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Just wondering, seems my credit card limit has been extended by a g or so, can a bank do that without asking me? It's kinda handy but kinda tempting too and the latter part is the problem

As far as I am aware they actually need your approval before doing so, otherwise they could end up liable if you actually went broke...?

my credit union made me write a letter and sign sumthin...

Ive heard of it before. I would have thought they'd have to offer you an increase and it be left to you to decide if you'd accept it or not. I'd be contacting them, getting it returned to what you want it to be then making noise and asking about why it was increased.

Felix, that too, see what i just wrote above.

mick_dundee wrote:Just wondering, seems my credit card limit has been extended by a g or so, can a bank do that without asking me? It's kinda handy but kinda tempting too and the latter part is the problem

yes...with the ol' do nothing letter (get 'em all the time)
as in..if you do not reply or contact us, your limit will be increased by a squillion dollars

the bloody banks do this with kids/students all the time...little darlings have a dollarmite account
for $9.03 in it ..and then get offered $5000 on a card (the letter goes in the bin..what teenager reads bank letters ?)
and bit of plastic worth $5large turns up..and the kid has a ball

parents..? get to pay up



apologies if anyone here works in a bank...but the banks are the biggest moneysucking lying cheating
barstages in the community today ('cept Telstra n' finance brokers that is...hope no-one got burnt by Westpoint : )

Damn- I thought that they could offer it but it was only approved if you signed and accepted the offer.

Black Magic wrote:Damn- I thought that they could offer it but it was only approved if you signed and accepted the offer.

Every time I actually enter a branch they ask me if I want to up my credit limit, I always say no, only have a $1500 limit and I can pay that off quite easily, gimme a 4-5g limit and it becomes a lot tougher, so i've passed, now I look at my cc balance and I have some $1500 credit with 1000 spent on it already.. guess I can use it with P{I coming up but still... be nice to be asked

mick_dundee wrote:

Black Magic wrote:Damn- I thought that they could offer it but it was only approved if you signed and accepted the offer.

Every time I actually enter a branch they ask me if I want to up my credit limit, I always say no, only have a $1500 limit and I can pay that off quite easily, gimme a 4-5g limit and it becomes a lot tougher, so i've passed, now I look at my cc balance and I have some $1500 credit with 1000 spent on it already.. guess I can use it with P{I coming up but still... be nice to be asked

mate i have a $5k limit.. and it use to be no trouble to pay it back if required... but now with a bike and car loan, it changes things..i need to bail myself out, and cut mine up!!

It can (well this was the case until I left the banking industry 2 years ago) only be increased with a couple of signatures from the primary account holder of the credit card. Firstly, the holder has to sign a privacy act waivure (or at least have it read in full to them and give a verbal consent, which has to be followed up with a signature anyway) to allow the institution to perform a credit history check. Secondly, the card holder then has to sign the credit contract or agreement that contains all the legalese that must be, by law, supplied to the card holder when any changes are made to their account.

Bumping up your credit limit isn't generally a problem unless you have no willpower and fall into the trap of thinking that money is yours to spend. Having a bit of capacity on your cards can pull you out of the shit when bad things happen, as they tend to do on tour.

The trap though is when you go for a loan, having a heap of credit capacity on your cards can hold you back. They have to assume that if you've got a certain credit limit that you'll use it (and carry the repayments), even if you never have.

Mojo67 wrote:Bumping up your credit limit isn't generally a problem unless you have no willpower and fall into the trap of thinking that money is yours to spend. Having a bit of capacity on your cards can pull you out of the shit when bad things happen, as they tend to do on tour.

The trap though is when you go for a loan, having a heap of credit capacity on your cards can hold you back. They have to assume that if you've got a certain credit limit that you'll use it (and carry the repayments), even if you never have.

yep agree there , its useful to get you out of the shit , or some immediate cash for that bargain bike that pops up

the loan thing, yep seen and heard that before, they will usually tell you thats the reason , you then get the limit reduced and then prob solved

the smart people use the CC to their advantage with the mortgage and offset account for daily living and paying bills

if you cant control your funds and spending then it becomes a trap , if you know how to use it as intended it becomes an extremely useful tool

Wait until you want to put the limit down.. Well they give you an increase so easily, but to put it down is a shit fight..
When i built my other house i needed some extra cash as those who have built can appreciate.. So i rang the bank and they gave me an extra $5k no probs.. So once i paid it back which was only a few months later i asked for a decrease on the limit. I had to write a letter and fax it off, and i still had to ring them to get it sorted after that.. But ask for an increase over the phone and its no problems Mr Williams, how much would you like ??

I thought when the bank gave me more limit it means that I'm a trustworthy person

Until I watched this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-fD78zyvI

I've never had a problem reducing my limit over the phone...probably time I did it again to be honest...

Hold on... why does one wants to LOWER the credit limit ? And I'm not talking about son & daughter credit cards ? I mean if I have a 20,000 limit it doesn't mean I will go to nearest kwaka store and buy that traction-control enabled ZX10 ?