Credit Card Limits - Too High?

Bismarck

Wow!

£45K....is that a typo or some kind of record? How long did that take to build up?

You could get a fleet of cars on your cards!

Chaddee

I wonder why I haven't been offered higher limits? I've got £2k limit on my HSBC card and £2800 on my Amex. I pay both cards off every month and don't usually go near the limit, although this month I paid for our honeymoon on the Amex so I almost hit the limit. (It'll get paid off in full as normal though.) Do you think it's because I don't usually go near the limit? I don't have any need for higher credit - am just curious seeing these tales of people with massive limits! I earn just under £30k.

vikingaero

Bismarck wrote: »

Wow!

£45K....is that a typo or some kind of record? How long did that take to build up?

You could get a fleet of cars on your cards!

Not a typo Bismarck. I originally got the card 20+ years ago and used it for work expenses, hotels etc. Used to do trips such as twice to Glasgow, once to Amsterdam, once to Paris in a week with associated hotels, car hire, eating out etc. I used to get them to reduce the limit to £25k with the old Consumer Credit Act 74 limit in mind because they kept on upping it.

Conversely I had a Barclaycard up until about 5 years ago that had the original £500 limit!

I think my previous spending and the fact that I work for a bank helped. Although I work for a commercial bank I am aware of people with much much higher limits. They tend not to be the people that need to frequent MSE!

Spark

I had 2 cards with a £11600 limit. I started with a £1500 limit on my Abbey/Mbna and at one point they kept increasing my credit limit nearly every months.Now I have an Abbey/Santander card with the same credit limit (they matched the mbna card), but Abbey couldn't decrease the limit so I cancelled the Mbna card. (I had decided to cancel one of them as with the two together I had £23200 and it can look like I have too much credit already if I decide to apply for another card and because if my card get cloned or a fraudster get hold of my details they've got more money at their disposal to spend. I might regret not to have cancelled my Santander card instead:rolleyes: ) I never spend more on cards than the amount I could repay straight away because if I lose my job the first thing I would do is to clear my debt.
My other cards varies between £1000 and £4000, which is enough for me.

neverdespairgirl

Bismarck wrote: »

Wow!

£45K....is that a typo or some kind of record? How long did that take to build up?

My parents have had barclaycards since the early 1980s, and the company just puts the limit up every so often of its own accord.

Last year it was about £65k, or something stupid!