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credit card limits


bikeman564™

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Every so often my limit gets raised by $2k. I've had the same CC since 1996, and some years ago I called the bank and backed down my limit. Now it creeps up again. Anyone else notice this? I typically use it a few times per month and pay it off which shows good usage.

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5 minutes ago, bikeman564™ said:

Every so often my limit gets raised by $2k. I've had the same CC since 1996, and some years ago I called the bank and backed down my limit. Now it creeps up again. Anyone else notice this? I typically use it a few times per month and pay it off which shows good usage.

I have wondered and asked as much before on here, but in the end, I don't know that the limits matter.  There is surely some relationship between balance & max that someone might use when looking for a separate loan (new mortgage maybe?), but I'm not sure if that is a real world impact or just a hypothetical one for most of us.

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Just now, Razors Edge said:

I have wondered and asked as much before on here, but in the end, I don't know that the limits matter.  There is surely some relationship between balance & max that someone might use when looking for a separate loan (new mortgage maybe?), but I'm not sure if that is a real world impact or just a hypothetical one for most of us.

I'm not looking at it from a credit impact, I was just wondering if anyone else seen their limit mysteriously increase :whistle:

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1 minute ago, bikeman564™ said:

I'm not looking at it from a credit impact, I was just wondering if anyone else seen their limit mysteriously increase :whistle:

Good question.  I never look at the statement beyond the individual charges & credits listed so I might not see if the limit changes.  I do know that I regularly get mail from the one of the cards that I have been "approved" for a credit increase, to which I toss it in the shredder.  

I tried to put my Accord on my CC way back in 2003 when I bought it, and the DEALERSHIP said no (the CC said "sure").  Fuckers!  I think they allowed us to put $2k or something of the balance on the CC and I wrote a check for the rest, and I guess 2,000 FF miles are better than zero, but I wanted 20k miles ?

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1 hour ago, bikeman564™ said:

Every so often my limit gets raised by $2k. I've had the same CC since 1996, and some years ago I called the bank and backed down my limit. Now it creeps up again. Anyone else notice this? I typically use it a few times per month and pay it off which shows good usage.

My credit cards - six no-annual-fee ones to max. my cash-back - don't automatically raise my credit limit but sometimes I get a letter or a window pops-up when I go to my online page telling me I'm eligible to raise my limit.  I always decline and generally keep each one low, in the $2500 - $7500 range.  When I did a cruise in 2017 and wanted to charge it to a 2% cash-back card, I had no trouble instantly raising my limit, so I figure I might as well keep them low to avoid anything serious in terms of fraudulent use.

My cards:

1) Citi Double Cash Mastercard: 2% cash-back on everything. This is my most-used and fall-back card when others don't offer more.

2) Chase Freedom Visa: 5% cash-back on quarterly rotating categories (gasoline and drugstores, Jan-Mar.), 1% otherwise.

3) Discover it Card: 5% cash-back in quarterly rotating categories (supermarkets Jan-Mar, gasoline Apr-Jun, restaurants Jul-Sep), 1% otherwise.

4) Citi Costco Visa: 4% cash-back at Costco and standalone (Exxon. etc.) gas stations, 3% at restaurants or bar & restaurants, 2% for Costco merchandise.

5) American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card: 3% cash-back at supermarkets, 1% otherwise

6) Amazon Store Card: 5% cash-back for Amazon Purchases - I don't actually carry this card in my wallet since I only use it at Amazon online.

I save $600-$900/yr by maxing my cash-back rewards, using the right one at the right time and place. I carry a cheat-sheet folded-up in my wallet that my Credit Union's manager photocopied to show to her coworkers. It partially looks like this where some of the old quarterly rewards are retained since some of the cards don't announce quarterly or new rewards until they're ready to begin and I want to keep them in mind:

1443777955_Cash-backcheatsheetexampleFeb_2019.JPG.2d907f941b957c27e1449b7396b9f4eb.JPG

It pays more to take your cash-back as statement credits, NOT to make purchases. For example, if you use your Discover cash-back to purchase stuff on Amazon, you don't get any cash-back for that part of the purchase.  So, if you had $40 in cash-back rewards from Discover and bought $40 worth of Amazon stuff with it, you'd pay $0 out-of-pocket.  But, if you bought $40 with the Amazon Store card you'd pay $38 (5% cash-back) and then you'd reduce you next Discover statement by $40 with the cash back, which would give you back a net $2.  You can set it up so the Discover and Amazon Store Cards automatically subtract your cash-back rewards from your next statement.  The other cards generally require a $20 to $25 minimum to claim cash-back and then you can apply it to your statement.

 

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I think when a couple of my cards were just a few years old, they raised my limit.  I supposed at the time that they were happy with my usage and payment record.  Other than that, my limits have remained pretty steady for the last 20 years or so. 

Limits don't really concern me.  I pay mine off each month.   

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I am sadly in a case where I have a lot of debt build up on credit cards. Much more than I feel comfortable with and my old lady isn't back to work yet.  And they're high limits.  So I've literally got the next 2 years to eliminate it and now I need a new deck.  Ugh. When it rains it pours.  I hate debt and am seldom in it.  But I am now so I deal with it.

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12 hours ago, Dottles said:

I am sadly in a case where I have a lot of debt build up on credit cards. Much more than I feel comfortable with and my old lady isn't back to work yet.  And they're high limits.  So I've literally got the next 2 years to eliminate it and now I need a new deck.  Ugh. When it rains it pours.  I hate debt and am seldom in it.  But I am now so I deal with it.

I've been there.  With credit card interest rates ridiculously high today, do everything you can to limit your spending so it will take less time to pay it all off when your household income is back to normal.

I called the credit card companies and asked for lower rates when I had to carry a balance on my cards and all but one gave me at least a six-month period with low interest, but that was back when the lowest ratess were lower than now.  Still, it's worth a shot.

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I don’t use credit cards. I always have a couple with no annual fee just in case. My bank talked me into a 12% card with cash back and $100 bonus for signing up. I had to spend $1,000 to get the $100. I bought gas and groceries until I spent the $1000, I would transfer the money the same day from my phone to make sure there was never an interest charge. I don’t enjoy playing those games so once I got my $100 I stopped using the card. I still have it. 

I also have a card a really cute girl suckered me into. I was buying something at old navy and paid with my debit card. She asked me if I had their rewards card. I said I didn’t. She said if I signed up for one today I would get 20% off today’s purchase. I gave her my information but my purchase never appeared on my bank account. A month later I got a credit card bill for the purchase minus the 20%. And two shiny new credit cards which I have never used. It was a dirty trick but she was so cute I let her get away with it. I don’t carry that card but I might still have it in a desk drawer.

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4 hours ago, MickinMD said:

I've been there.  With credit card interest rates ridiculously high today, do everything you can to limit your spending so it will take less time to pay it all off when your household income is back to normal.

I called the credit card companies and asked for lower rates when I had to carry a balance on my cards and all but one gave me at least a six-month period with low interest, but that was back when the lowest ratess were lower than now.  Still, it's worth a shot.

Good advice.  We just got slammed in 2018 with some bad things and we wanted to upgrade the house.  Had to actually.  Like this rotten deck that we thought we'd be able to get another year out of but that's not going to happen.  Unfortunately that deck is the main entrance  to the house as well as the only practical entrance.  It's not safe now, and in the event we need to sell, it definitely needs to be replaced. So we take my bonus money and replace it now.

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4 hours ago, Wilbur said:

If you are a proven low risk, they will give you the ability to borrow more.  The higher your card limits, the less you can borrow elsewhere.  If you run your cards up, they will increase your limit, provided that limit remains within your ability to service the debt. 

I've got a ridiculously low rate and a very high limit.  I tried one time to get a car loan and they pushed it back at me within 5 minutes saying my credit card offered a better rate.  I had forgotten my limit was so big.  So sure enough, I went out and bought a new car on it.  When my wife was working, we had that paid off within a year and that the total amount of interest was ridiculously small.  

But now my wife is in between jobs and the rate I can pay it back is --- ugh.  I hope she can find something soon. When she works, it's all gravy. And I don't stress. Stress my be a strong word but there is concern there.

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20 hours ago, Dottles said:

I am sadly in a case where I have a lot of debt build up on credit cards. Much more than I feel comfortable with and my old lady isn't back to work yet.  And they're high limits.  So I've literally got the next 2 years to eliminate it and now I need a new deck.  Ugh. When it rains it pours.  I hate debt and am seldom in it.  But I am now so I deal with it.

Need a deck or want a deck? Can you mitigate the dangers, by a few small repairs now and then do the gigantic job when you have real scratch for it.

You people would laugh at the squalor we dealt with as we went through the home.  It was hard though. One of my roughest memories was walking planks when we had no subfloor for a short while.  We were literally tearing up our home around us.  But we did it all with cash.  Some may not have the constitution to deal with it.  We fought a little bit.  It was hard.

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