How to Increase the Limit

[troysteel]

Hi Guys, I am looking for tips on how to increase the limit on my cards. I've got a platinum card, and just recently got a rewards maximiser to offset the $100k limit on 1.5 points earnings on the platinum. The problem is that they gave a really paltry limit on the maximiser, and I am expecting a lot of big transactions over the next few months. CS is no use as they gave me the standard line about cannot increase limit until 6 months after the card is issued. I am wondering whether to call up the cancellation department and threathen to cancel to get a limit increase(hey, it's worked for everything else but it would sound a bit wierd to cancel because your limits aren't high enough? Has anyone else got any tips on how to increase my limit? My credit is perfect, pay all my bills, no interest, yada, yada, so my account profile shouldn't be an issue.

 

[NM]

My credit is perfect, pay all my bills, no interest, yada, yada, so my account profile shouldn't be an issue.

Your past payment history has veyr little to do with setting credit limits. The credit providers base the credit limit on their understanding of your ability to service the debt. So they are interested in how much other debt you already have (mortgage, other credit cards etc) and how much income you have.

So the way to have a card limit increased in general is to convince them that your financial situation has changed through cancelling another card or paying out your other debts. But this will generally not be considered for a period of time after you have had the card approved.

I doubt threatening to close the card will work, but you can always try. Do you have another card you can close? Perhaps using a balance transfer as a means of showing the old card is closed and hence no longer a potential debt against you.

 

[beardoc]

I have found that CSOs on the Premium Cardholders Line with Amex happy distribute the credit limits around however you wish them. If you have, say, a $25000 limit on your Platinum card and a $5000 limit on your Rewards Maximiser, I have found that they will happily make them $15000 each, or $10000 on the Platinum and $20 on the Rewards Maximiser. In my experience, you just need to call them and "shift" the limit from one card to the other.

Your mileage may vary, though.