Students...what are your credit limits?

[sparklythings]

My friends always want to increase their credit limit, but I'm not sure why. I think my credit limit is fine and I never have a problem with it.

Why is it too bad to have a too low credit limit and too high? Whats a good limit for someone that is between 18-22?

So, I'm curious to know... what are average the credit limits of students or young adults?

[bagaholic85]

my first credit card (mastercard) had a $500 limit and i got it when i turned 18. it didnt really work for me because it meant i could only spend $500 over the course of 6-8 weeks because of the billing cycle.

my 2nd credit card was amex and i got it when i was about 19. the credit limit was $1500 and that worked out just fine for me.

[ilvoelv]

I am 19 years old, first CC was $1200 now its $15,000 I think because i purchase a lot and pay all my bills on time...

[samjane]

I'm 23 and my Amex limit is 16k

[lorihmatthews]

Your friends probably want to increase their limits so they can spend more ... not a good thing to do.

It's not bad to have a low credit limit, what counts more is whether you pay your bills on time and how much of your credit is in use. I believe a rule of thumb is that none of your cards should carry more than 30% of the credit limit.

[plain jane doe]

A high credit limit is bad if you can't be responsible with it.
A low credit limit is bad because you are using a higher percentage of your available credit, which affects your credit score negatively.

My first credit cards when I was 22 had limits of $300, $500 (soon went up to $900), and $4000 (credit union card). I ended up closing the $4000 card because they opened it in the wrong name and could not get their shit together to fix it. The $1200 was plenty for me as far as spending. However.

I think if you can be responsible with cards, it's best to start out with basically whatever you can get at no fee and always pay it off, then once you have built some credit get the best rewards with a high limit. If you are responsible I don't see any benefit to keeping a low limit. A high limit gives you the option to charge a large expense and get a percentage back. If you start with a low limit and plan to raise it as the need arises, each new credit request negatively impacts your credit score. Also, while I read in many places that as long as you use less than 50% of your credit you are good, I signed up for myfico and found that my score increased when (and because) I decreased my usage from 15% to under 10%.

On the other hand, your credit score is not particularly important unless you are applying for new credit. But a higher limit gives you more flexibility going forward.

[plumaplomb]

God I can't imagine a $15K limit!! How could you spend that much money in a month? :0) My first CC was $550. My second was $5500.

[nycfashionlvr]

I'm 19 and got my first card when I was 17....was shocked when I was actually approved because I thought you had to be 18. Anyhow the limit was 1,000. My 2nd one started at 500 I believe but has now went up to 1,000.00 since January.

[digby723]

My first card on my own was $500 & the last card I ever opened was about $5,000. All of my limits have gone up since I opened my first one at 19. It took me forever to get approved for a CC, my first card ever was a joint account with my dad's name on it too just so that I could establish credit, but I don't count that as my first card in this instance because I had to have someone else on my account to open it. Before that I got denied for everything I tried to open. I kept it as my only card for a year and then branched out to all of the ones I have now.

[oxyoxy136]

I'm 19 and one is $300 and the other is $500. That's more than enough for me.

[devoted7]

i'm in my early 20's and i tell my CC company to not exceed my limit over 3k. It's to control my spending. hehehe.

[crewe]

I had $500 to start when I was a student; I got it bumped to $3000 because of doing international travel (plane tickets costing over $2K eek!) and now that I am in my first job & 23 it is at $5300. (Although I never put anywhere near that amount on it!)

[canadianstudies]

My first cc was $700 (got when I was 18). The refused to raise the limit, and I eventually closed it. My second (and currently only) cc started with a limit of $1000, and last year was bumped up to $2700. Usually this is more than enough credit for me!

[chantal1922]

I got my first cc during my senior year in college. The limit was $500.

[LadyLouboutin08]

I got my first one on my own at 18; the limit was 900.00, and later got bumped to a little over 1k. I closed the card (the CS sucked!!), and opened another, and right now my balance is 3500. I don't use it to buy big ticket items. I just use it to pay my bills, grocery shop...just little things.