How To Reallocate Your Credit Limits With American Express

Previously we’ve shown you how to get a 3x credit limit increase with American Express (which is useful for increasing your total available credit, which in turn should decrease your credit utilization which in turn should improve your FICO score). Today we thought we’d show you how to reallocate your credit limits between different American Express credit cards (obviously it’s not possible to do this with charge cards as they have no pre-set spending limit).

Restrictions In Reallocating Your Credit Limits

Update: One reader reallocate from a card that has been open for two months to a card open for two days so doesn’t look like these rules are enforced anymore.

Some of these rules might not be enforced any longer.

  • A credit card must have been opened for a minimum of 13 months before it’s possible to transfer the credit limit from that card. (not enforced according to this data point)
  • A credit card should be at least 60 days old to transfer to that card.
  • Upgrading/downgrading cards has no effect on the clocks mentioned above.
  • Credit limits cannot be transferred from business to consumer cards. It is possible to transfer from consumer to business, business to business and consumer to consumer. It’s also not possible to transfer limits to or from charge cards as they have no preset spending limit.
  • You cannot reallocate your credit limits more than once every thirty days

How To Reallocate Your Credit Limit Online

F.A.Q’s

Does this result in a hard credit pull?

No, it’s only a soft pull to reallocate your credit limit with American Express. If your credit limit exceeds $25,000  before or after the reallocation on any one card then you might be hit with a hard pull. There are also reports of increased scrutiny/financial reviews on people with limits higher than $25,000.

I don’t see the option to transfer from a specific card, what gives?

How old is your card? If it’s not at least twelve months old it’s not possible to transfer from this card and that’s why the website won’t give you option.

How long does it take for it to process?

Almost instantly in most cases, although you should allow a minimum of 15-30 minutes before worrying

I received a “request being processed” message and that they would get back to me within 7 to 10 business days. Why did this happen?

There are two main reasons as to why this might have happened, they are:

  • The card you’re trying to transfer from is less than 13 months old or the card your trying to transfer to is less than 60 days old
  • When you entered your income information, it didn’t match what American Express has on file

If it’s the second reason, it’s worth calling up American Express to get your income information update and mentioning the failed credit limit request.

How long do I have to wait between transfers?

Currently unsure on exact dates, if you have any data points then please share them in the comments.

Hopefully you find this information useful, we will be adding similar information for all other major credit card issuers in the future. If there is a topic you’d like us to cover, make sure you contact us.

Hat tip to Frequentflyerbook who found the information in this FlyerTalk thread

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Mark M
Mark M (@guest_1708502)
October 3, 2023 23:50

I have had the business cash open for under 60 days with 2k initial limit, I increased my personal Delta blue to 20k from 10k about 5 days ago and today transferred 15k to the business card. approved the transfer.

Randall
Randall (@guest_1678032)
August 23, 2023 06:07

DP: 8/23 approved for BCP the. 10 minutes later moved between 5-15k to new BCP (12 month 0% APR), approved instantly.

The_JSQuareD
The_JSQuareD (@guest_1601595)
April 19, 2023 11:20

Some DPs on credit increases and reallocations:

– Delta Plat initially approved with $12,XXX CL (2021)
– Delta Plat CL increased to $30k upon request (2021)
– Approved for Delta reserve at $20,XXX CL, Delta Plat CL was simultaneously decreased (by amex) to $18,XXX (2022H1)
– Delta Plat CL increased to $35k upon request (2022H2)
– On the same day in 2023H1: Delta Reserve CL increased to $40k upon request & moved $30k CL from Delta Plat to Delta Reserve (bringing it to $70k).

All increases and credit reallocations were approved instantly.

Bob
Bob (@guest_1417322)
July 30, 2022 18:47

If your credit limit re-allocation is not going through when you select the lowest credit limit offered in the online tool i.e. $500, change it to $1000 and it should go through.

John
John (@guest_1447447)
September 18, 2022 02:13

Can confirm I was getting an error message to try again in 24 hours leaving only $500 behind, but I made another request leaving $1000 behind and it went through immediately.

Sheila
Sheila (@guest_1147469)
February 19, 2021 12:59

I tried moving $16,000 from my Amex Everyday Card to my brand new Blue Cash Preferred card and I received the 7-10 day message. I chatted with someone on-line and inquired about the reason. They told me that recently I had already been approved for a Credit Line Increase on the Everyday Card and that I had to wait 90 days to make any other kind of credit transfer request. But what really freaked me out is the $16,000 disappeared from my Everyday Card even though my request was denied. The customer service rep said it should reappear in 72 hours.

Sheila
Sheila (@guest_1147494)
February 19, 2021 13:24

I just got off the phone with a representative, and the guy I chatted with on line originally gave me wrong information. My request for reallocation was approved, and the money will show up in a couple days. Just shows you that if you ask two people the same question, you just might get two different answers!

Sarah Thompson
Sarah Thompson (@guest_1109241)
December 14, 2020 22:22

Well, here’s something potentially awful I didn’t see mentioned here.

Yesterday, I tried using the tool to transfer $14,000 from an AmEx Everyday Card (at least 10 yrs old) to a new Blue Cash Preferred, which I was approved for a few days ago, but with a paltry $1,000 CL. Got the 7-10 day notice. So I called. The rep said I would have to leave “about $2,000” on the donor card. I said I’d heard it might be $1,000 (which I hadn’t known before trying it.) She said, Well, it might be less than $2,000. (So, I’m losing confidence in her. Should have HUACA, but I didn’t.)

She offered to move the credit for me. I had second thoughts about whether to move that much from the Everyday, or to take some from it and some from my Blue (over ten years old), on which I had a13500 CL. (All balances zero at the time of this attempted available credit transfer.) I said I wanted to think it over and asked if there was a limit to how often I could use the tool, and she said no.

I waited until today, which was the day after the closing date on the Blue card. I decided to move 12500 from it to the new BCP card. Got the d@#% 7 – 10 day message again. However, and here’s the bad news, I notice that the 12500 had been subtracted from the Blue card CL, but not added on to the BCP card.

Arrrrrrgggghhhhh! That possibility had not occurred to me. I even tried refreshing the page a few times, as well as signing out and back in again. No luck. My total CL across my three AmEx Cards is now $12,500 less than it was 15 minutes ago. WTF???!!!

I guess I should call, but I need to calm down first.

Sarah Thompson
Sarah Thompson (@guest_1111833)
December 16, 2020 15:28

Well, I called and was told, “The system had approved the request, but there was a glitch and the final step was not completed. Do not worry, I have sent an email to the team responsible and they will correct this problem. It may take 24 to 48 business hours to complete.”

Breathing somewhat easier now. Trying to trust that will happen without further glitchery. I’ll report back here if that doesn’t happen.

I know for some people suddenly losing $12,500 of available credit isn’t a big deal, but it is for me. Especially in this year of COVID, which has delivered a blow to our finances.

Will
Will (@guest_1076108)
October 20, 2020 12:28

I was allowed to transfer from a brand new business card (Marriott Bonvoy) that was less than a month old to another business card. I was then denied on a second transfer with the reason given that only 1 limit transfer is allowed per 30 days.

veeRob
veeRob (@guest_1099166)
November 27, 2020 19:59

Same here as well. Called in to see if rep could override. They couldn’t. Hard coded in system she said. To be clear, it’s 1 transfer FROM an account in 30 days. So you could move from 2 different cards to the same card I was told.

Aloha808
Aloha808 (@guest_1051330)
September 9, 2020 20:49

If your request is denied, it’s possible to try again and get approved in <30 days.

Stefan Krasowski (Rapid Travel Chai)
June 5, 2020 12:41

Minimum credit limits left on cards. As alluded in the comments, the website defaults to you only need to leave $500 on a card, yet depending on the card you may get a denial for not leaving the minimum credit limit. I’ve been chasing around with agents and denials, the only one I can confirm is the Marriott Biz card was $1,000. The Delta Platinum may be $1,700 and the Delta Reserve may be $3,700 (still in process).

veeRob
veeRob (@guest_1003018)
June 24, 2020 00:27

Had the same experience with personal Bonvoy card. Left the card with $500 and got the letter in the mail. Tried again with $1,000 and it worked.

Bob
Bob (@guest_1417324)
July 30, 2022 18:50

Same story here. Credit limit transfer got declined with $500 on donor card (Blue Cash Everyday). Changed to $1000 left and it worked.

Peter
Peter (@guest_936302)
March 13, 2020 14:36

Depending on the day, transfer of credit request either occurs instantly or a message comes about “your request received” etc., followed by a useless letter in mail about a technical issue. Reallocation request can only be made once in every 30 days.
For faster results after a denial or error, I recommend calling 1800-535-7790, option 5 for reallocation and talk to CSR in the credit line department.