL for each card is to keep my utilization % low. I normally charge 3k-4k a month and prefer to have a util % below 10%, So, I will shoot for a 45k CL for each card I carry. This allows me to spend my monthly average on any ONE card AND keep my util below 10% on any one card.
So the higher limit isn't so much a praticality for me inasmuch that I would actually spend that much in one statment period (since I don't carry balances anymore), but it serves a purpose in keeping my util % down. Up until recently, I only had one CR with $2500 limit. I had to charge up and pay down atleast twice a month inorder to use it for my monthly expenditures. I hated doing that!. The larger CL prevents having to do this.
I recently used my Costco Citi card and put over $1800 charges on a $5,500 CL. That's a 33% util! Totally sucks! CLIs arein store for it for sure! Even with paying in full, if I can help it, I just don't want high util % at any given time on my cards! It seriously bothers me!
The only other things I can think of in how I would use a high CL is for vactions, new furniture, expensive hobbies- easily can be 10-15K of charges, so yeah, useful in that respect staying within - say that 30% range. There are some hobbies items that can get pretty expensive where a high CL would come in handy! I don't ever see myself trying to buy a car or even paying for emergencies with a CC - I would turn to other methods of payment (emergency fund, personal line of credit, etc.)
Just to clarify, the revolving utilization threshold of 9% only has practical importance relative to score on aggregate CC utilization (all cards combined).
On an individual card basis, there is no negative impact on score associated with an individual card having a utilization in the 10% to 29% range - as long as the amount reported does not push aggregate utilization above 9%. Frankly, it is unlikely your score would suffer even if an individual card reported a UT between 30% and 49% if aggregate was held below 9%. That being said, I take the conservative approach and recommend limiting individual card reported balances to under 30% as that is the generally accepted threshold for "good" credit management.
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Nice topic!
The only reason I have intentions on maximizing the CL for each card is to keep my utilization % low. I normally charge 3k-4k a month and prefer to have a util % below 10%, So, I will shoot for a 45k CL for each card I carry. This allows me to spend my monthly average on any ONE card AND keep my util below 10% on any one card.
So the higher limit isn't so much a praticality for me inasmuch that I would actually spend that much in one statment period (since I don't carry balances anymore), but it serves a purpose in keeping my util % down. Up until recently, I only had one CR with $2500 limit. I had to charge up and pay down atleast twice a month inorder to use it for my monthly expenditures. I hated doing that!. The larger CL prevents having to do this.
I recently used my Costco Citi card and put over $1800 charges on a $5,500 CL. That's a 33% util! Totally sucks! CLIs arein store for it for sure! Even with paying in full, if I can help it, I just don't want high util % at any given time on my cards! It seriously bothers me!
The only other things I can think of in how I would use a high CL is for vactions, new furniture, expensive hobbies- easily can be 10-15K of charges, so yeah, useful in that respect staying within - say that 30% range. There are some hobbies items that can get pretty expensive where a high CL would come in handy! I don't ever see myself trying to buy a car or even paying for emergencies with a CC - I would turn to other methods of payment (emergency fund, personal line of credit, etc.)
Just to clarify, the revolving utilization threshold of 9% only has practical importance relative to score on aggregate CC utilization (all cards combined).
On an individual card basis, there is no negative impact on score associated with an individual card having a utilization in the 10% to 29% range - as long as the amount reported does not push aggregate utilization above 9%. Frankly, it is unlikely your score would suffer even if an individual card reported a UT between 30% and 49% if aggregate was held below 9%. That being said, I take the conservative approach and recommend limiting individual card reported balances to under 30% as that is the generally accepted threshold for "good" credit management.
Thanks for the explanation. Very much appreciated.
Unfortunately, I seem to develop a tick whenever I see my util % over 10%. I carried a high balance on my one card for about 2-3 months thinking was helping my score (before learning about myFico). It nearly wrecked my nerves something serious. LOL! ... Maybe I can repeat to myself over and over... (30% is ok, 30% is ok, 30% is ok..rocking back and forth in a corner) Bahahaha!