What first purchase(s) should I put on my brand-new credit card to earn future generous credit limit increase?

Question

I'm totally new to Chase. Approved for Professional card with a 10K CL. Some says banks see first-purchase as indicator of habit and might affect future limit increases. Please offer some suggestions.

Answer 1

It is difficult to say. I would be conservative at first because your spending habits will be tracked. Bear in mind that not only will they keep tabs on your habits with them, they'll also track you on other accounts you have. Bank's have their own in-house scoring systems the public isn't aware of. A phone call to their customer service to seek out information on guidelines will not hurt you.

Answer 2

It really makes no difference what you purchase. The bank really doesn't care. They are only concerned that you pay them on time.

The smartest thing for you to do is charge only what you can pay in full each month. They will automatically increase your limit every 6 months to a year.

Curious, are you going to be using this card for lots of business travel that you think you will need more that a $10K limit? Remember Credit cards are pretty bad for long term finance.

Answer 3

Nonsense. The bank might examine your first month's purchases to determine your spending habits. To make the best use of your card, limit your spending to no more than 20-25 percent of your credit limit and pay the full amount by the due date. As you develop a history of reliable payment and not excessive use of your credit, you can ask for a credit limit increase.

I have a card on which the limit was about $11,000 and in a month that included a foreign trip I charged about $8,000 instead of the usual $3-4,000 per month. Without my asking, the bank increased the credit limit to $13,000 and notified me by letter. On another card I had to make a large purchase which I wanted to charge so I called the card company and explained my planned purchase and asked them to increase the limit by about 60 percent. They did so because of my excellent payment record.