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Paying in Full

Hi, just wondering from peoples experiences.... would you say paying your credit card balance in full each month has affected you getting credit limit increases in a good or bad way?
Thanks

Dmp Mutual Support thread member No 82
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Comments

  • penners324
    penners324 Posts: 3,221 Forumite
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    In a good way.
    And it avoids paying interest which is far more important 
  • If you don't pay off in full every month it looks like you can't afford the lifestyle you are leading so you are far less likely to get more credit given, if anything they might consider reducing your limit
  • MovingForwards
    MovingForwards Posts: 17,116 Forumite
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    With my sub-prime card paying in full each month saw a few limit increases.

    With my own bank's CC they gave me a decent limit to start with, but haven't yet increased it.
    Mortgage started 2020, aiming to clear it in 2026.
  • Nebulous2
    Nebulous2 Posts: 5,411 Forumite
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    Different lenders have different policies. If you start with a decent limit many of them don't increase it, in my experience. Nationwide is an exception to that, they had a programme of offering increases every few months, which required me phoning to accept them. 
  • I was getting regular increases with my Halifax and Sainsbury's cards for a while, they have stopped but I have put in manual requests twice on the Halifax of £1000 a time and both went through without issue. Barclays (for my BT card) periodically bump it up as I use that.
  • cymruchris
    cymruchris Posts: 5,521 Forumite
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    I've been paying in full for a couple of years each and every month. Sometimes there are auto limit increases, sometimes requested ones that go through, and sometimes a big fat no. But I'm ok with all - it's a long term journey rather than a short term race.
  • blue.peter
    blue.peter Posts: 1,337 Forumite
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    Nebulous2 said:
    Different lenders have different policies. If you start with a decent limit many of them don't increase it, in my experience. Nationwide is an exception to that, they had a programme of offering increases every few months, which required me phoning to accept them. 

    There's no need to phone them to accept an increase now. There are alternatives. But what they won't do is apply the offered increase automatically. I was offered one a few months ago (letter dated 20 August). The letter said this:
    I'd had that card about six months or so at the time, and paid it off in full every month.
  • If you don't pay off in full every month it looks like you can't afford the lifestyle you are leading so you are far less likely to get more credit given, if anything they might consider reducing your limit

    This wasn’t my experience at all. 
    Before my lightbulb moment I carried balances of several thousand pounds on my cards for years, obviously not paying off in full, and yet I kept getting offered credit limit increases, and even loans. Never had a limit reduction.

    They were making money money off me with all the interest I was paying, and probably wanted to suck me into more credit. Or might be because I always paid well over the minimum, who knows. 
  • phillw
    phillw Posts: 5,630 Forumite
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    edited 26 March 2021 at 9:29AM
    I think the decisions they make are so complex that it's random to us mere observers.

    My advice would be to make your own decisions based on what you know, paying off in full saves you money. This is moneysavingexpert.com after all.

  • This wasn’t my experience at all. 
    Before my lightbulb moment I carried balances of several thousand pounds on my cards for years, obviously not paying off in full, and yet I kept getting offered credit limit increases, and even loans. Never had a limit reduction.

    They were making money money off me with all the interest I was paying, and probably wanted to suck me into more credit. Or might be because I always paid well over the minimum, who knows. 
    A single anecdote doesn't disprove the general situation. You can see with the persistent debt posts on here that lenders will reduce credit limits under the responsible lending rules - they may have been more willing to gamble in the past but this is absolutely not the case now, indeed, they have an obligation to stop people getting into debt problems now. Credit card companies make money from merchant fees even if you don't carry a balance, it's a myth that they will increase your limit to encourage reckless spending.
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