Utilization Question - Ask for Increase?

[MustangAl67]

Hello All-

Thanks for all the great help!!

Here is my question, I have to get my utilization down. I am paying down credit cards. Will asking for an increase on credit cards hurt my credit if they DON'T pull a credit report? In other words will increasing my credit limits lower my credit score?

[chucksnee]

I think they pull a credit report for a CLI. Not sure if it a hard pull or a soft. I know the 2 I just asked for a CLI on, they were both hard pulls..

[Ahntara]

IMO, it's worth asking for a CLI even if you incur a hard pull. Creditors perform periodic 'Account Review' pulls anyway. You might as well get something out of it.

Score programs, like FICO, only calculate Inquiries as (up to) 10% of the total score. Utilization factors as (up to) 30%. So you stand to gain much more than you lose.

[momof5]

getting a CLI helps your score 2 potential ways:

1. utilization

2. IF high enough, you would then get the points for having high limit card(s).

[CantCU]

getting a CLI helps your score 2 potential ways:

1. utilization

2. IF high enough, you would then get the points for having high limit card(s).

I recently had CLI on 3 of my credit cards, not at my request, but they opted to increase my limits. None of the 3 did hard pulls. But I did not request these.

What constitutes a "high limit" card as it relates to points? Over $1,000? $2,500 and above? I only have 2 cards now under $1,000, both with zero balances.