is it really because of "good behavior" as they say... or is it just to try to make you spend more money?

Quote :

"Dear MATTHEW GRONKE: We are pleased to inform you that we have raised the credit line of your Citi(R) Platinum Select(R) account to $3,080. This increase was a result of our ongoing credit review program. We wanted to acknowledge the responsible way you have maintained your account. Thank you for being a Citi Platinum Select customer."

1/6/2007 10:58:28 PM

they want you to spend more money.

1/6/2007 11:02:08 PM

So they lied to me?

1/6/2007 11:02:29 PM

yes

1/6/2007 11:04:23 PM

haahahahahahaha they raised it to 3k??


damn

1/6/2007 11:07:21 PM

What's with the extra $80? That's a weird credit limit.

1/6/2007 11:07:32 PM

the first day i got a credit card i registered my online account and clicked on the raise my limit button just to see what they asked and what not. It went to a screen that said my limit was raised like another 800

1/7/2007 3:49:44 AM

I think its a little of both. They do hope you spend more money when they raise your limit, but at the same time they are more likely to raise it if you have a good record of paying your debt. I seldomly use my credit cards, and I always pay them off. I never get anywhere near my limit, but I still receive rate increases.

1/7/2007 9:32:14 AM

i hope mine isnt raised, i accidentally got a $50k limit card a few months ago

1/7/2007 11:30:52 AM

[Edited on January 7, 2007 at 12:01 PM. Reason : Kinda obvious]

1/7/2007 11:50:50 AM

raised to 3K? haha

edit: yea i have a citibank credit card too..every few months you can hit the "request credit line increase" and it'll let you raise your limit a thousand or two..or three. kinda cool. i've went from $1100 to like $15K just by hitting that button and it doing it automatically.

[Edited on January 7, 2007 at 1:19 PM. Reason : asdf]

1/7/2007 1:18:01 PM

mine gets automatically raised by $500 every 3 months, even though I pay my entire bill every month. they probably do it to encourage you to use their card solely for all your purchases instead of multiple cards, in hopes that at some point you'll need to carry a line of credit with them and they can make higher interest fees.

1/7/2007 2:50:16 PM

my card has no limit
amex ftw

1/7/2007 3:19:02 PM

how does that work? do they charge x1 interest for the first y amount, then x2 interest for the next y2 amount, etc?

1/7/2007 5:42:49 PM

you have to pay off your AMEX card every month or else you get stuck with a ridiculous fee. it's not supposed to be used as a true credit card IIRC.

1/7/2007 7:46:04 PM

nm

[Edited on January 7, 2007 at 9:35 PM. Reason : a]

1/7/2007 9:35:09 PM

fyi, credit companies are in the business of having customers who carry a balance. they actually lose money if you pay off your balance every month.

1/8/2007 1:53:33 AM

Credit card companies make substantial money from all the stores who take their credit card (Amex being the most costly for stores to take). Almost every Amex card your not allowed to carry a balance so my guess is their still making money just off the stores. That being said they increase your limit a lot because they want you to use their card exclusively, especially for large purchases which you may need to carry a balance on.

1/8/2007 2:17:53 AM

^^That is not true, since CC companies make money everything you USE your card (regardless of whether you pay it off in full every month or not)


^^^^ You are referring to AmEx charge cards, but they also offer regular credit cards where you have a limit, pay a regular interest rate, etc.

1/8/2007 10:07:27 AM

Quote :

"Congratulations! Your request to increase your credit line to $5000 has been approved and will be ready to use in 15 minutes"

hahahahahahahahahaha

1/8/2007 10:23:12 AM

It supposedly doesnt look good on your credit report to have a large credit limit, because that's potential money you can be in debt. Just like its not good to have alot of open credit cards.

1/8/2007 10:57:17 AM

that's not really true.


The biggest factor that creditors look at is debt/credit ratio. So the more credit you have available, the lower that percentage, the more likely they are to give you credit.

The only time this can be counted as a negative is when you're shopping for a mortgage, they might ask you to close some of your accounts.

It will NOT affect your credit score negatively.

1/8/2007 12:42:18 PM

thats not true!!!!

Ok I just wanted to say that

1/8/2007 12:49:00 PM

yeah, it's all about percentages

who would you rather loan money to

somebody that has all of their accounts maxed

or someone that has lots of available credit but isn't using it

1/8/2007 2:39:37 PM

I've noticed that if I spend a lot (over $1,000) and pay it off... they tend to raise my credit more often than if I just spend a little (under $100) and pay it off.

So, I guess it's a mixture of both "good behavior" and "wanting you to spend more money"

1/8/2007 3:01:10 PM

often they charge you for the increase

1/8/2007 4:21:21 PM

Dave Ramsey says "Fuck Credit Cards"

I agree, but I do keep a rewards credit card because I pay off my balance each month.

1/8/2007 4:26:04 PM

saying "Fuck Credit Cards" is incredibly stupid.

There are tons of freebies up for grabs (much better ones than the free t-shirts they offer on campus).

Anytime I fly nowadays, it's free.
Whenever I buy electronics, it's (usually) free.
My week long vacation to Tahiti this summer will be completely free as well.


I love credit cards, couldn't live w/o them.

1/9/2007 10:09:46 AM

mine just went to $10,000 now

AMEX rules

2/17/2007 7:47:43 PM

They just want you to spend more money. Hell, these companies will issue credit cards to people in bankrupcty, so I doubt raising your credit line has a lot to do with you being a good credit risk.

2/17/2007 8:48:12 PM

can you request to have your limit raised?

2/18/2007 12:10:04 AM

yes

2/18/2007 12:13:12 AM

Quote :

"saying "Fuck Credit Cards" is incredibly stupid."

That's Dave Ramsey for you...

2/18/2007 12:17:31 AM

Quote :

"I love credit cards, couldn't live w/o them."

that's pretty sad

2/19/2007 7:36:25 PM

19.80% APR here... but i pay purchases off within 25 days so i don't get charged

2/20/2007 10:53:41 PM

likewise

2/20/2007 11:15:31 PM

get the facts about your credit score:
http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/

2/20/2007 11:17:01 PM

Quote :

"mine just went to $10,000 now AMEX rules "

yeah amex green is pretty cool, i just called and got mine raised to 5000, all i have to do is spend 5000 then pay it off then they keep raising it by 2500 every month.

2/20/2007 11:26:15 PM

First, if you carry over thirty percent of your limit on a credit card, it will negatively effect your credit report--believe it. I will not debate this; it is a fact.

Second, as an undergraduate business major, I know that you should be more concerned with EAR (Effective Annual [Interest] Rate) than APR. The EAR is what you actually pay--or earn--on the principal. After all, the interest on your credit card is compounded monthly--not annually.

Example:

"Consider a stated annual rate of 10%. Compounded yearly, this rate will turn $1000 into $1100. However, if compounding occurs monthly, $1000 would grow to $1104.70 by the end of the year, rendering an effective annual interest rate of 10.47%. Basically the effective annual rate is the annual rate of interest that accounts for the effect of compounding" <http://www.investopedia.com/>.

[Edited on February 20, 2007 at 11:49 PM. Reason : .]

2/20/2007 11:46:58 PM

Quote :

"Quote : "I love credit cards, couldn't live w/o them." that's pretty sad "

OK, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but CCs have done wonderful things for me. I recently bought a new car with only $2000 down and didn't pay a single cent of interest. I was able to negotiate a better price for the car, since the dealer was getting me to finance at an ass-raping 6.5% interest rate. I then balance transferred the entire amount of the loan at 0% on a credit card. holla!

CCs = free money.

2/21/2007 11:49:47 AM

Cash back rewards in the house.

2/21/2007 12:15:47 PM

^ does that really work. ive hear 5% cash back but i just didnt believe it.

2/21/2007 12:17:11 PM

Thats only for gas and groceries, its like 1% on everything else. I have had my card since Nov 05 and have gotten back roughly $160. Much better than getting nothing and not building credit.

2/21/2007 12:22:45 PM

FYI, I get 5% on:

gas
groceries
drugstores
bookstores
restaurants/bars
utilities
computer stores (best buy, circuit city, staples. office depot, etc)
Amazon.com
Shipping (FedEx, UPS)
record stores
movies
Airline tickets

all from credit cards.

2/21/2007 12:49:50 PM

what is your cap on 5% back - $2-300

most of the cards that give % back are good if you don't charge enough to reap the larger rewards that other cards offer

2/21/2007 12:51:55 PM

$300 on most of my 5% cards. I have never run into problems with the cap though, since I've got so many cards to distribute my spending across.

One of my cards is 5% in the form of gift cards (Citi's ThankYou network). It doesn't have a cap at all, which is nice b/c it's the one I use the most (restaurants/movies/amazon/music).

AmEx Blue Cash is a great card if you spend a ton of money each year, but I don't spend nearly enough to make that worthwhile.

2/21/2007 1:59:48 PM

^I do, whats up with AMEX blue, i could do all my business spending on it, roughly $100,000 a month, i need a good card for benefits.

2/21/2007 7:11:31 PM

they probably have something about it on the Amex site....

2/22/2007 12:48:03 PM

Quote :

"OK, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but CCs have done wonderful things for me. I recently bought a new car with only $2000 down and didn't pay a single cent of interest. I was able to negotiate a better price for the car, since the dealer was getting me to finance at an ass-raping 6.5% interest rate. I then balance transferred the entire amount of the loan at 0% on a credit card. holla!"

how much extra do you have to pay the CC company for the car? (the apr, that is)

2/22/2007 6:58:38 PM

thinking you are getting cash back on a credit card for purchasing something is like getting excited about a whopping tax return

actually it's worse

2/22/2007 7:01:26 PM