Credit limit increase

J_B

With the Asda card now dead, I found my Barclaycard Freedom Rewards card that still works.

However, it only has £100 limit!

I tried for a 1K but was refused. All my Experian and the like give full 999 scores, but, was I just being too greedy?

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how high I could ask for and be accepted??

MovingForwards

Try using your newly found card for a while, pay it off in full, then try for an increase. 

You can't expect them to go £100 to £1k with no recent evidence of use.

Ignore the credit score as it's not seen or used by financial institutions, they base decisions on the history contained within it. Bankrupts have 999 scores. 

Malkytheheed

How can it be worth producing, or carying or using a card with £100 limit on it? I don't understand this. I mean it wouldn't even cover a business lunch in London. 

Malkytheheed

MovingForwards said:

Bankrupts have 999 scores. 

Can we see some evidence of this? Im not saying the score means much of anything. But I always see this anecdote with no evidence what so ever. Fake news as they might say! I've seen douzens of bankrupts on this forum and all of them had terrible credit "scores". certainly not 999. 

J_B

Malkytheheed said:

How can it be worth producing, or carying or using a card with £100 limit on it? I don't understand this. I mean it wouldn't even cover a business lunch in London. 

Hmm.

I think I had a 'business lunch' in London about 15 years ago, but didn't pay, so won't out that high on the agenda! 😉

I do have an Amex for such things though!!!

J_B

MovingForwards said:

Try using your newly found card for a while, pay it off in full, then try for an increase.

Is paying it off as we go better or should I let it 'max out'? 😁

Sandtree

J_B said:
Is paying it off as we go better or should I let it 'max out'? 😁

What is best varies by lender (otherwise we'd all get the same offers from all lenders) however based on your limit paying it off in full is certainly where I'd aim at.

As others have said, a "credit score" is nearly useless and isn't used by any bank to decide credit limits etc (a small number of companies (eg insurers) do use it for somethings). Banks use your credit history and apply their own scoring to it, that said credit reference agencies aren't fools (either in selling fools gold or getting the general ball park right). This naturally begs the question, if you are such the perfect credit customer why has anyone ever given you a £100 limit card?

Malkytheheed

Sandtree said:

J_B said:
Is paying it off as we go better or should I let it 'max out'? 😁

What is best varies by lender (otherwise we'd all get the same offers from all lenders) however based on your limit paying it off in full is certainly where I'd aim at.

As others have said, a "credit score" is nearly useless and isn't used by any bank to decide credit limits etc (a small number of companies (eg insurers) do use it for somethings). Banks use your credit history and apply their own scoring to it, that said credit reference agencies aren't fools (either in selling fools gold or getting the general ball park right). This naturally begs the question, if you are such the perfect credit customer why has anyone ever given you a £100 limit card?

Esspecially as they already have a high limit Amex card. 

To the OP - if you have other mainstream cards, why do you care about this £100 limit mickey mouse card? Just fling it in the bin. 

sleepyjones

I know some card providers have put a hold on Limit increases during Covid, so this is maybe why you're getting refused at the moment, assuming your credit file all looks good.  I don't know if Barclaycard have also put a hold on though.

MovingForwards

J_B said:

MovingForwards said:

Try using your newly found card for a while, pay it off in full, then try for an increase.

Is paying it off as we go better or should I let it 'max out'? 😁

I paid mine off in full, but it wasn't Barclays. Started with £450 limit, it went up twice and I stopped using it as I got one from my own bank.

If you only pay the minimum on £100 balance it will look like you struggle with money. Damned if you do, damned if you don't 😁

J_B

Sandtree said:

J_B said:
Is paying it off as we go better or should I let it 'max out'? 😁

What is best varies by lender (otherwise we'd all get the same offers from all lenders) however based on your limit paying it off in full is certainly where I'd aim at.

Sorry, didn't make myself clear - I meant paying it off two or three times a month

Malkytheheed said:

To the OP - if you have other mainstream cards, why do you care about this £100 limit mickey mouse card? Just fling it in the bin. 

It was originally a Goldfish card (remember them?) which was taken over by Barclaycard - we've not used it for several years (5/6?) so I assume that's why the limit has lowered.

It does however give better 'rewards' than most others after Amex ... and there are certain places who won't have Amex