Had a couple questions about credit cards.

1. Anybody on here enrolled in credit card mile programs? I'm starting to get a number of offers to apply for credit card miles programs, from Chase,  Capital one and American express but since I already receive a point/buck spent from BOA, I'm not sure if I should apply for 'em. Some offers are really lucrative. Chase Sapphire for example is willing to award me 4,0000 points (equivalent of 400 bucks) if I were to spend 3k within 3 months upon approval. I thought some airlines awarded points/miles travelled? Are those some different programs? I don't wish to apply for new cards just for the heck of it... 

2. I've got a number of credit cards but $7,500 is my highest credit line in a single card. Is it 'normal' for someone whose credit score is around 800? or do you guys have a higher credit line? 

1) Miles can be a good thing if used wisely. Like the chase sapphire deal. If you have upcoming expenses and can spend 3000 in useful things, than its 400 free dollars but the idea behind it is to get you spending. Also lots of cards have blackout areas, selected cash back programs etc thus getting cash back isn't as easy. However, if its free, it doesnt hurt to try it right.?

2) About, having highest credit limit being 7,500...it depends on your income too. For example, even if you have a 800 credit score, if you have 4 cards with total limit of 25K and income of around 30K, you might find it hard to get a higher limit card. Companies will also look at your income to credit limit ratio (the ones from already existing cards). So yes its normal. The bets thing would be to ask current card comapny to increase the limit. Usually they do it if you threaten them to close it otherwise.

 Thanks for your input. 

Actually Chase also offered to combine all my credit limites from 3 different cards and then add it to the credit limit of the preferred card. That sounded like a pretty decent offer.

Re: Credit card limits, when I made a call to BOA asking them to increase the limit about 3 months back, I was told that they wouldn't do it as they didn't see my need. I was just pondering to see if anybody's got an 'outrageous' credit limit of 25/30k in their cc, that's all. 

P.S. I might watch The Big Lebowski tonight. It's been almost a decade since I last saw it. 

I had BOA , I mean I still have BOA CC, but that was not lucrative as compared to AMEX. My boss showed me AMEX and I got signed up. I was offered that If I'm to spend $500 in a month, I'll get $100 cash credit. So next up, I bought laptop and other stuff exceeding $1000. My initial credit limit was $2000. I'm not sure if you'll be honored the same credit limit at the beginning but I had solid credit score with having BOA CC for years. The time, I had to repay, I called them and they credited my account with $100. It was good for me. :D And the points I've collected so far on AMEX in 2 years, I can buy a laptop now. Over years, the points I collected on BOA, I can't even buy things over $50 and I was with them like more than 4 years.  I now use AMEX everywhere I go, I check AMEX friendly retailers only. 

According to federal law, anyone interested  can request a free credit score a year, 
here is the link :
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/

Last year, my credit score was 810 and this housing who runs through my paper everyyear noticed that and started giving me consultation on how to start my own real estate and stuffs like that, since I've good score. I was flabbergasted when she told me all those stuffs. I procrastinated though.

In my opinion, having more than 2 cards is a big no-no situation unless you can handle and pay all bills in time :D Personally I don't want to go through all those hassles. My boss has solid credit score and I listen to her and she's not have more than 2 cards in 20 years. Amex and Visa. I'm following the same path and taking every financial suggestion from her and I think thats how my credit score boosted so fast and so high in just less than 5 years.  

if you have more than 2 cards, FICO considers you as a liability. There is a wrong impression that having lot of cards improve your score, not always true. Just stick with few cards. And when you shut down few of those cards later on, your Credit score goes downhill even if you paid everything in time. I don't understand why but that's not a wise thing to do. I had pretty good discussion with my bank rep and we comfortably sat and talked hours and I understood how these stuffs work. I don't know everything yet but I know what I needed to know. 

 You should probably check out Suzie Orman show, it's everywhere on YOUTUBE. 

riddle,
to answer some of ur concerns -
I have 35k  in my AMex Blue Cash. I started with 2.5 K, and used a lot and every six months used to increase. Amex doesn't do credit check (at least in my case) if youe request increase in credit limit. Last time when I requested they did check my credit  and didn't increase becuase I have over 100 K in credit limit for all teh CCs.
recently I called BOA and asked them to increase 15 K to 25 K and they did.At one point i used to have close to 30 revolving accounts, Now I still have close to 17 CCS. Never been late. But as someone suggested having too many cards dosen't help. I have max of 780 score. currently I have 760.
What I do is keep 5-6 cards in wallet and use them for 3 months, and keep them back and use another 5-6 sets and keep rolling. U dont want to keep ur CC unsed for long. they will either decrease ur limit or cancel it. I have over 6 cards with atleast 10 K in each one.
The formula i used to increase was - use that particular card (just that one) for long, use for everything, and after few months call bank and tell them I am thinking of buying some big items and need some increase, and they did everytime. works for me.
But beleive me, i have seen ppl with less CC and and less limits with better score and all.
so keep minimal cards and use them resposibiliy- you will have better score.

I do have a sound knowledge about credit scores (and I don't mean to brag) so increasing credit scores or maintaining it is the least of my concerns. 

For those who have AMEX, I think two downsides of owning the card are 1. Annual fee and 2. AMEX  (along with Discover) not being used as widely as Visa or Mastercard. 

I also received an offer from AMEX for some sort of rewards program but it didn't sound too lucrative. 

BT, If I were you, I'd definitely talk to BOA and ask them if they've got some promotions going on. Those who've got decent credit scores shouldn't be swiping credit cards that offers no returns (like points, miles, cash back et al). My BOA card offers me 1 point/ buck spent and so far, I've reached 50k points that I could redeem for $500 bucks. 

I reckon you've been here for longer than I have, Stupida. I'm yet to come across anyone (a Nepali) who's got such credit line in his CC but then again, I don't go around asking people's credit lines. 

riddle,

Regarding your second question, I have four ccs (two visas, one master card and one amex) plus one store card. My credit score is around 800. The highest limit I have is just 5k.

Sparty

AMEX don't have annual fee. I've AMEX BLUE and there is no annual fee. It's only for PLATINUM AMEX. I'm enjoying my AMEX BLUE card.
Secondly, their transaction fee is higher. It's not for us, it's for retailers. And, they pour those fees for our aggressive point accumulation. OUR means US, ' AMEX Card holders'. AMEX spending gets you more points than any card in the whole world at any given time. This is why some retailers don't want to deal with AMEX and I hate those retailers.

I keep my backup BOA CC, that damn card still charges me annual fee per se . They leech from us, discount retailers thats why non-AMEX is retailers choice and it's ubiquotous. But hey, AMEX is consumer's choice. Just because they don't accept AMEX doesn't mean AMEX is bad, those retailers are friggin leechers.

The moment credit score is focked up, one's life is almost over, can't do anything.. literally can't do anything.
That's why, maintaining my credit score and hoping for increment is most of my concern.

But anyway, it's your choice. Just sharing what I know and discrediting some misinformation.

Thanks

 Have 5-6 CC, total line of around 50k. The best way is to take the offer with lucrative benefits. At least in my case, I have had so many offer from discover, Amex, and Visa, even had lots of cash back. But never paid interest until recently. My suggestion: take the offer, use the benefits, pay on time and never pay any charges!!! :D

well, riddle
when I first came back in aug 2002, I got an oppurtunity to stay with some of the big shots seniors dai. and everytime they open their wallet at stores to pay, they used different cards and had a lot of them too. so this started as hobby for me and used to apply for many cards. So most of my early cards have very low limit, including some with 500 only. This continued for few years. then When I finally got fully aware of scores and credit and all those relating to FICO, then I managed to control and started working on it. But CCs is different than it used to be. It has helped me a lot during my hard times. there were times when i did a 20K cash deposited into my Checking account just from one CC (BoA). Never paid transfer fee nor any interest (0.0 promo APR for 15 months). These days all CCs have 3% transfer fee. I closed many of my old but less limit cards few years back. I shouldn't have done that.
Another thing, all most all my CCs have points and cash back. I use citi a lot, becuase they have extra points during their promotion for certain purchase. I use my AMEX couple of times a year for big purchase and noneof my cards have any annual fees. The only reason i use amex less is that becuase many places they dont use Amex. The only reason I am keeping my all cards is that it will lower my score as soon I cancel them. and according to my CCs report and others places, the only place i s****k is in my average length of open accounts. BTW, here is a nice blog to check your Credit scores for free.
http://www.mymoneyblog.com/five-hassle-free-ways-to-get-your-credit-score-for-free.html
I am using three of them.

 Yeah. It's kinda stupid that vendors/merchants get charged when someone uses AMEX in their locations. I remember some buddies of mine who tried using it to pay off their college tuition but the colleges wouldn't allow them.