I Have a $95,000 Credit Limit. Here’s Why — and How I Made It Happen

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Having a high credit limit is better for my credit score. Find out why I haven’t been shy about asking for increases from my credit card issuers. 

I have a credit card that has $95,000 of available credit on it. That huge credit line means I could spend a whole lot of money on luxury (or practical) purchases.

Now, since I always insist on paying off my credit card in full out of my checking account each month in order to avoid interest charges, it’s very unlikely that I’ll ever charge $95,000 a month or anything close to it.

So why do I have so much available credit, and how did I make it happen? Find out here.

This is why I have so much credit available to me

I chose to take steps to get a $95,000 credit line because by doing so, I can ensure that my credit utilization ratio is very low.

See, credit utilization ratio is the second-most important factor when your credit score is calculated. While payment history accounts for 35% in the popular FICO credit scoring formula, credit utilization ratio comes in a very close second at 30%. So it’s a very important determining factor that shapes the score that lenders, landlords, insurers, and other companies use to decide if you’re a reliable person to do business with.

Credit utilization ratio refers to the percent of credit used versus credit available. To figure out what yours is:

Add up the amount owed on each of your credit cards.Divide this amount by the total lines of credit available to you.

Let’s say, for example, you have the following three credit cards:

A card with a $500 balance and a $1,000 limitA card with a $100 balance and a $500 limitA card with a $900 balance and a $1,500 limit

You would be carrying a total balance of $1,500 and would have $3,000 in credit available to you, so you’d have a 50% utilization rate. This is really high, and you don’t want to be in this situation. Your utilization ratio should be below 30% to avoid hurting your credit and, ideally, should be as low as possible to get the best score.

I worked to get a $95,000 credit limit because having such a high limit means even if I charge a lot, my utilization ratio would still be very low. To get above 30%, I would need a credit card balance of $28,500 or higher. That’s not very likely to happen.

Here’s how I ended up with a $95,000 credit line

That explains why I have a $95,000 credit line. But not how.

Fortunately, the process of getting such a large credit line was simple. I opened the credit card, and I regularly signed into my online account. Periodically, an option would show up in my online account to request a credit line increase. Every single time that showed up, I submitted the request and asked for a $100,000 credit line.

Now, the card issuer didn’t increase my credit line that much all at once. But my limit was raised each time I requested an increase and with no credit check required. By doing this repeatedly for years, I ended up with a ton of available credit.

If you want to make sure your own utilization ratio stays low — and you can trust yourself not to charge a fortune if you have a high credit limit — sign into your own account regularly and make credit line increase requests. You could end up with a $95,000 credit line over time, too, if you work at it for enough years — and you’d get the credit score benefits that come along with it.

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