Credit card issuer offers increase to credit limit - can credit score be affected if accepted?

alexrw

First, I'm aware these are discussion forums and not financial advice EDIT: rephrasing credit score -> hard search.

Has anyone accepted an offer to increase the credit limit and then discovered that this triggered a hard search in the credit file? Which credit card issuer?

What about the opposite, has anyone accepted an offer for credit limit increase and discovered that this didn't trigger any hard search in the credit file? If yes, which issuer?

Reading around trying to find out, it's still unclear to me whether accepting such an offer can result in a hard search on the credit file, so I wanted to hear of actual experiences.

Thanks in advance

Nebulous2

Being offered and accepting a credit limit increase has never resulted in a hard search for me. An increased limit is a positive, as it shows lenders trust you.

It may well affect your score, they generally react negatively to any change - but that doesn't matter anyway.

Terry_Towelling

A quick question back to you, alexrw; if your credit score were unaffected in the scenario you describe but your credit history did show a search of some kind, would you view that as acceptable?

I ask because, your credit score is personal to you and means nothing to any prospective lenders because they don't actually see your score. Lenders can, however, examine your credit history and that (together with whatever other info they ask of you) will form the basis of any lending decisions.

So, your question really is, will a limit increase result in a search showing on my credit history and will that affect my capacity to obtain credit in the future - if so, by how much, and for how long?

born_again

Why do people get so hung up on their credit score?

It is a meaningless figure made up to make you feel, good or bad & often to take £££ from you or to offer products (get kick back) that may not be the best you can get.

Not something a lender uses, as they have their own internal credit scoring/appetite to lend.

alexrw

@Torry Towell, @born again - The credit score shown by Experian/Equifax/etc usually drops if there is a hard search but doesn't drop if there is a soft search. I was in fact interested in experiences of folks regarding whether it triggered or not a hard search in the credit file. I'll rephrase my post. I'm aware that the credit score shown by Experian/Equifax/etc is not something that lenders use.

@Nebulous2 - thank you.

YorkshireBoy

Your CRA score will fall anyway, regardless of any search made, due to the increased available credit. When you prove you can manage it, it will rise again.

For what it's worth!

alexrw

@YorkshireBoy - nice, that's in contrast with a lot of internet articles and blogs claiming the credit score would go up as the utilization ratio drops. Gotta love the internet

[Deleted User]

But it doesn’t matter if it goes up, down, sideways or diagonal.

No lender cares about it and neither should you.

boo_star

alexrw wrote: »

@YorkshireBoy - nice, that's in contrast with a lot of internet articles and blogs claiming the credit score would go up as the utilization ratio drops. Gotta love the internet

FWIW my credit "score" has never budged when limit increases hit my credit file. Probably one of the few times the CRAs haven't dinged my "score" for a change to the file.

alexrw

If some entry in the credit file influences the lenders decision in the same way it influences the credit score then the credit score is a useful proxy and telling people they should not care about their credit score at all is flawed advice. This is a case where correlation does say something about causation. Sadly, lenders don't expose their actual criteria (some lenders say which credit agency they are using though).

Regardless, I was asking about actual experiences regarding hard searches, but I appreciate YorkshireBuy's input (don't know how much lenders care about available credit though).

[Deleted User]

The score is not a useful proxy at all.

It’s as useful as heat prevention devices made of chocolate.

Many peoples scores change monthly with no actual change to their files at all.

It’s to keep you coming back and checking it and to up-sell you “improvement” products.