Lowering credit card limit, will it really affect my credit score badly?

[lise]

I'm a credit card churner, with excellent credit score and always pay full balances on time.

I just applied and got approved for a Chase Freedom ... with a $26,000 limit when I think the spending on this card is really going to be more like less than a $1,000 per month.  That made me wonder how much my credit limits were on other cards and it's a staggering $122,000 in total!  Plus I have an Amex with no limit.

So everywhere I've read (via google search) has said not to lower your limit as it will affect my credit score, but it just seems over the top for me and worries me to have so much money available for someone to steal.  I know I should be protected in the event of theft, but mentally this is weird for me to have so much available credit.

If I asked for a reduction on a couple of cards to bring my total credit limits to $80,000 to 90,000 is it really going to adversely affect my credit score?

[Lis]

What counts on your credit score is your credit utilization. Anything above 0% and under 10% is deemed excellent. So if your TOTAL spending per month (on ALL credit cards) is $1,000, you need a total limit of $10,000 to be safe.

That being said, I wouldn't lower it. A high credit limit is good for emergencies (when it takes a few days to transfer your funds around). The difference between a thief being able to steal $80k versus $120k isn't that big - it's still a shit ton of money that I wouldn't pay back and would definitely get everyone from the company and police involved.

Are you sure your AMEX doesn't have a limit? That seems awfully unlikely...

[JLee]

You aren't liable for unauthorized charges - I would leave it alone.

[lise]

Are you sure your AMEX doesn't have a limit? That seems awfully unlikely...

The AMEX is technically defined as a "charge card" not a credit card when you are obliged to pull in full each month (although certain purchases can be put on credit via the website portal - of course being frugal I have never done that!)

[lise]

What counts on your credit score is your credit utilization. Anything above 0% and under 10% is deemed excellent. So if your TOTAL spending per month (on ALL credit cards) is $1,000, you need a total limit of $10,000 to be safe.

Thanks for this formula !

[mjb]

Definitely do not give up any credit you've been offered. If you're churning credit cards, that additional credit is valuable.

Say you want another Chase card (the Sapphire Preferred, United or Southwest cards, etc) but are denied because they deem you have too much available credit with the bank already. You can then offer to transfer some of that available credit to the new card.

I've done that numerous times with Chase, as they offer a lot of cards I'm interested in.

[lise]

Definitely do not give up any credit you've been offered. If you're churning credit cards, that additional credit is valuable.

Say you want another Chase card (the Sapphire Preferred, United or Southwest cards, etc) but are denied because they deem you have too much available credit with the bank already. You can then offer to transfer some of that available credit to the new card.

I've done that numerous times with Chase, as they offer a lot of cards I'm interested in.

I have 4 cards with Chase ;-)