Those who’ve never had a credit limit reduced, what’s your secret?

[BeUmberLurker]

Just wondered what habits people have who’ve managed to keep their credit limits stable (or even increase over time) without ever having them cut.

Do you keep utilisation low, always pay in full, avoid balance transfers, use the card regularly, keep direct debits in place, something else?

I’ve just been approved for a Barclaycard with a limit of £5k. I used to have a card with them before but they slashed it to just over half my limit which led me to close it. I remember looking online at the time and there was lots of people saying that there are notorious for doing this.

So just interested in what seems to help so I can possibly avoid it again this time!

I have never had my limit reduced and didn’t realise it was a thing.
I use my card a lot, but always pay the full balance every month.

I always pay mine off in full every month, although I have had one where the cut the amount I could spend, but that was because I wasn't really using it much, so I can understand that, but if you use it regularly and always pay it off, or pay a reasonable sum off, I can't see why they would.

I have also never had my credit limit reduced and think they've only ever increased it. I use it sometimes but not all the time and then occasionally end up whacking a big thing on it - e.g. new carpets or whatever, and then it's sometimes gone up after that. But it's probably after a few years of owning it.

Mines only ever increased?

I don't use it much and pay in full each month. Mostly just for protection for large purchases.

I dont use creit cards regularly - I tend to keep them for emergencies and big purchases which I may pay off over say 3 months. Ive never had a limit reduced but have had increases offered about every year or so. I did have an overdraft facility reduced but I had never used it.

I tend to use mine for some daily expenses, and I have it set up to automatically pay the balance in full every month. I’ve never had my balance reduced, but I asked for it to be increased once (I wanted to use it to get cashback when I bought a car 😄), and they said No.

Wasn’t there a thing a few years ago when lots of banks were reducing limits? Isn’t it just part of responsible lending?

Have you checked your credit report? A reduction is unusual I think. I think the key is using it regularly and paying it off regularly. The amount you're offered is also linked to income.

My credit limit keeps being increased - it’s quite a lot. We pay for everything on the card but rarely over 50% of the limit and only usually because we have paid for flights and hotels on it.
Always always always pay it off in full. Never spend beyond our means.

Do you mean a credit limit to lure you in and then slashed when you signed the agreement? Rather than card for some time and then they reduced the original credit limit?

Mine has only ever increased. Think my Amex limit is £50k.

Spend lots, pay it off every month.

I've had credit cards for over 35 years and they have never reduced the limit. Surely they want you to spend on it and have to pay interest, therefore they increase the amount from time to time.
Currently have 3 credit cards with about £22k between them.

Have you failed to pay the minimum repayment or just been paying the minimum.

Personally I pay in full every month. Paying by direct debit also I believe it's appreciated

Mine has never changed but it is quite low at £2500. I put things on it every month but almost always pay off in full.

My credit report is good now and was good when the reduction happened too.

The latter, it wasn’t an opening-limit bait-and-switch. I’d had the card for a while, then they later reduced the limit.

The reduction was a few years ago, paid in full monthly.

Bastards

They tend

Poste

Only have one & pay it off in full every month. Don't have other debts. Don't go overdrawn on your current account.

(I'm not saying these are easy, I'm literally answering the question about how credit limits are managed)

Omg sorry posted too soon- twice! They tend to reduce the limit for the obvious if your score changes, you’ve taken out new credit elsewhere, if you are consistently using 70% ish of the available balance, they will also tend to reduce it though if you barely use it to manage unused credit lines. If you did something like putting food shops on & then paying it off in full each month you should avoid either extreme and be okay.

I’ve had a couple of cards with large credit limits (12k or more) reduced because I wasn’t using them, they both had nil balances on them. Shrug.

Ditto

Mines only ever gone up. I don’t spend to the limit and it’s paid off in full every month.

My experience is, I have one credit card I use for all my monthly expenses. I pay it off in full every month and it has maximum about 20% utilisation. They never offer me an increase, but it stays stable.

My other, newer, 0% for 24 months cards, which I got for the specific purpose of pretty much maxing out on DIY, I am paying the minimum monthly repayment, have over 90% utilisation on them, and have been gifted increases on 2/3 of them within 6 months.

So I'm going to say it's being close to your maximum utilisation and also reliably making payments that is triggering the increased credit limits.

Credit limit on one card reduced but it was a “small” card and he had a lot of available credit across other cards and didn’t use that card often so didn’t make them money. He only used it occasionally for 0% balance transfer offers so when they cut the limit it was clear he wasn’t making them money so got rid of the card.