How much credit do you have access to?

[Self-employed-swami]

Since some of us have 'springy credit' as our emergency funds, I am curious how much everyone has?

To be consistent, lets include any revolving credit form, such as credit cards, and lines of credit (excluding balances owed obviously).

[Bigote]

I'm going to include margin loan in there, since for me it takes the place of a HELOC.  In fact I sought out a HELOC before retiring, and discovered that in NYC you pay a 1.8% on the *capacity* of the loan at close, even if you never use it.  I therefore switched my Vanguard brokerage account from cash to margin, now I have a 7-figure borrowing capacity.  I'll be using a portion of it soon (for a very short period of time), as I'm buying a house in the burbs and will close on it before I sell my NY condo.  So the margin loan will serve as a bridge loan for the interim. 

[Another Reader]

Those darn 2 percenters....

Margin loans are very risky.  A market downdraft with an outstanding bridge loan is, um, breathtaking.  But you know the risks. 

[Self-employed-swami]

You can use your margin account, to purchase real estate?! I never would have thought of that.  Interesting for sure.

[Bigote]

Well, you can take cash out of a margin account for any purpose.  They don't ask or care.

Re the risks - I'm well aware, again this is a temporary thing and using a small portion of the account.  I have a close date on my NY apt so I'll be floating the loan for only about 60 days.  The alternative was getting a mortgage for 60 days but it was much more expensive and frankly a pain in the ass.  Also coming in all cash I was able to get a better deal on the house.

[Self-employed-swami]

Ah.  I've never used a margin account (my HELOC is used for my leveraged investments), so I just kind of assumed that I could only borrow from it, to buy securities.

[Another Reader]

There are investors, speculators, and then there are gamblers.  Margin loans are very profitable for the lenders.  There's a chance that they end up with the collateral with no nasty foreclosure process to get it.  And the borrower goes down in flames with no flexibility or recourse.  I have been around long enough to see a few of these crashes, so I'm a bit more risk averse.  Fingers crossed it works out for you.

[Bigote]

I'm betting there wont be an 86% drop in the market for 60 days between mid-April and mid-June, since after 86%, they'd have to start selling my positions. 

[Another Reader]

There's always that North Korean nuclear attack...  but yes, you have minimized the risk.

[Bigote]

Heh - as I was typing it I thought the only thing that might trigger such a drop would be a nuclear attack, but since that would likely take out NYC, I'd be done anyway.  :)

[Another Reader]

Margin loans for buying real estate were big in the dot com era.  I attended a seminar put on by my property manager/broker on investment properties back then.  Some guy from Merrill Lynch gave a presentation on the advantages of margin loans.  Lots of engineering and computer science types with stock and stock options talking to him afterwards.  I'm sure anyone that signed up lost their shirt.

I dunno if the North Korean missiles can reach NY yet.  But it might be time to flee the coastal California cities...

[Tyler]

Hmm.  I'm normally pretty open minded with investment choices, but IMO using a margin loan to buy a house is face punch material.  It sounds like a good idea up until it wipes you out, and people have been face punched here for far less.  :)

What's keeping the buyer from backing out and sticking you with two expensive places that you can't immediately sell and a ticking margin call time bomb in the background?

[Bigote]

Actually the buyers deposit would cover the call.   

I realize "buying real estate on margin" sounds really bad, but really - how risky is it to take an 8% draw on a brokerage account for 60 days? 

[Erica/NWEdible]

I just included credit card credit, since our HELOC is in progress.

[Jamesqf]

Kind of hard to give an accurate answer.  As for instance do I include the HELOC &c that I could easily set up, but have never had any need to?

[mm31]

I much prefer cash over credit, so I just have 1 credit card with a lower limit on it. I've lazily looked over using one of those rewards cards but that would mean changing the system me and my partner have going right now for paying stuff.

[Zaga]

I answered $0, because while I COULD open a bunch of credit cards or get a loan for a car or get a HELOC on our nearly paid off house, at the moment I have none of those.  If you're asking how much we COULD get if we so chose, then my answer is over $100K.

[Self-employed-swami]

I was just asking what you've already got set up, not what you could, if needed.

[gooki]

$1k credit limit on the CC and that's it.

[Herbert Derp]

I have a single credit card with a $2,000 credit line...

[ketchup]

Something like $9,000 in available credit on my credit cards.  Kind of scary; the creditors think I'm some sort of responsible adult!

[mustachecat]

I've got about $45K in credit lines. $20K is spread over three cards I don't ever use, but keep open for the sake of my credit score; the remaining $30K is divided between the two cards I do use: American Express cash back and Chase travel rewards.

[TLV]

We have $8500 spread out over 4 credit cards and 2 overdraft LOCs.

I've got about $45K in credit lines. $20K is spread over three cards I don't ever use, but keep open for the sake of my credit score; the remaining $30K is divided between the two cards I do use: American Express cash back and Chase travel rewards.

How do you get such large credit limits? Is that the result of asking for increases every year for a long time, or what?

[mustachecat]

We have $8500 spread out over 4 credit cards and 2 overdraft LOCs.

I've got about $45K in credit lines. $20K is spread over three cards I don't ever use, but keep open for the sake of my credit score; the remaining $30K is divided between the two cards I do use: American Express cash back and Chase travel rewards.

How do you get such large credit limits? Is that the result of asking for increases every year for a long time, or what?

I did call a bunch of cards for increases maybe eight or nine years ago, when I suddenly became obsessed with my credit score and wanted to lower my credit utilization. At the time, I was definitely the "best" kind of customer to a credit card company: significant, but manageable balances; always paid on time; always paid slightly more than the minimum; and always charged new stuff. They were happy to throw more credit my way.

Since getting out of debt, the only card I've actively used is my Amex, and they make it so easy to request an increase; you just submit your request online. I've probably requested increases 2-3 times over the past eight years, just for kicks.

[adam]

Between available credit cards and lines of credit, close to or just over $100k I think.

[Jamesqf]

How do you get such large credit limits? Is that the result of asking for increases every year for a long time, or what?

I dunno, I've never actually asked for an increase on any of the 3 I have (if you count the Home Depot card), and have never had over 25% of the limit on any one, nor not paid the charges in full.  (Except those "zero interest for X months" offers, which I pay on the last month.)  But the keep bumping them up: IIRC one's $20K, another $15K, while the new "free money" one from BofA is a paltry $5K or so.

[HawkeyeNFO]

I keep applying for these credit cards, they keep sending me bonus checks and points and gift cards, and my available credit is exponentially higher than I ever hope to need.  One of these days I'll have to add it all up and see what the actual number is.

[Rural]

I have one reward card that I use for most everything and pay off monthly; I was surprised when the initial line of credit was 11K. I still don't really know what my credit score is; I just keep an eye on the reports to be sure nothing fishy is up. I don't have a good enough reason to pay for the score.

[Jon_Snow]

3 credit cards, two lines of credit - about 100k of credit available between my wife and I.

Being a devout Mustachian, there is a 0 balance on everything of course.

[kudy]

I've opened a number of credit cards over the years, and I don't always close them after I get my signup bonus... I think I have about $52,000 in CC credit lines right now.

[murphyrulez]

$75k in credit card available. Not sure how, they just keep raising our limits.

[chucklesmcgee]

Just over $100k in credit card limit. I mostly just request increases every year to 6 months depending on the card. Also, many card issuers will base the limits of a new credit card off of the average credit limit of your existing card.

Most card issuers have a semi-secret algorithm that determines whether or not a credit limit will be increased. It's mostly based on your current limit, the % increase you're requesting, your overall credit score and your current balance on the card (a higher balance might be better).  Fatwallet has a pretty good discussion of that. A 30% increase on Amex cards is usually granted automatically if everything is otherwise in order. Just got my Fidelity Amex bumped up to $32.5k!!

[GoCubsGo]

I've never understood what goes into determining credit limit on cards.  The card I've had for 15 years is only $11K and an AMEX I just got a couple years ago started at $25K.  I've never thought to ask for a limit increase.. maybe I should for credit score reasons based on the comments I'm reading in this post.

[bigchrisb]

$20k in credit cards ($0 balance carried).
$55k in margin loans ($470k balance carried).   

The margin loan utilization is higher than I would like.  Although I do have other assets I could shuffle around to meet a margin call should one occur.

I don't understand why there was so much negativity about using float on a margin loan for other purposes.  Yes, there is a risk of a margin call.  However, the 8% draw the user was talking about represents a highly unlikely event.  It would seem to be a rather low cost, low hassle way of accessing liquidity to me.
 

[mclemme]

~10.000$ in credit card + normal bank credit

Couldn't get a bank account in without accepting that much credit, the bank dude looked at me very funny when I told him I didn't need or want it.

[grantmeaname]

What is bank credit? Is it like a personal line of credit tied to your account?

[Beaker]

3 "real" credit cards with about $35k total limit, plus a bunch of store cards with unknown limits that we got for the signup discounts. All at zero balance, hence why I don't even know the limits.

I've never asked for a credit limit increase, that's just what they give me. I've actually asked for lower limits in the past, thinking that might benefit my credit score and avoid the supposed hit from closing accounts. Maybe that's why they think I need more.

[sheepstache]

I can't do a heloc on my apartment because of the type of co-op it's in and now that I see everyone else's credit card limits I'm irrationally jealous :)  Might have to call up and get mine increased.  I've got like $5,000 on both cards.  I suppose a loan on my 401k might count as available credit too?  I didn't think of that when answering the poll though.

[Beaker]

...now that I see everyone else's credit card limits I'm irrationally jealous :)  Might have to call up and get mine increased.

Ugh, why? Surely you don't plan to acquire credit card debt?

The one and only time having a high limit has been useful to me was when I bought my first (and only, so far) car at a used car dealership. I had the cash to buy it outright, but figured I might as well put it on the credit card for the 1% cash back. The discount was nice, but the real payoff was the look on the salesman's face when I told him to charge the entire car on my Visa rather than using the 4% dealer financing. That look was priceless.

[Self-employed-swami]

The one and only time having a high limit has been useful to me was when I bought my first (and only, so far) car at a used car dealership. I had the cash to buy it outright, but figured I might as well put it on the credit card for the 1% cash back. The discount was nice, but the real payoff was the look on the salesman's face when I told him to charge the entire car on my Visa rather than using the 4% dealer financing. That look was priceless.

I tried to do that for airmiles, but they wouldn't, because of the fees they incur.  They would only run $2500 through :(

[Paul der Krake]

If I were a merchant of any kind I'd be wary of people putting large purchases on a card because it would probably cost time and monies to fight an eventual chargeback. Maybe the used cars place was fine with it since they already deal with people not paying all the time hahaha.

[Self-employed-swami]

My Dad worked at this dealership, so it wasn't like they wouldn't know exactly who to go to, if I charged it back to them ;)

It was just an issue of the fees, in this case anyway.

[sheepstache]

...now that I see everyone else's credit card limits I'm irrationally jealous :)  Might have to call up and get mine increased.

Ugh, why? Surely you don't plan to acquire credit card debt?

No, just for the purpose described here of having it if needed.  Also I believe % of available credit used affects your credit score.  That my % was a bit high, even though I pay it off in full each month, was the only negative the last time I checked my fico.  I thought that was strange since I don't spend much but if most people have much higher limits maybe it makes sense.

Update: Holy crap, that was fast.  I emailed Chase and they got back to me asking for my gross income and what limit I was asking for.  It was at $5,500.  I asked for $10,000 and got it.

[superheropunk]

Have quite of bit of access to credit and several "used" credit cards.

Many of the used cards are store cards with 0% financing. The problem was I had so many large purchases at 0% that the payments to pay off within the 0% timeframe were staggering. Hence, my current debt situation.