Does having a higher credit limit work better than keeping a lower limit in place?

I hate to give this answer but "it depends." Like everything else, it depends on the limits and context. Generally speaking, you want to have access to high credit and low debt. When it comes to access to credit, higher is better than lower within reason. Having $25,000-$100,000 in available credit is probably reasonable. Having $500,000 in credit card is probably excessive and could make other lenders think you are a risk because you have access to too much credit. The answer for debt is simpler. Lower debt is better. You always want to have a lower balance.

Because there are over 200 attributes that go into computing your credit score, general answers are very difficult. If you want to learn more about your specific situation, you can try our credit simulator. Our credit simulator actually takes all 200+ of your specific credit attributes into account when simulating changes to your credit file. On it you can simulate increasing your credit limits or reducing your debt.

Back to All Credit Q&A