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What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

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Curious_George2
Valued Contributor

What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

What is your ideal credit limit, and why?

 

Some people like round numbers. There's an argument that limits large enough to be treated like HELOCs are good (or bad) for mortgage scores. There was that one aberrant bit of UBS madness ... $286,500, was it?

 

I realize that credit seeking is nearly universal on this forum, so for many people the answer will be: more is always better. But for everyone else, is there a CL number that, once you got it, you would (or did) stop asking for CLIs?

Message 1 of 17
16 REPLIES 16
NoHardLimits
Frequent Contributor

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

I don't remember ever asking for a credit limit increase.  All of my current card limits were either originally approved at that amount, reallocated from other cards, or a product of automated increases by the lender.

 

As for an ideal limit, I have deliberatly set a number of cards around the $40k level.  This amount seems to be sufficient for me to keep utilization low without having to resort to multiple payments during a billing cycle.  This number was also chosen due to my erroneous belief that limits of $50k+ would be ignored by credit scoring systems.  Recent data points have proven that to be untrue except for some older scoring models (mostly used in mortgage lending).  With this new knowledge, I would be content with my lesser used cards having limits around $10-15k and higher volume cards set as high as possible.  My current high volume cards are in the low $20k's.

March 2024 Scorecard: Clean, Thick, Mature, New Revolver
FICO8:
VantageScore3:
Inquiries (n/12, n/24):
AAoA: 11 yrs | AoORA: 36 yrs | AoYRA: 11 mos | New Accounts: 0/6, 1/12, 2/24 | Util: 2% | DTI: 1%
Message 2 of 17
Shooting-For-800
Senior Contributor

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

$25k is ideal for me.

Rebuild started in 2014  -  $100k unsecured credit in 2017  -  $500k unsecured credit in 2024.

DON'T WORK FOR CREDIT CARDS ... MAKE CREDIT CARDS WORK FOR YOU!



Message 3 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

I would probably stop at $25K. 

I am not disappointed when I get a $5K limit when I get approved though. 

Message 4 of 17
Kforce
Valued Contributor

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

$20,000 is ideal for my larger spend cards.

$15,000 for my low spend cards.

* For the last 10 years I have them capped at my thresholds *

 

Monthly spend should play a large role in ideal CL's

I average about 5k-7k / month.

What is good for me would not work for the big spenders, and might be over kill for low spenders

Message 5 of 17
okurosetta
Regular Contributor

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?


@Curious_George2 wrote:

What is your ideal credit limit, and why?

 

Some people like round numbers.



Funny you should ask, then say that - my Discover It has a $10.8k limit and I have been tempted to ask for it to be lowered to $10k even, but then I never actually do it. Given that I would only spend up to $1.5k on it per quarter, $10k would be fine, it just seems silly to actually do. Though... maybe... Smiley LOL

 

I'd love to have higher limits on some cards, particularly my WF Propel ($1.9k), Citi DC ($4k), and Chase Prime ($1.7k), which all see pretty regular use. Of my four cards with higher limits - NFCU Platinum ($24k), Discover It ($10.8k), AmEx Hilton Surpass ($10k), and CapOne Quicksilver ($10k) - two of them see almost no use (Platinum and Quicksilver). If only I could transfer a fraction of that $34k in CL to the first three!

 

For the three cards with lower limits (Propel/DC/Prime), I'd be happy with a $5k limit, happier with $10k. The card I use most often is AmEx Gold (~38% of my spend), which will adjust based on my spending, so all set there. The second most often used card is AmEx Hilton Surpass (~35% of my spend) which is at $10k. I'd like to get this to $20-25k with time.



Future P2
Chopping Block Chopped
Message 6 of 17
Gunnerboy
Frequent Contributor

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

25k



"Not everyone who helps you is a friend, and not everyone who challenges you is an enemy."
Message 7 of 17
blindambition
Senior Contributor

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

I would say $20k. I'm LI and spend within my means, but I don't want utilization crushed with unexpected high cost purchase. Considering home buying in a couple of years, and consider things like the unexpected HVAC, or roof repair/replacement.

Message 8 of 17
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

It really depends on the card and how it's used.  While I'd like $100k just as my personal goal on Amex Delta Reserve, the $50k I have on it now is honestly more than enough.  And in the rare case it were needed, I do have significant buying power on my charge cards.  I'd like $100k from Bank of America because $99,900 is frustrating.  😂  On the other hand, there's Chase Freedom.  I could make it much larger by moving limits around, but $6500 is usually more than enough for just putting the $1500 of 5x categories on it every quarter (although it did get a lot more use in Q4 with a targeted 5x for $2k in additional categories).  I also like round ,000 numbers, but last time I purposely took a CLD to drop the ,700 from the end of Freedom, Chase turned around and gave me a first-ever auto CLI of $1500.  😂 

Message 9 of 17
Bankrupt2019
Established Contributor

Re: What is your Ideal Credit Limit?

I'd say $100k on one card would be perfect. That way my typical spending wouldn't pass 9% in any given month. Right now I have to use a couple different cards and be careful of statement dates to avoid tanking my scores.









Message 10 of 17
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