Credit card limit

[duragezic]

Any sort of rough formula they might use on my income or anything like that? It is a measly $500 limit right now and that is downright useless! I guess I don't blame them though, when I got it late in 2007, I only had made $2000 that year.

They have this form where I can request the amount. I mean is there any reason I couldn't put $10,000 or something? It's not going to hurt my credit to have a very large open credit limit is it?

Really, $1000 or $2000 would probably be all that I would need, but I figure I want a decent limit and after that I probably won't need to deal with it for a while unless I got a big promotion or something.

 

[JohnCU]

errrrr if you get a 9500 increase it will boost your credit score.

 

[OdiN]

Why don't you just call them?

Having unused credit can hurt your score, so just buy gas with it or something and pay it off each month.

Or if it's a rewards card of some sort, use it for all normal purchases and pay the balance off each month.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Unused credit can hurt you score? What?

 

[skywhr]

call them and ask

 

[zoiks]

From what I've heard credit card companies are lowering customers credit lines due to the financial crunch. This is leading to bad credit scores for a number of consumers.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,373230,00.html

The above might not apply to you but just keep it in mind.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Wait I must be missing something.... Having lower credit limits somehow hurts your score but if you have a higher limit and don't use it that hurts too? Is there any middle ground at all? I mean shoot, I have one card I use all the time for gas and online stuff but I only use 1/4 of the limit typically, and the other card has an even higher limit but I only use it once in a while and even then it is usually not much at all on it, maybe a hundred or two once every few months. Am I somehow hurting myself having credit available that I typically don't use (though I have once when I had a major car repair)?

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: OdiN
Why don't you just call them?

Having unused credit can hurt your score, so just buy gas with it or something and pay it off each month.

Or if it's a rewards card of some sort, use it for all normal purchases and pay the balance off each month.

Having unused credit does not hurt your score.

Higher limits are better because % of credit utilization is one of the factors used to calculate your FICO score. For the same spending habits, having a higher credit limit is always better, as it will lead to a lower % credit utilization, which in turn gives a higher FICO score.

Calling the CSRs isn't likely to be very helpful - they will most likely just plug your information into a computer, and it will decide whether or not to grant you the credit line increase. I don't know about other banks, but my Chase Freedom card has a section on the website where you can request a credit line increase. All they explicitly ask for is your household income, although they will pull your credit report.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Wait I must be missing something.... Having lower credit limits somehow hurts your score but if you have a higher limit and don't use it that hurts too? Is there any middle ground at all? I mean shoot, I have one card I use all the time for gas and online stuff but I only use 1/4 of the limit typically, and the other card has an even higher limit but I only use it once in a while and even then it is usually not much at all on it, maybe a hundred or two once every few months. Am I somehow hurting myself having credit available that I typically don't use (though I have once when I had a major car repair)?

Having a higher credit limit without usage does not hurt. Your credit score is affected by the percentage of the debt you have to your credit limit available on all cards. So if you have a lower limit on your cards, your score will definitely be affected in a negative way if you owe money since the percentage owed will be higher. If you had a higher credit line with the same debt, the percentage owed goes down and your credit rating will be higher. On the other hand, if you do not have a balance and have a high credit line, your credit score will likely be a lot better.
It's arguable that not using your credit cards will hurt your score on the long run but I monitor my credit ratings every month and there are cards I haven't used in years. I've only seen my credit score go up and not down.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Oh OK. That makes more sense. I never carry a balance from one month to the next (except for one time) and like I said a barely use the one card, so I should be good then.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: skywhr
call them and ask

Really, most powerful tool = telephone.

 

[kranky]

OP, what credit card is it? How long have you had it?

 

[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.

 

[Twista]

pay mine off =] and ill let you use them.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: skywhr
call them and ask

Really, most powerful tool = telephone.

I believe the credit line increase system is completely automated. The CSR's do not get to make personal decisions on whether or not to grant you a credit line increase - they simply plug the same information into their computer that you could do by going to your account website, and get the same automatic answer that you could have obtained yourself. That has been my experience with Chase. I suppose other banks may be different, but I wouldn't think so.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: skywhr
call them and ask

Really, most powerful tool = telephone.

I believe the credit line increase system is completely automated. The CSR's do not get to make personal decisions on whether or not to grant you a credit line increase - they simply plug the same information into their computer that you could do by going to your account website, and get the same automatic answer that you could have obtained yourself. That has been my experience with Chase. I suppose other banks may be different, but I wouldn't think so.

CapitalOne is like that too. But BofA increased my credit line on the phone since I needed to make a number of large purchases when I moved into my new place.

 

[spidey07]

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.

This is why you need to be careful about what you read on the intarweb.

OP - hold onto this card till the end for your life, never miss or make a late payment and you're golden.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Remember that they are asking for your Total Household Income (THI) which includes roommates, parents, etc even if they will not be making payments on the card.

 

[duragezic]

It's a Chase Freedom. With that request form, calling won't be much different. I was asking more on general questions regarding the credit limit and credit score; I know no one here can tell me what they would approve me for. I recently moved and had to make a lot of large purchases. I have one other credit card and it has a $1000 limit which I'm going to try and get upped next.

I've had the card since the end of last year. I've always paid in full and on-time, and that is how I will use it in the future (the APR is pretty high I think, I don't think I got any good 0% deal like some have got recently).

It looks like I want to request a fairly high limit, since it will greatly lower my % of debt to credit. I don't have much of a credit history at all so I want to start off right, for when I need a car loan and whatnot. I only have these two credit cards and I use them both at least once a month, and actually I use them for every purchase except fast food and food at work, so no worry of unutilized cards.

 

[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.

 

[Tommouse]

I have a Chase Freedom as well that I started last December. I got it bumped from 500 to 1000 in march/april. So I'm guessing you could get yours bumped as well. I recently attempted to get it bumped up higher yet and that one didn't fly.
But yes 500 is useless, it was a real pain for me, as I cycled at least double my limit through it for a few months. I use it as a delayed debit card with rewards. I'm up to 100 bucks in rewards and still haven't been hit with interest yet, so ... so far so good. I imagine you're doing a similar thing.

 

[Squisher]

I wanted a large increase in my credit limit about 6 years years ago and they asked for copies of my W-2s. They gave me the increase.

The wife uses our credit cards for business expenses so it used to not be hard to rack up $10-20K/mo. in charges.

 

[Evadman]

I tried to get my chase increased above 20k about 2 months ago just for sh!ts and giggles, and was denied. The rejection letter that I got (they wouldn't tell me the reason over the phone) was because I was not using enough of my available credit line. Well no crap, I am not going to charge 20k a month, I just wanted it to say I could

<edit>
heh, just tried it on my advanta card for sh!ts and giggles. I selected maximum available. Increased to 29,500 woot. Took about 30 seconds online

 

[tranceport]

My amex is up to 30k. I use it for everything and pay it off every month. The big stuff is business. I think the highest I have had the balance is slightly above 20K.

Doh sorry.. forgot my actual response.

I have manually requested credit increase a couple times on their site. The rest of the time they have increased the amount automatically as I neared the top. The card started out as $1,200 a couple of years ago.

 

[Eos]

I have an HSBC MasterCard with a $750 limit. It's great for floating purchases for 7 weeks. I can make large purchases on the 2nd and the bill is not due until the 25th of the next month. As a result, I've never carried a balance or made a late payment in 10 months.

I'm getting ready to purchase a new PC (it's just after the 2nd, after all) and asked for a $250 increase. They asked THI. I replied $10,500 (completely accurate). They offered a $200 increase and were going to charge me $20 to do it. Feh. They can keep their $200.

I can't imagine why they would not want to increase my limit. Maybe I might start to carry a balance. I guess they don't think that way.