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A high credit limit can help you attain a higher FICO score. Asking for credit limit increases every six months will help reduce your debt ratio and make fertile ground for a better credit score. A credit limit is the maximum allowable money a creditor will allow you to borrow. It is based on how much your credit company views your creditworthiness. When you ask for higher limits and the update is made with the credit bureaus, you are essentially asking to build your creditworthiness. One factor to consider is that when you do this, 90% of the time the creditor will pull an inquiry. Inquiries count against your credit score, but typically only a few points and can sometimes be seen on the credit report for two years but only count against your score for one year.
You might be thinking, Why would I want to do something that will lower my credit score? Well as business and money usually go, you have to spend a little if you want a lot. Thats what you would be doing. An inquiry might cost you a few points against your score, but a higher credit limit will increase your score by decreasing your debt ratio.
However, you want to make sure that you can get a higher limit. You can do this by staying on top of your payments and maintaining your balances as low as possible below 10% is ideal. If you have high debt and a few late payments, you most likely will not get that higher limit. If your credit card balance is at 75% of your maximum limit, you should try to lower that debt to 50%, 25% or 10% depending on how much you can afford.
Once you have asked for that higher credit limit, you must make sure that it is reported to the credit bureaus. Some credit card companies like Citi Bank often do not report credit limits because they do not want competitors to find out how much credit they extend to their customers. Upon not finding a limit, the credit scoring software will default to the high credit which is the highest balance within the last 13 months.
If you had maxed out your credit card six months prior, your score will not be affected by the limit not being reported. However, if you have a limit of $10,000 and the highest amount you spent on any given month for the last 13 months was $4,000, then your score sees the latter number as your limit. If you had spent $2,000 the following month and your limit was reported you would be at 20% debt utilization. But if the limit was not reported, the credit scoring model sees that you spent $2000 out of a $4000 limit putting you at 50% debt utilization. Therefore, you want to make sure your credit card companies report your limits and any higher limits to the credit bureaus as you receive them otherwise you will not get the benefit of a high limit to low debt ratio.