Nine months ago I got a CC with a 5k limit. Today was the first day I could ask for an increase. It was raised to $7700 and I was told I can ask for another one in 4 months. I'm rebuilding my credit (score raised from 400's to 600's) and don't know much about line increases. Is a line increase at all good enough? If they were happy with me would they have given me 10k? Is this what a normal raise in limit is? I don't know if it in the lower or upper ranges of a normal line increase. Does it say anything about how they are viewing my credit usage? I've charged up and paid down the card three times or so, and for three months I made minimum payments. I plan to pay it down and then charge around 2-3k and pay that down and charge up again. I hear they like if you use the card and pay a bit of interest (I'm lucky in that it has a very low interest rate).
I'd rather not answer the question about increases as I always keep it general on public boards. You really can't be serious. Nobody knows who you are, so to say what bank you are asking about won't hurt you.
So why are you telling us this information??. Who would like to know about your increase if does not know what bank is it... what is the benefits for someone how read this post. think about. You are very selfish!. Aren´t you?
Re: Re: Line increase question. And further, it is impossible to answer whether the increase given is normal or not, without knowing which bank we are talking about as they all have different policies.
Re: Re: Line increase question. Gator, if we asked for your account number or address, then that is too much information. But many people here don't mind sharing banks or creditor because it helps us learn specific but not too specific information. i.e. From my experience, I haven't gotten a 2700 credit limit increase at once. A couple of days ago, I received a 1500 from < Normally, I would say the name, but for this thread I'd rather not for security purposes... j/k > without them pulling a hard inquiry. If I applied for more than that, they would have pulled a hard inquiry which I didn't want.
Re: Re: Line increase question. No, if she told us which bank she uses, we might all just call the bank and say we're "Gatordeb", and ask that all creditlines be transfered to us.
Re: Re: Line increase question. If you say you got an INCREASE in the limit...not saying what bank and what card is NOT worth our time reading it...SO DON'T POST IT!!! If you want to ask a general question about---->"HOW DO YOU GET A CREDIT LIMIT INCREASE"...fine.
Re: Re: Line increase question. Really if your that concerned with security and privacy you should really leave this forum, Cnet is for people who want to share information and need help. If you really want to know call the credit card company and ask them if their credit line increase they gave you is sufficent given your situation. Don't ask questions in an open forum if you aren't willing to contribute. If it's a security or privacy issue I wouldn't even post here, those numbers to the right above your post is your IP Address and where your at......Scary isn't it!! so much for privacy and security! Tac
Re: Re: Line increase question. One of the BEST ways to ask for a CREDIT LIMIT increase is to call and ask if they have any "PRE-APPROVED" limit increases on their computer screen...or if they can transfer you to somone who can answer that question. "NO CREDIT REPORT OR FORGET IT" To me a 7 point "HIT" is not usually worth it...unless the increase is >$10,000 A POSSIBLE DENIAL IS DEFENETLY NOT WORTH A 7 POINT "HIT"
Re: Re: Line increase question. GatorDeb you say......might be a neighbor of mine. She has probably heard horror stories such as "peeling back a URL." (chuckle)
Re: Re: Line increase question. Actually folks, I'm guessing Gatordeb might be one of those internet users who were very apprehensive about using the internet in the first place. With stories about hacking, stolen identity on the internet... just makes it scarier. I guess she just doesn't know what information is too information on the internet. Maybe if she read this board a little more, she'd see that saying what bank you're with doesn't leave you open to getting your identity stolen GatorDeb, as long as you don't give away your full name, address, phone number, and most of all... social security number, you're fine.
Re: Re: Line increase question. Well, if you want stories about stolen identies I can give you mine, since someone did start using my social security number to get at least three cards. I had all three taken care of. I ended up getting my answer - there's no set rule and it varies by bank. I can live with that. Thank you.
Re: Re: Re: Line increase question. Exactly.. no set rule.. that's why it was important to know which bank. By having this info, people would be able to tell you their experiences with the bank.. and an internet nickname plus the name of a bank is not enough information for identity theft. But to each their own...perhaps internet forums aren't for you.
Re: Re: Re: Line increase question. What the heck. It is a Bank of America Platinum. I started with 5k and did some balance transfers and some purchases. I used up the line then paid it off, used it up paid it off, etc. Out of 8 months, I made minimum payments for around 3 of those (and the other months I made payments of 700, 1000, 300, etc). I was told I can ask for another line increase in 4 months. It was raised to 7700 after four minutes on hold on the phone. So does that mean that Bank of America has trust in me? Would someone with a better history have gotten it raised to 10k, or is what I got the norm? Should I be glad of getting an increase period? I now have 3k charged on it and will play it off by August. That means I'll have a $0 balance when I apply for the second line increase. I'm paying off the rest of the debt I have by Feb 2004, which was 24k when I started and it's now 12k, so I don't want to incur any more debt until then. It's actually kind of scary knowing I can get myself $7700 in debt at the drop of a hat, that's why I doubt I'll ever use the line without a good promotion (let's say a 6 month no interest convenience check - I would buy a cheap car with that, for instance, because 7k is something I can pay off in 6 months if I don't buy -anything- else (no DVDs, CDs, clothes, etc)). From now until August, in order to show some usage, I'll charge all my DVD purchases (around $500 for the 4 months), gas ($240/4 months), insurance ($400/4 months), etc. Those are things that are already in my budget so I'll be charging and paying off monthly. I just have this feeling that they'll see me paying it off and not charging-and-not-paying-that-same-cycle purchases and will deny me a second line increase. What I want is a 10k line by September and a 25k line somewhere down the line. Why do I even want a limit that I'll probably never use? When you are 24k in debt and all creditors close your cards and your FICO is in the 400's and you have no job, you remember the feeling. That's why I just want the available credit just to look at it. I love to look at the flyers each week - digital cameras, plasma TVs, laptops, PDAs. There is a $800 PDA that I want and I know I can go and get it right this instant, but that's not my goal. My goal is $0 debt by February 2004. I can look at the line and not use it, which has to be my greatest achievement. One thing I want the line for is in case I lose my job. I was laid of from my first ever job and was extremely fortunate to find my current job, but once you get laid off once there's always that fear in the back of your mind that it can happen again, especially since at my first job I was part of a 6-person team for a multi-billion company that provided Spanish service to cardholders. We thought we wouldn't be let go because we were the only ones that provided the service. The company discontinued the Spanish service. So I take comfort that right now, I could live off the CC for 6 months. I would have a temp job within two weeks doing anything and hopefully a job also, but I feel more secure knowing I can be off of work for 6 months and live off the cash advances. If that ever were to happen, I would of course pay off the CC as soon as I started the new job and that would be priority number one. So what do you think?
Re: Re: Re: Line increase question. I don't know what your reports look like now but you mention some cards being closed by credit grantor. It sounds like your increase was pretty reasonable anyway. Some cards only increase a little at a time but DO increase your limits over time. Sounds like this is what B of A is doing with you. Others may have more to say on this subject.
