Update on credit limits
At the beginning of each month we attempt to raise the limits on each of our credit cards by requesting a credit line increase without performing any hard inquiries on our credit reports. As mentioned in our post on strategies on raising your credit limit, most credit card companies offer an automated option online to request a credit line increase without having to pull your credit report which would otherwise have a negative impact on your credit score.
The reasoning for this strategy is fully explained in our post in October when we began to track our progress. Essentially, now at this point, after transferring the student loan #2 balance using a no-fee 0% offer, we want to quickly beef up our lines of credit in anticipation of transferring the second mortgage using a no-fee, 0% offer next year. By the time we are able to do this the transferred balance of student loan #2 should be fully paid off.
After two months (June, May) of being unable to raise the limits on any of our credit accounts (without an additional hard inquiry) we were granted several increases this month. We received an increase on each of our Citi cards (last round of increases were in April) with the exception of the wife’s Dividend card because it has not been used since paying off a balance transfer back in November 2005.
In addition, we were able to increase the credit limit on the American Express Blue card once again, this time to $18,200 which is, and has consistently been, our largest line of credit. Our last increase for this card came in February. Not bad, considering that the majority of these increases have occurred while carrying a transferred balance at a promotional rate (2.99%) which we are in no hurry to pay down.
Just like last month, I called Discover to request a credit line increase (Discover does not offer an automated option online to do so) and again the request (increase to $7,500) could not be completed without requiring an additional hard inquiry. Seeing as that we’ve begun to wing ourselves from this card, it appears it will remain at $5,000 for the time being. We’ll do one last try next month as we take it out of our current credit card rotation after we make our last payment.
We were also unable to get a credit line increase on the Advanta card. They seem to be much more stringent than other card companies because the last (and only) increase we ever received was back in February. Perhaps it is just due to the fact that it is a business and not a personal credit card.
We are still unable to request a credit line increase for the Fidelity 529 College Rewards because we haven’t had this card long enough (typically you are required to hold the card for at least 6 months before you can begin requesting credit line increases without having to pull your credit report). Since we received this card in February, I would not expect to see anything until around September.
To date our limits on credit card accounts that we are currently using are as follows:
The reasoning for this strategy is fully explained in our post in October when we began to track our progress. Essentially, now at this point, after transferring the student loan #2 balance using a no-fee 0% offer, we want to quickly beef up our lines of credit in anticipation of transferring the second mortgage using a no-fee, 0% offer next year. By the time we are able to do this the transferred balance of student loan #2 should be fully paid off.
After two months (June, May) of being unable to raise the limits on any of our credit accounts (without an additional hard inquiry) we were granted several increases this month. We received an increase on each of our Citi cards (last round of increases were in April) with the exception of the wife’s Dividend card because it has not been used since paying off a balance transfer back in November 2005.
In addition, we were able to increase the credit limit on the American Express Blue card once again, this time to $18,200 which is, and has consistently been, our largest line of credit. Our last increase for this card came in February. Not bad, considering that the majority of these increases have occurred while carrying a transferred balance at a promotional rate (2.99%) which we are in no hurry to pay down.
Just like last month, I called Discover to request a credit line increase (Discover does not offer an automated option online to do so) and again the request (increase to $7,500) could not be completed without requiring an additional hard inquiry. Seeing as that we’ve begun to wing ourselves from this card, it appears it will remain at $5,000 for the time being. We’ll do one last try next month as we take it out of our current credit card rotation after we make our last payment.
We were also unable to get a credit line increase on the Advanta card. They seem to be much more stringent than other card companies because the last (and only) increase we ever received was back in February. Perhaps it is just due to the fact that it is a business and not a personal credit card.
We are still unable to request a credit line increase for the Fidelity 529 College Rewards because we haven’t had this card long enough (typically you are required to hold the card for at least 6 months before you can begin requesting credit line increases without having to pull your credit report). Since we received this card in February, I would not expect to see anything until around September.
To date our limits on credit card accounts that we are currently using are as follows:
- Advanta BusinessCard - $6,500
- American Express Blue - $18,200 (+$1,900)
- Citi Dividend - $11,800 (+$2,000)
- Citi Dividend (wife) - $3,000
- Citi Driver’s Edge - $11,400 (+2,000)
- Citi Simplicity Rewards - $10,250 (+$1,500)
- Discover Restaurant - $5,000
- Fidelity 529 College Rewards - $15,000
posted by Brian at
9:20 AM
2 Comments:
Using credit cards like that is gonna get you into big-time trouble sooner or later, bub. If you do a budget and pay off each of the cards, you'll stop sending cash to the credit card companies at 29 percent. That means more dough to you.
By
DEBTective, at 8/30/2006 1:22 PM
debtective, please do some research before posting comments like this in the future. Thanks.
By
Brian, at 8/31/2006 7:02 AM
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