Comments on: How To Raise Your Credit Limit Without a Hard Inquiry

By: Sean @ Financial Scams

Sean @ Financial Scams — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:56:14 +0000

A single hard inquiry doesn’t necessarily have an impact on your credit score. It’s a group of hard inquiries in a short period of time that causes the drop.

By: Settle debt

Settle debt — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:06:26 +0000

Just be careful – this trick works when you are a newish customer, mainly because lender experience shows that if you raise the credit limits of new customers, they tend to be very grateful, do it again, and gradually the debt creeps up (though initially the customer never utilizes more than 60%).

It’s only later, when you have a lot of debt, that you start struggling – and then find the same helpful lenders turn mean.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the best advice to give to people starting out is to simply not accrue the debt in the first place. Don’t fixate so much on credit scores and look at the big picture – how much the debt is costing. If you are paying interest on the debt, you have too much debt. Just a bit of advice from someone who has been around the block a bit.
.-= Settle debtÂ´s last blog ..Comment by =-.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:31:25 +0000

@LeanLifeCoach, I didn’t get to use a simulator, but the truth is that 27% and 40% aren’t my only options. On average, it would be 20% vs 30%. At different points in the month, it is different, but I was taking the general rule of lower is better.

I’m trying not to micro-manage it because I don’t need the credit now, but I imagine in the future having a higher credit limit will help. If I can raise the limit a few thousand dollars every 6-8 months, I should be better off in the long run.

I guess we’ll never know exactly how FICO works..

By: LeanLifeCoach

LeanLifeCoach — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:06:31 +0000

Curious, did you verify an positive impact to your credit score?

I only ask because when I last pulled by credit report Fico gave me access to a credit simulator. I found when I reflected more than 10% debt utilization my score dropped, when I reflected 0% utilization my score dropped, when I had 2-5% utilization my score was highest… go figure?

Just wondering how much of a difference 27% vs. 40% made?
.-= LeanLifeCoachÂ´s last blog ..Financial Filing Systems =-.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:35:46 +0000

@RainyDaySaver, A huge one! One affects your credit score and one doesn't. Make sure to click on the first link in the post, it's my guide to credit scores! .-= DanielÂ´s last blog ..Personal Finance 101 =-.

By: Little House

Little House — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:53:57 +0000

That's a great tip! It's important to keep that utilization rate down, and if that means asking for a credit line increase, I'm all for it. It's also good to know that B of A pulls it as a soft inquiry, makes me wonder if other banks do something similar. .-= Little HouseÂ´s last blog ..Wonderful Passive Income =-.

By: RainyDaySaver

RainyDaySaver — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:22:16 +0000

I didn’t realize there was a difference between a soft inquiry and a hard inquiry — good to know!
.-= RainyDaySaverÂ´s last blog ..The Yakezie Alexa Challenge — I’m All In! =-.