Credit Limit increase?

[Anonymous]

Can credit card conpanies legally change your credit limit without your consent or authorization?
I received an email this morning notifying me of this change.

[Anonymous]

Yes, they can. Did the credit card company increase or decrease your credit limit? If increase, it is good for you. If decrease, call them and ask why? If you don't like their answer, threat to drop them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can credit card conpanies legally change your credit limit without your consent or authorization?
I received an email this morning notifying me of this change.

They did that to us (increased limit) without notifying us a couple of years back from approx 5k to 10 or 15k (cant remember). Had to call them to kindly lower it again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can credit card conpanies legally change your credit limit without your consent or authorization?
I received an email this morning notifying me of this change.

They did that to us (increased limit) without notifying us a couple of years back from approx 5k to 10 or 15k (cant remember). Had to call them to kindly lower it again.

Why do you want to lower your credit limit? When you have higher credit limit, you have lower debt to credit ratio which it is good for you when you apply for loan. For example, your charged $1000 in your credit card of that month and your credit limit is 10K. Your ratio is 10%. If you credit limit is 5K, your ratio is 20% for that month.

I don't see any risks with higher credit limit as long as you don't use it to the max. If you lost your credit card, your liability is $50 max. The rest will be paid by your credit card company regardless the credit limit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can credit card conpanies legally change your credit limit without your consent or authorization?
I received an email this morning notifying me of this change.

They did that to us (increased limit) without notifying us a couple of years back from approx 5k to 10 or 15k (cant remember). Had to call them to kindly lower it again.

Why do you want to lower your credit limit? When you have higher credit limit, you have lower debt to credit ratio which it is good for you when you apply for loan. For example, your charged $1000 in your credit card of that month and your credit limit is 10K. Your ratio is 10%. If you credit limit is 5K, your ratio is 20% for that month.

I don't see any risks with higher credit limit as long as you don't use it to the max. If you lost your credit card, your liability is $50 max. The rest will be paid by your credit card company regardless the credit limit.

Well, having too much credit available to you can hurt your ability to get credit with more favorable terms. I.e., you go to buy a car at 1.9% finance but they won't give you a loan because you have three credit cards who have collectively boosted your available credit by $30,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can credit card conpanies legally change your credit limit without your consent or authorization?
I received an email this morning notifying me of this change.

They did that to us (increased limit) without notifying us a couple of years back from approx 5k to 10 or 15k (cant remember). Had to call them to kindly lower it again.

Why do you want to lower your credit limit? When you have higher credit limit, you have lower debt to credit ratio which it is good for you when you apply for loan. For example, your charged $1000 in your credit card of that month and your credit limit is 10K. Your ratio is 10%. If you credit limit is 5K, your ratio is 20% for that month.

I don't see any risks with higher credit limit as long as you don't use it to the max. If you lost your credit card, your liability is $50 max. The rest will be paid by your credit card company regardless the credit limit.

Well, having too much credit available to you can hurt your ability to get credit with more favorable terms. I.e., you go to buy a car at 1.9% finance but they won't give you a loan because you have three credit cards who have collectively boosted your available credit by $30,000.

09:31 poster here. That's why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can credit card conpanies legally change your credit limit without your consent or authorization?
I received an email this morning notifying me of this change.

They did that to us (increased limit) without notifying us a couple of years back from approx 5k to 10 or 15k (cant remember). Had to call them to kindly lower it again.

Why do you want to lower your credit limit? When you have higher credit limit, you have lower debt to credit ratio which it is good for you when you apply for loan. For example, your charged $1000 in your credit card of that month and your credit limit is 10K. Your ratio is 10%. If you credit limit is 5K, your ratio is 20% for that month.

I don't see any risks with higher credit limit as long as you don't use it to the max. If you lost your credit card, your liability is $50 max. The rest will be paid by your credit card company regardless the credit limit.

Well, having too much credit available to you can hurt your ability to get credit with more favorable terms. I.e., you go to buy a car at 1.9% finance but they won't give you a loan because you have three credit cards who have collectively boosted your available credit by $30,000.

I disagree with you. See website below.

http://www.experian.com/ask-experian/20120201-requesting-lower-credit-limits-could-hurt-credit-scores.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can credit card conpanies legally change your credit limit without your consent or authorization?
I received an email this morning notifying me of this change.

They did that to us (increased limit) without notifying us a couple of years back from approx 5k to 10 or 15k (cant remember). Had to call them to kindly lower it again.

Why do you want to lower your credit limit? When you have higher credit limit, you have lower debt to credit ratio which it is good for you when you apply for loan. For example, your charged $1000 in your credit card of that month and your credit limit is 10K. Your ratio is 10%. If you credit limit is 5K, your ratio is 20% for that month.

I don't see any risks with higher credit limit as long as you don't use it to the max. If you lost your credit card, your liability is $50 max. The rest will be paid by your credit card company regardless the credit limit.

Well, having too much credit available to you can hurt your ability to get credit with more favorable terms. I.e., you go to buy a car at 1.9% finance but they won't give you a loan because you have three credit cards who have collectively boosted your available credit by $30,000.

I disagree with you. See website below.

http://www.experian.com/ask-experian/20120201-requesting-lower-credit-limits-could-hurt-credit-scores.html

Read that article and understand what she is saying, but I have doubts as to how much the utilization rate counts vs the overall size of the loan. If our HHI is $200k and we've set our credit limit to 5k and on average charge 4k, ie util rate of 80%, I think the computer systems are smart enough to know that the 5k limit is too low and have great upward credit limit potential. Remember, the credit card limit is a de-facto pre-approved loan....actually an approved loan that you can take out if you wish to do so. I would assume that if you're going to get a car loan, a standing $25k credit card limit would be considered a great risk than having 80% util on a 5k limit when you factor in household earnings. If you don't disclose HHI, yes, I would agree at 80% util on a 5k limit looks really bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can credit card conpanies legally change your credit limit without your consent or authorization?
I received an email this morning notifying me of this change.

They did that to us (increased limit) without notifying us a couple of years back from approx 5k to 10 or 15k (cant remember). Had to call them to kindly lower it again.

Why do you want to lower your credit limit? When you have higher credit limit, you have lower debt to credit ratio which it is good for you when you apply for loan. For example, your charged $1000 in your credit card of that month and your credit limit is 10K. Your ratio is 10%. If you credit limit is 5K, your ratio is 20% for that month.

I don't see any risks with higher credit limit as long as you don't use it to the max. If you lost your credit card, your liability is $50 max. The rest will be paid by your credit card company regardless the credit limit.

Well, having too much credit available to you can hurt your ability to get credit with more favorable terms. I.e., you go to buy a car at 1.9% finance but they won't give you a loan because you have three credit cards who have collectively boosted your available credit by $30,000.

I disagree with you. See website below.

http://www.experian.com/ask-experian/20120201-requesting-lower-credit-limits-could-hurt-credit-scores.html

That's neat as far as it goes, but it's not relevant to what I said. This is about credit SCORES, not credit DECISIONS. If you go in to apply for credit and an underwriter thinks you have too much other credit available to you, they may not give you the loan. That's true for homes and cars. The FICO score is just one part of the equation.