Credit card limit

[nerp]

I find that just using the card will cause the balance to go over time. It might take a while but it eventually happens. I have a mastercard that started at $300 when I was out of college and had bad credit and it's now at $40,000. They bumped it to $1,000, then $10,000 about a year later. Recently, I got a note that it was pushed to $40,000 because my credit history is good, apparently. I never use more than $100-$500 on it at any one time and pay it off in full every month.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
Just call and tell them you need a higher limit or you will be forced to use your other cards instead. Limit will be increased automagically.

Have you actually had success with this? The Chase CSR I spoke with told me they have absolutely no personal say in credit line increases. All they can do is plug my numbers into their formula.

 

[wahoyaho]

I just call them and ask for an increase

 

[markgm]

If you have good credit the sky is the limit. I could charge a house to my cards!

 

[HannibalX]

So many credit score myths floating around.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Bignate603
From what I've heard having INACTIVE credit is not helpful on your credit score. This means you should use it at least once a month.

The issue is not that it hurts. It is that having a zero balance credit card does not help when it could be doing a lot for you. I had a very long chat with the general manager of a bank of america branch at one point and he told me how it works. The reason why is because having a long standing history with a credit card can be very beneficial to your credit score. However, what people get confused about is that the "age" of the line of credit is not what contributes to that beneficial history. Instead, only the months that get reported are taken into account when it comes to those improvements. If you have zero balance on your card, nothing gets reported for that month that can potentially help or hurt your credit score. This is why you always want to have a small balance on your card and try to make sure that balance never exceeds about 33% of your credit limit as a rule of thumb. That plus making more than the minimum payments will get you the most out your credit card if you are looking to improve your score. Otherwise, leaving it at zero balance most of the time isn't really an issue especially if you got other things lined up that help you score such as car loans, student loans, mortgages, etc.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: Bignate603
From what I've heard having INACTIVE credit is not helpful on your credit score. This means you should use it at least once a month.

The issue is not that it hurts. It is that having a zero balance credit card does not help when it could be doing a lot for you. I had a very long chat with the general manager of a bank of america branch at one point and he told me how it works. The reason why is because having a long standing history with a credit card can be very beneficial to your credit score. However, what people get confused about is that the "age" of the line of credit is not what contributes to that beneficial history. Instead, only the months that get reported are taken into account when it comes to those improvements. If you have zero balance on your card, nothing gets reported for that month that can potentially help or hurt your credit score. This is why you always want to have a small balance on your card and try to make sure that balance never exceeds about 33% of your credit limit as a rule of thumb. That plus making more than the minimum payments will get you the most out your credit card if you are looking to improve your score. Otherwise, leaving it at zero balance most of the time isn't really an issue especially if you got other things lined up that help you score such as car loans, student loans, mortgages, etc.

Agreed, but there really isn't any reason not to pay the card in full every month. Even if you are paying more than the minimum, you are still paying unnecessary interest charges on the unpaid balance, unless you have a 0% APR deal.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: Bignate603
From what I've heard having INACTIVE credit is not helpful on your credit score. This means you should use it at least once a month.

The issue is not that it hurts. It is that having a zero balance credit card does not help when it could be doing a lot for you. I had a very long chat with the general manager of a bank of america branch at one point and he told me how it works. The reason why is because having a long standing history with a credit card can be very beneficial to your credit score. However, what people get confused about is that the "age" of the line of credit is not what contributes to that beneficial history. Instead, only the months that get reported are taken into account when it comes to those improvements. If you have zero balance on your card, nothing gets reported for that month that can potentially help or hurt your credit score. This is why you always want to have a small balance on your card and try to make sure that balance never exceeds about 33% of your credit limit as a rule of thumb. That plus making more than the minimum payments will get you the most out your credit card if you are looking to improve your score. Otherwise, leaving it at zero balance most of the time isn't really an issue especially if you got other things lined up that help you score such as car loans, student loans, mortgages, etc.

This guy is an idiot.

 

[Alyx]

When ever I feel like getting an increase I max out the card for the bill (or as close as i can get) then pay it completely off before it is due. I started at a $250 limit a couple years ago and have a $2500 limit now which is more than I'll need for quite a while. I've tried quite a few times but it seems I'll only get the auto increase after 3 months. I've tried back to back months and it wouldn't fly.

Last time I increased the limit I had my sister help by purchasing a laptop then paying me back for it, that got me increased from $1200 to $2500.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Special K

Agreed, but there really isn't any reason not to pay the card in full every month. Even if you are paying more than the minimum, you are still paying unnecessary interest charges on the unpaid balance, unless you have a 0% APR deal.

Ya, I do the same whenever I can.

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
This guy is an idiot.

Ok...

 

[duragezic]

Hmm, if the other guy with a Chase from December 2007 only got bumped to $1000 from $500, I'll probably get the same or so. I could've charged a lot more $$ to it in the past couple of months and earned more rewards if the limit wasn't so damn low to begin with! I needed to buy a bed. Both of my cards were too shitty to cover it, and I missed out on big rewards. :disgust:

And I friggin' went over the limit last week. I didn't realize my paper statement was so much less than the actual balance (I forgot a few purchases, I figured I had an easy $150 to spare before going over, but it was way less than that), so I went over and got hit with a $39 fee.

Stupid of me to do, hope it's not a big deal as I've been flawless with payments and everything else. I think I'll stop getting the paper ones just to force myself to go online to get the most updated balance.

But that over the limit month plus last month which was just shy of the limit might help towards a higher limit since I paid them both on time and in full.

I'm suppose to have a reply from them quite quickly. So I'll update maybe if anyone's curious or in the same position on what I got.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Unused credit can hurt you score? What?

because they take a part of your available credit.

Having a high open or revolving credit can hurt your score vs not having it at all.


CC companys will bump your limit, if you get close to maxing it, and you pay it off on a constant basis, or they will raise it for you each year if you ask.

You really need to ask, however having a high limit credit card and no control = one of the highest reasons for people going under.

Higher limit and YOU not being able to pay it off, means more interest, and therefore you'd only be digging yourself your own grave.

And as sad as this may sound, out of all my friend who have hugh credit card balances, only 3 i know of could ever pay them off. The rest, are still strugling and praying they win the lottery to pay it off.

Something thats not gonna happen, unless you in that .00000000000001%



Just becareful with credit cards. If you dont see the outcome of most americans with it, you dont understand how evil they are in general.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Unused credit can hurt you score? What?

because they take a part of your available credit.

Having a high open or revolving credit can hurt your score vs not having it at all.

ummm, having very high and revolving credit lines INCREASES your score dramatically provided the utilization is low.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Unused credit can hurt you score? What?

because they take a part of your available credit.

Having a high open or revolving credit can hurt your score vs not having it at all.

ummm, having very high and revolving credit lines INCREASES your score dramatically provided the utilization is low.

my CPA told me the oposite.

Having too high of a revolving credit will hurt, so when you apply for more credit, you'll get denied. :T

This is when you look at a house, or buy a car, or look for a loan at the bank.
When credit matters the most.

 

[MotionMan]

To make a long story short, I needed to use my credit card on behalf of a distant relative for a motel room. On my way to pick him up to go to the motel, I called Citi to request that the credit limit on my secondary card, which I only use as a backup, reduced.

It took a lot of explaining (they probably do not get that kind of request often), but I did get it reduced to $1,000.00, the lowest they would go (I wanted it down to $400.00).

He was suppose to check out today, so I may give them a call to have it increased back to where it was before.

MotionMan