LARGE credit lines: how & where did you get unsec credit lines > $25K? Employee input wanted! Updated 2/19/08

EDIT: if you would like to ASK QUESTIONS or TALK STRATEGY about making smaller lines larger, please do so here

There are considerable advantages to having a very high limit on one's credit cards or lines of credit. They include:

A. more buying or balance transfer power

B. credit scores will be higher because % utilization of existing limits will be lower

C. other higher limits and line increases will generally be more readily approved, given that your report shows others have trusted you with higher lines. Institutions that normally require income documentation have been known to forgo requiring it when the applicant's (penfed.org, for example) forgo this entirely once they pulled our credit and saw the presence of several high-limit lines on it.)

Many credit card/LOC issuers will not extend credit lines above $25-30,000 under typical circumstances. They might not issue such lines at all, or require proof of very high income or assets (via tax returns, financial statements, etc.) in order to exceed that level. For example, AMEX, Citibank, Discover, and Farm Bureau Bank have all cited the $25K figure at one time or another, with Chase more recently citing $30K.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss where and how we have obtained or can obtain large UNSECURED credit lines like these. If you or those who finances you are privy to have such lines, please list your >$25,000 limits from highest to lowest, including issuer, limit, and any info you might have concerning how the limit was obtained.

If you are a bank or cc employee, or otherwise have INFORMED knowledge of how folks are being granted large lines, please include those also. Brief observations about policies of credit issuers are welcome here, but please keep discussion of those issuers in seperate threads.

Please keep discussion on topic. This thread is designed for reporting our experiences, in as much detail as possible. Please post questions, theories, etc. that are not directly responsive to the posts here in other threads.

In general, our own largest lines were all obtained in one of three ways: (1) providing financial statements, (2) line consolidation, or (3) large BT requests upon opening the card. While #1 is of course dependent on income (unless one lies, something I don't recommend), 2 and 3 are available to just about anyone who plans out a strategy over a longer period (I'd say a year or greater.) Going forward into evolving "credit crunch" environment that began unfolding in late 2007, it's not clear how well these tactics will fare, especially line consolidation. Data points members can add about such info would likely be especially helpful to readers.

Edit updated 3/31/04 for AMEX Costco Business Captial line increase.

Edit updated 7/12/04 for Wells Fargo card, US Bank line, and Chase line increase. Added request to keep posts restricted to experiences and questions directly responsive to same.

Edit updated 5/1/05 for miscellaneous increases.

Edit updated 7/3/05 for the bump on Chase and other changes.

Edit updated 12/17/05 for AMEX consolidation, Penfed cards, Principal bank card, CapOne auto increase, and other changes.

Edit updated 07/16/06 for AMEX cards and consolidation, BofA Power Rewards, CitiBusiness PremierPass Card, other updates, and a request for input from bankers and other professionals.

Edit updated 07/23/06 to link to the "So you want higher credit limits?" thread into the OP.

Edit updated 02/19/08 with new links and other misc changes.

Good idea for a thread, Dave.

I've only got one open unsecured line greater than $25,000. It's a First USA Visa that was opened originally in July 1997 with a $22,500 line. I did a low-rate balance transfer for the full amount almost immediately. They raised my limit by $5k the first statement and have been raising it pretty regularly on an ongoing basis. It now stands at $36,300.

[edit: added dates]

If you want a high credit card limit, I recommend opening a credit card account with MBNA. I opened my first account with them when I was in college (1991), and they just kept automatically raising the limit to the ridiculous level my card is now at ($42k).

Until very recently, my MBNA card has been a secondary card that I've used sparingly, so it wasn't raised due to heavy purchase activity...

FWIW, the limit was $5k in 1993, $15k in 1994, $20k in 1996, $30k in 1998, and $40k sometime in 1999-2000. I never asked for a boost in my credit limit once and some of the largest increses occurred when I hadn't used this particular card for months at a time.

Thanks zender, LIR, and polaris.

Very interesting that MBNA has given 2 of you such mammoth lines just though your having your account open with them for a long time. I wish I hadn't closed my original line with them years ago.


DWJoe, I'm 100% certain that this helps with SEVERAL CC issuers--a few have even told me this.

Example: My wife, with a very similar credit profile to mine, applied for a Cap1 in early 2002 without a BT. She got a $7K line. Two months later, I applied for two Cap1 offers, doing $19,500 BTs each time. BOTH were approved, at $20K each.

This makes sense when one considers that they're hoping you'll keep paying interest to them on the BT, which is nice income stream for them.

MBNA (joint)- $51,000 from 3 account consolidations (not currently used), unfortunately a joint account with spouse so double the FICO beating if utilizing all for a BT. Used it before for a good >1 yr free 0% BT offer. Now infrequent 0% BT offers are shorter term and have max fees of approx $250.

AMEX Blue Cash (spouse's)- $31,500... opened last month with initial CL of $15K, tried to move $24K CL from Delta AMEX which should have given me $39K on AMEX Blue but they haven't quite gotten it right yet, though they removed that much from the Delta card. Apparently AMEX can't reallocate lines quite as easily when they exceed $30K I was told. AMEX CS has been a bit of a PITA on both this and now trying to just cancel the Delta AMEX.

AMEX Starwood (mine)- $29,600, from CL increases only I believe. Had about $35K CL , but moved some out to Delta and Hilton. Going to try to cancel this Delta card and reallocate back to Starwood.

Found Citi to not be as generous with CLs. But for whatever reason they seem to be somewhat more generous with their Universal cards.

Another MBNA. I got a University card through them in 1993. They kept raising the LOC to 37,100.

Just recently called AMEX Optima to inquire about getting a CL Increase. Back in 97, My initial CL was 4K-5K. Last year through balance xfers, I got it to 10,800. AMEX Optima asked for my household income including rental Income ( this helped ! ). CL now $25,000. I did not need to provide any Income Documentation..


Question ?

What other forms of Income Documentation will credit card companies take ( If not available at the time of applying )other than W-2's, Tax Returns, Rental Agreements ?

Has any provided and/or successfully provided copies of cashed checks, front and back, to document for Rental Income ? Would this be considered a valid way to provide Inc Doc ?
Many banks and credit unions let you view copies of cashed checks online. In this case, cashed checks to the various Lenders. I am just thinking of a quick way to get this info over to the credit card companies. You can either Scan the Copies, FAX, or mail the info immediately from your desktop. ! This can be done when on the phone with a CSR.

DaveHanson said:

<< ...interesting that MBNA has given 2 of you such mammoth lines just though your having your account open with them for a long time. I wish I hadn't closed my original line with them... >>

I second that sentiment Dave. I also closed not one, but two lines with MBNA over the last several years. One with a $25 CL and the other was I believe at $15k. I opened a new line early this year and it's been recently increased to $24,500 from a starting point of $20k. That large opening CL resulted from an immediate BT.

Also, in my experience, AMEX will sends the BT checks "with the opportunity to increase your credit line dollar for dollar up to $10k" on credit lines that are UNDER $10k. When my Hilton Hhonors AMEX card was $16000, I didnt received the CL increase BT offers, but when I moved about half the credit line to my Cash Rebate card, then I got the offer on the Hilton card to bring itup to about $18k...


Has AMEX offered the BT checks which would increase a credit line ABOVE $20k?

I'd like to be able to consolidate all the new CLs onto an older card, thus keeping the long average account age and a high CL being reported, but the only problem is that the older cards werent rewards cards, whereas the newly opened ones are the better cards....


It sounds like theres a definite advantage to consolidating AMEX CLs, since when one line gets low, they seem to quickly offer to increase it with a BT! Given recent AMEX threads and the requests for docs, though, Im hesitant to combine my AMEX limits since all are now near $20k.

tooshy said:

<< with all due respects to OP, what is the advantage of having a higher credit line except to achieve a higher credit score? Sometimes having too much credit available may count against you when applying for collateralized loans. I guess my point is if you don't need it perhaps don't get it. >>

The people who have accumulated credit most agressively this forum have largely proven that "too much available credit" has NOT impeded them in any way. Surely some people have been denied loans based on this factor, but its usually in conjunction with other circumstances (low income, actual debt carried on those lines, etc).

OP's Item "C" in his first post is probably the biggest benefit - if a lender sees that several creditors have "trusted" them with 20-40k lines, you will be viewed as a premier applicant and it may be easier to breeze through qualification for other loans....of course, that only benefits those who actively use credit, for investment purposes, building businesses, and such...

"Joe American" ,whose only need for credit is buying a car and a house (and not needing credit again till he moves or buys a new car) neednt concern himself with these strategies.

Can any comment on how easy/diffult it is to consolidate cards at First USA/Bank One?

Only one card for me to talk about in this thread:

AMEX Platinum Business Card w/ $100,000 Limit: Originally an AMEX Gold Card with a $10,000 CL. Got invited and accepted to the Platinum. Kept charging 5 figures monthly on this card. Eventually, the CL raised somewhere around $25,000. Then it kepts going up and up. Finally, there was this point where I needed to charge $150,000 this one month to take advantage of the Membership Reward Points, and couldn't unless I wired them some money.. so I did. After that, I think the trust was there, and my CL was raised to the max the card would allow.

SIS wrote,

<< It sounds like there's a definite advantage to consolidating AMEX CLs, since when one line gets low, they seem to quickly offer to increase it with a BT! >>

I agree.

<< Given recent AMEX threads and the requests for docs, though, Im hesitant to combine my AMEX limits since all are now near $20k. >>

Your point is well taken, but I'm not overly worried about this happening. It looks like the scrutiny some received was tied to particular factors, like an abundance of BVG claims. In any case, I've had no problems since requesting that the extra $20K be moved to the Cash Rebate card.


tooshy wrote,

<< what is the advantage of having a higher credit line except to achieve a higher credit score? >>

See the OP. You're more likely to have higher limits approved, giving you a better shot at promotional offers and less damage to a credit rating when you want to exploit them. SIS is right that Joe American won't be as effected...but then again, wouldn't he benefit from a high score? And as discussed many times, in the very unlikely event a loan were denied to him on the basis of too much unsecured credit, he could (a) find a lender who'd see his responsible use of that much credit as a plus, or (b) simply close down some of the lines.

Keep in mind that while LONG rates are going up, SHORT rates might stay where they are for awhile yet. Greenspan still thinks risks of deflation outweigh inflation, and given how anxious he is to curry favor with GWB, I don't expect rates to jump much if at all before Nov 2004.


Azurik, congrats on the high limit. That business line won't help you in most of the ways discussed here, since it won't report on your personal credit. OTOH, it will beef up the standing of your business credit.

tooshy: I think that higher CC limits can often HELP you get loans these days, rather than hurt.

Aside from obvious reason (boosting a credit score), many lenders--especially of the online and low-overhead variety--seem willing to suppose that if you have several high-limit cards, you've proven that you have sufficient resources (and financial responsibility) to pay the loan.

While I don't know of anyone with lending authority who has actually gone on record with this, I do know that on 2 occasions in the past two years, I haven't even been asked for income documentation, where friends and associates were asked (and sometimes rejected as a result). Since all they had was my full credit report (and in one case my self-disclosed financials, without supporting documents), I'm assuming that they decided it wasn't needed.

<< I don't know of any recent experience to prove contrary so I will defer to our forum experts, DH and SIS >>

LOL. This is one area where I feel I've HAD to become something of an expert--because my investment and business endeavors were stymied whenever I didn't study the prevailing rules closely. My credit score has dropped for all kinds of silly reasons in the past 4 years--once to 570!--and I want to make sure that I can pull together real estate deals, open new accounts, and even make judicious use of 0% BT offers without EVER having that happen again!

First USA Visa, credit limit of $43,900. Opened in 1990 or so. They have steadily increased this credit limit over the years even though I have never requested an increase, used a balance transfer, or had a balance over about $5,000.

One exception to the #4 reason added by SIS, in my experience, is Capital One.
I have been routinely charging ~90% of the credit line on that card and never got any automatic CL bumps. I've had this card for >5 years and a credit history longer than that.
I need to add that I never asked for any increases either.

On another note, similar to DH's reason #3, department stores usually are willing to give higer CL on their store cards if you apply when making a large purchase. Some stores have their own brand card, which are usually not useful for the "strategies", but many stores (such as Sears) are offering VISA or MC that may be of some use.

DaveHanson said:

<< SIS wrote,

<< It sounds like there's a definite advantage to consolidating AMEX CLs, since when one line gets low, they seem to quickly offer to increase it with a BT!Given recent AMEX threads and the requests for docs, though, Im hesitant to combine my AMEX limits since all are now near $20k. >>

Your point is well taken, but I'm not overly worried about this happening. It looks like the scrutiny some received was tied to particular factors, like an abundance of BVG claims. In any case, I've had no problems since requesting that the extra $20K be moved to the Cash Rebate card.
. >>

Given the numerous problems noted by FW members, I now recommend one does NOT attempt consolidating/shifting of AMEX Lines, and further recommend that AMEX users who dont normally have a credit limit over $20k do NOT attempt to "create" one through a BT offer or consolidation.

exactly, with AMEX's current procedures I think its now best to very cautious with them....

SUCKISSTAPLES said:

<< SUCKISSTAPLES said:

<< exactly, with AMEX's current procedures I think its now best to very cautious with them.... >>

of course, i havent listened to my own advice and just applied for 3 new AMEX cards! >>

I'll bite, which AMEX cards?

My wife tried at least 3 times to close and consolidate 2 Citi Professional cards, and was told the accounts were 'incompatible' each time. Now if 2 cards of the same product can't be combined I'm skeptical that any are. But these things change. Consensus here was they weren't allowing any transfers of credit lines among personal cards without consolidation and we were both able to do it subsequently.

If they were my lines I probably would have called another 3 times before giving up, but getting wifey to call these people is like pulling teeth. I did try just calling and saying I was her, which worked, but with the CSRs snickering and saying, 'sure Harriet, anything you say' in the most sarcastic voice available.