So you just got your credit card, upon receiving this credit card you find out it has a credit limit. Bummer. You were looking forward to doing some shopping and now you have a credit limit. That’s kind of a killjoy. Isn’t the point of having a credit card to purchase items you normally couldn’t? Well, yes, essentially it is. Well nevertheless there are some things you may want to make yourself aware of upon finding this piece of information out. Although it should be noted that this could potentially be a good thing, keeping our spending in check so iu do not end up in debt. But what if you did want to make a purchase larger than your assigned credit limit? What then? Well there’s always options. You just have to make yourself aware of them is all.
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What Is There To Know About My Credit Limit?
1. You Get A Choice.
Yes that’s right. You get to choose if you want your purchases go over your credit limit. This is a good and bad thing. So yes, you can go out and do some shopping, you just have to call your credit issuer and tell them you’d like your purchases to go over the limit. That’s it. Although this may not be the wisest decision ever made it can be good if you really need it. Worries aside, happy spending!
2. You Can Not Be Charged More.
You can not ever be charged more than your purchase that goes over the credit limit. Isn’t that a relief! So say you Find a cute pair of shoes for your child. You buy them at thirty dollars, well it goes over the credit limit. Now you have a thirty dollar purchase that went over, that’s all your allowed to be charged over. No interest no nothing, just the thirty dollars.
3. Credit Score.
You could have guessed this one. Yes this will affect your credit score. If your credit limit is increased this means you are being a phenomenal spender, great with your finances. Your credit score will go up because you are showing you are being a responsible spender. So the lesson here is if your good with your finances you will get rewarded. Be patient you get get to spend more money than what’s on the card eventually. You just have to work your way up there.
4. Your Credit Limit Is Based On A Number Of Things.
So as you can guess what your credit limit amounts to is based on a couple things.
- Credit history.
- Credit score.
So naturally if your credit score is low so will your credit limit. But as we discussed above you can have that raised. You just have to prove your some ding is different than it used to be. Also if you have other credit cards and have outstanding balances on them, this affects your credit limit as well. So essentially, it’s just best to be good with all the credit cards you have. Make a good reputation and you will receive many rewards for good financial behavior. So patience is the key here to success.
5. Negotiate.
What this means is you don’t ha e to accept the exact credit limit they give you. It doesn’t hurt to ask for a little more than they are offering. It’s not set in stone, just because they are your card issuer does not mean you have to accept what they offer. Take a chance the only thing they can tell you is we can’t do that. Just make sure your offer is reasonable. If they offer you a five hundred dollar credit limit maybe ask for a six hundred dollar limit. You see if you ask for a thousand dollar limit when they offered you a five hundred dollar limit that doesn’t sound reasonable even in the least. If they do grant your offer be sure to be responsible and naturally they will keep extending your credit limit.
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In Closing
So there you have it. The five things you should know about your credit limit. These aren’t all bad but not all good. There’s good and bad for everything. Having a credit limit is a wonderful thing to improve your credit score, and it’s pretty darn easy. It can be increased over time if you are deemed responsible and when it does that’s when you improve your credit score. There’s really not much to it. Credit cards are handy no matter what the limit. Take it and run with it, spend what you can and when the limit goes up you can spend a little more. Remember you can negotiate a little with the card issuer, you don’t always have to accept their offer. Just be reasonable about it. Most of all, have fun with your new card!