Increasing credit limit

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 06:24
Forums
Credit repair

Hi all,

I have a low credit score of 650 (FICO). I have only 4 cards and I am about 90% maxed out on all four of these cards. But one card just renewed me for 3 more years. I believe they haven't lost faith in me. I want to improve my score, so please tell me what should I do?

Should I ask them for a credit limit increase? If I have a $2k limit on one card, and am nearly maxed out, can I get a limit increase of a few hundred. I'm not quite sure how this game is played. How will this affect my credit score?

Aaron

Hi Wendel,

You should immediately try to bring down the balance on all of these four cards. Maxed out credit cards hurt your score. You should keep the utilization rate on your credit cards atleast below 30%. Paying down these balances will help in improving the credit score.

If you ask for a credit limit increase it can help you in increasing score. However, sometimes when you ask for the increase in the limit there can be a hard inquiry on your credit report. This in turn can hurt your score.

Thanks,

Aaron

Thu, 09/02/2010 - 09:21 Permalink