Although a credit limit increase is generally good for your credit, requesting one could temporarily ding your score. That's because credit card issuers will sometimes perform a hard pull on your credit to verify you meet their standards for the higher limit.
Oftentimes, a limit increase request will trigger a hard pull on your credit report. This can hurt your credit, especially if you have a short credit history. If you call your credit card issuer, you can ask whether a hard inquiry will be initiated. Sometimes you can take a smaller increase and forgo the pull.
Once you've made a request, you should generally wait 6-12 months before submitting another. You can ask for another credit limit increase earlier if your financial situation changes, though. For instance, receiving a raise from your job is a great time to ask for an increase since you'll have more money to spend.
A high-limit credit card typically comes with a credit line between $5,000 to $10,000 (and some even go beyond $10,000). You're more likely to have a higher credit limit if you have good or excellent credit.
One of the most popular reasons for accepting a credit limit increase is to improve your credit score. Generally, the more credit you have available the higher your credit score, if you maintain a healthy credit utilization rate.
Ask the card company to raise your credit limit
They also recommend waiting at least six months after you received the credit card and asking for no more than a 10% to 25% increase. Asking for more than 25% might raise questions about your intentions.
Getting declined for a credit limit increase might impact your credit scores. Whether it does depends on if the card issuer reviews your credit report with a hard or soft inquiry before making their decision. If it's a soft inquiry, your credit scores won't be affected at all.
A good guideline is the 30% rule: Use no more than 30% of your credit limit to keep your debt-to-credit ratio strong. Staying under 10% is even better. In a real-life budget, the 30% rule works like this: If you have a card with a $1,000 credit limit, it's best not to have more than a $300 balance at any time.
If you've avoided credit cards until now, a $500 limit (or something similar) is the perfect way to get your feet wet. Restricting yourself to a lower limit can be a great, low-pressure way to get started with credit cards.
Carrying a balance does not help your credit score, so it's always best to pay your balance in full each month. The impact of not doing paying in full each month depends on how large of a balance you're carrying compared to your credit limit.
The credit limit you can get with a 750 credit score is likely in the $1,000-$15,000 range, but a higher limit is possible. The reason for the big range is that credit limits aren't solely determined by your credit score.
In general, you could get approved for a credit card with a $20,000 limit if you have excellent credit, a lot of income, and very little debt.
A good credit limit is above $30,000, as that is the average credit card limit, according to Experian. To get a credit limit this high, you typically need an excellent credit score, a high income and little to no existing debt.
Keep your balance below 30% of your credit limit
A good rule of thumb is to avoid spending more than 30% of your credit limit, to keep your utilization low. For example, on a card with a $200 credit limit, do not carry more than a $60 balance at any time.
A good rule of thumb is to keep your credit utilization under 30 percent. This means that if you have $10,000 in available credit, you don't ever want your balances to go over $3,000. If your balance exceeds the 30 percent ratio, try to pay it off as soon as possible; otherwise, your credit score may suffer.
THUMBS UP = A $1,000 credit limit means you're using 30% THUMBS DOWN = A $500 credit limit means you're using 60% It's always a good idea to keep your credit card balance as low as possible in relation to your credit limit.
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), experts recommend keeping your credit utilization below 30% of your total available credit. If a high utilization rate is hurting your scores, you may see your scores increase once a lower balance or higher credit limit is reported.