nice. i got $75K on my amex, but only about $20K on each my visa and MC - but i probally should call them ahev have them raised as I've been maxing them and paying them off a lot recently.

Credit information stays on yoru account forever unless its negative or you close the account. negative info stays on yoru acohahahaha for 7 years. bankrupcies stay on your account for 10 years. closed accounts, even if positive, go away after 10 years. I have to disagree with you about thepercentage thing, I think its all abotu the percentage, but you couild be right. Here is what my credit report says:

The proportion of balances to credit limits (high credit) on your revolving/charge accounts is 38%. The average proportion of balances to credit limits (high credit) on revolving/charge accounts carried by U.S. consumers is around 34%. Click here to review your Accounts Summary.

Analysis of consumer credit behavior repeatedly finds that owing a substantial balance on revolving/charge accounts (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club, department store cards, etc.) relative to the amount of revolving/charge credit available to you represents increased risk. In fact, the level of revolving debt is one of the most important factors in the FICO score. The score evaluates your total balances in relation to your total available credit on revolving/charge accounts, as well as on individual revolving/charge accounts. For a given amount of revolving credit available, a greater amount owed indicates a greater risk, and lowers the score. (For credit cards, the total outstanding balance on your last statement is generally the amount that will show in your credit bureau report. Bear in mind that even if you pay off your credit cards in full each and every month, your credit bureau report may show the last billing statement balance on those accounts.)

The more you owe on revolving/charge credit accounts - relative to the amount of credit available to you - the more your score may be affected. So doing your best to pay your revolving/charge account balances is a smart way to help increase your score. On the other hand, shifting balances among revolving/charge accounts, opening up new revolving/charge accounts, and closing down other revolving/charge accounts will not improve your score, and could possibly decrease your score.

amex has a limit - trust me. when you start putting larger amount on your card you have to prove you have the money. I found out the hard way - and got a $75K limit

when you're asking for another $1000 yes - when you're askign for another $100K no - different league

amex canada told me they dont' have a black card - not sure if i believe them but american friends that have them tell me that they got told the same story but got invited to get one after one year with a min $30K a month going through the card - I'm doing a lot more then that with my card so if it does exist maybe i'll get an invite in another 6 months....

good thing is i get 1.85 aeroplan miles for every Canadian dollar spent. I have over a half million miles now - and i've given SEVERAL friends first class tickets for vacations and conventions. I'm sitting on like 8-10 first class flights to the US return now in air miles - and get the equivalant of like 2-3 return US flights a month credited to my account.

So good stuff stays forever, and bad stuff is automatically removed after 7 years? That sounds nice.

I've never had a problem getting credit, but I'm making an effort to learn more about the scoring process.

:glugglug

i'm not talking accounts. i'm talking your credit file. two different things.

a credit report reflects the last 7 years of your history. a bankruptcy will stay on longer, but it will not affect your score.

the percentage is a large factor in how your FICO/Beacon score is calculated. but unless your score is low (less than 600), the score has very little use when a credit review is being done. i've given credit to people with beacon scores of 575 and i've refused credit to people with score of 820.

as a credit grantor, if i had someone call me with a salary of $2000 a month, $700 rent, $400 car loan, $200 student loan and a $20K card with a $0 balance and asked me for a $5000 card, i'd decline them.

the reason being is that, if the person were to max out their $20K card, when it came time to make their minimum payment, they'd already be short $300.

$700 + $400 + $200 + ($20000 x 0.05) = $2300.

and if i gave them a $5K card that they maxed out, how would they repay the minimum of $250 that they'd owe me?

and this doesn't take into consideration their other bills, like heating, phone, cable, gas, food, etc.

Sometimes GFY provides gems..

This is a good idea. I always fuck around with on line bill pay, etc.. never even thought about pre-auth to one card, then pay the card.

here's a credit story - i bought a leather couch from the bay a month or so ago. they told me if i opened up a HBC card and put the couch on it i'd get another 10% off - ok. couch was $4200 - they applied with my credit card as proof of ID - and gave me an $800 limit - i said what the fuck - they said I could only get 10% off on the $800. i asked if i pre-paid could i get the whole thing off - they said yes, but i'd have to pay right there - i looked at her like she was on fucking glue and told her to charge my damn interac card then - and got the 10% on all of it - i didn't even want the HBC card in the first place now i have this $800 limit HBC card I'll never use - good thing there's no charge for it.

Wanna make your life even simpler? If your credit card company has the option, pre-authorize the credit card payments from your bank account.

Back when I was working, my pay was directly deposited into my checking account. All my bills were charged to my credit card. And my credit card payment was taken from my bank account. Never had to lift a finger :)

First thing in the morning. I just organized my bills so I can set it up :-)

bump. tons of interesting info and opinions here.

:glugglug

Is this canada only? i ahve never heard of this. They score your credit lower in the US based on number of open cards so it has the same effect but I have not heard of an actual drop in borrowing power based on percent.

http://www.hjorleifson.com/apple/amex.jpg

my spending is getting out of controll these days, but it's FUN!!!!!!!!

psyko: can you tell me where I can check my credit rating? I have never checked it and am curious as to what my score is:)

sleazy: what kind of expenses do you put each month on your card to run it that high? sure would be nice to get some ideas of stuff I can put on mine to get the airmiles and other stuff:)

couches - tv's restruants, gas, booze, gorceries, power tools, plane tickets, hotels, etc etc etc - pretty much everything - i'm on a mission collecting aeroplan miles now so i try and buy everything through my credit card

wow, interesting thread.. subscribing to it

:thumbsup

bought a gold omega watch this month and reserved the TGP VIP dinner too in that amount.... but that wasn't over $30K combined...

All those hookers.

:glugglug 100k

You're spending $75K a month to have fun?

That must be one big load of fun.

And he gets to tell everyone here about it too...

funny, i called bmo a few years ago to up my limit from 1200 and they asked for my tax returns. i laughed and cancelled my card.

Actually if you get to a certain point with your lender, you are not talking about their extension of credit to you, you are talking about your leverage with the creditor.

This is a very simple thing and falls hand in hand with every truly high profile bankruptcy from Donald Trump to Levitz Furniture stores.

Once you, as an individual creditor or corporate creditor get to a certain point in your relationship with the folks that have extended you credit, you become the controlling factor in the relationship. If I'm Donald Trump and I default on a billion dollar note, then it's to the banks best interest to continue to up my credit if I am using the line and need more credit in order to repay the amount I owe. If I'm Joe Average and I'm unable to pay a 200 a month bill on a 10k note, then I am a liability since the banks would rather take a write-down on Joe Average, given the fact that he's not dealing with sums of money that would hurt the bank more to have go unpaid than to extend him a little more credit (or sometimes a lot more) and see if he can pull a turnaround.

More later if need be, this is getting long....

it def is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if ONLY the hookers here took credit cards - It would double my air miles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you're canadian, there's a form you can print off www.equifax.ca and fax into them. they'll send you the report for free in 2 weeks. the score won't be shown though.

to find out your score in canada, you either have to be verrrrry friendly with a bank employee who just pulled a report on you, or you have to pay a 3rd party company.

but, the score is rather useless to know. the importance of the score itself varies from bank to bank. also, the way the score is calculated is different from bank to bank. for example, a 675 at TD might be better than a 700 from RBC, but worse than a 660 from CIBC.

No - only if you run up the card to its limit. The credit scores consider the amount you could borrow, your actual balance and your payment hostory among other criteria.