Requesting a credit limit increase can hurt your score, but only in the short term. If you ask for a higher credit limit, most issuers will do a hard “pull,” or “hard inquiry,” of your credit history. A hard inquiry will temporarily lower your credit score. Bank of America, Barclays, Chase, U.S. Bank and USAA will conduct a hard inquiry if you request a credit limit increase. American Express, Capital One and Wells Fargo will not. Citi will notify you when you call if they will generate a hard inquiry or a soft inquiry, which does not affect your score. Discover typically uses soft inquiries, but if you don’t accept the credit limit offered and request a higher limit, it will then be a hard inquiry.… read full answer
Hard inquiries will lower your credit score by a few points, but can only affect your score for one year. After two years, hard inquires completely drop off of your credit report. The other thing you need to watch out for is overspending. Requesting a credit limit increase could really wind up hurting your credit score if you use the extra spending power to rack up debt you can’t afford to repay.
Still, the potential negatives that come with requesting a credit limit increase can be managed and are often outweighed by the benefits of having a higher credit limit. The boost in your credit limit could also raise your credit score as long as your spending stays at the same level. The additional credit would lower your utilization, which is the ratio of your balance compared to your credit limit. Ideally, this number should be less than 30 percent for each card. Keeping utilization low tells issuers you’re responsible and aren’t just desperate to max out your card.
Some issuers also extend automatic credit limit increases to eligible cardholders. These increases may occur periodically and do not generate a hard inquiry. To give yourself the best odds of receiving an automatic increase, make all of your monthly payments on time, preferably in full. And give it some time. Issuers tend not to extend automatic increases until you’ve had a card for at least six months. Similarly, if you recently received an increase on an existing account, expect to wait at least six to 12 months before you’re considered for another increase, assuming you manage your account responsibly in the meantime.
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This was true in 2018 and it's still true up to a point today. The pandemic with its jobs layoffs, shutdowns, and mass resignations with the resultant labor shortage has caused credit companies to scale back lending and completely cutting off unused or lightly used credit to many. New card approval is reported to be down with credit increases deferred at least until the jobs picture to look better. For myself it's best to wait for a while on asking for an increase because I'm still building my credit and I'm only off to a good start historywise All I need to do is hang in there for another 6 months or so utilizing only 1% of my available credit and paying it off on time each month. I wont initiate any credit pills for another 6 months or so. Its possible the overall economic picture will improve plus the fact I will have more time in as a credit consumer. I was offered a Savor card but I'm not taking the card because it doesnt fit my spending habits. There's a couple cards I like that dont have such a high bar credit score to supposedly qualify for but I'm a thin filer which means I need more history behind me to hopefully increase the likelihood of me getting the cards I feel would pair up good with the quicksilver card that I'm building credit with. I hope that with my declining the Savor upgrade I dont put the kabosh to myself getting the upgrade card of my choice. I've already gotten two small hikes in the 9 months with quicksilver.