Rules For Reallocating Your Credit Limit With Each Credit Card Issuer

In the past we’ve shown you how to request a credit limit increase with each card issuer and whether it’s a hard or soft credit inquiry. In this post we’re going to talk about reallocating your credit limits between credit cards you have with the same issuer. This can be useful when a card issuer has extended as much credit as they are willing to, but you’d like an increased limit on one of your cards (e.g you have one card with a $10,000 limit which you rarely use and another with a $1,000 limit you use daily. You could request that the one you don’t use has $9,000 of it’s limit reallocated to the card you use daily).

• The information in this post is kept as up to date as possible, that being said you might not have the exact results listed. When you speak to a customer service representative you should ask them if reallocating your credit limit will result in a hard pull, after doing this ask for a reference number for the phone call. That way if they say that a hard pull will not be done, you can make a complaint to get the hard pull removed if one eventuates.
• When you reallocate your credit limit, make sure you clearly state that you don’t want to close either of your accounts. There are lots of reports of people asking to reallocate credit limits between two cards and ending up with one of the accounts being closed.
• Some credit cards have a minimum credit limit, for example Visa signature cards must have a credit limit of at least $5,000. This means if you have a Visa signature card with a $6,000 limit, you’d only be able to reallocate $1,000 of that limit to a different card.
• As far as I am aware, it’s not possible to reallocate credit limits between personal and business credit cards with any credit card issuer nor is it possible to reallocate limits between credit and charge cards (most of which do not have a preset limit). Update you can reallocate between business & personal on Bank of America

Large Card Issuers

American Express

We’ve talked about reallocating your credit limit with American Express in the past. It’s possible and there is no hard pull, there are a number of rules you should be aware of though. I’d recommend reading our previous post on this topic as it’s pretty comprehensive.

Bank of America

Update: Bank of America seems to now be doing a soft pull for these reallocations when you call in.

• Have to keep a balance of at least $100 on each card.
• You can reallocate balances between business & personal cards on BofA.
• Hard pull with Transunion, in some cases they will only do a soft pull but this is rare. BofA seems to blame the hard pull on the Credit Reform Act, but in my limited reading I can’t see anything that would indicate that has any real relevance.

Barclays

Everybody seems to have a different experience with Barclay and I think it really depends on which department you speak to. People have had more success by calling their credit analyst department (Monday to Friday, 8AM to 5PM EST). To get onto their credit analyst department, just call the regular number and ask to be transferred.

• You can move limits around more easily when a card has just been opened (e.g within 30 days of approval)
• Will often give you the option of reallocating your credit limits if they’ve extended you the maximum credit they are willing and you apply for another credit card (e.g, you apply for a credit card and they deny you because they don’t want to extend you anymore credit. You call the reconsideration line and they’ll approve you on the condition that you move some of your credit limits from your existing cards onto the new card)
• Will often give you the option of reallocating your credit limit to other cards if you want to cancel one of your cards (e.g you want to cancel a card because the annual fee is due soon, you should be able to call and request that they move that credit limit onto other cards you have with Barclays. You’ll need to keep a minimum on the card being closed, varies depending on what card it is)
• If they do allow you to do any reallocation, it should only be a soft pull but confirm before doing so.

Capital One

Capital One now allows you to do this online (similar to American Express), please read our full post on this process here.

Chase

With Chase it’s possible to reallocate your credit limit quite easily, you can either send a secured message or call them to request a reallocation.

• Soft pull. If you’re moving credit onto a card that will cause that cards credit limit to exceed $35,000 it will result in a hard pull (although you should be warned about this first)
• Cannot move credit limits between business and personal cards. Also cannot move credit limits between charge and credit cards.
• Usually processed within 24 hours (most report it being done instantly), although the department that processes this is closed on the weekends

Citi

Citi no longer has a credit analyst department and it’s no longer possible to reallocate credit lines between cards.

Citi front line customer service representatives are usually pretty clueless when it comes to credit reallocation, this is because in most cases they can’t actually process them. You might need to call more than once to speak with a representative that knows what they are talking about, alternatively you can state “I’d like to reallocate my credit limits, I’m aware you cannot do this. Can you please transfer me over to the credit analyst department? Thank you for your help”. This should speed up the process dramatically, but some representatives might still struggle, just hang up and call again.

• Both cards have to be open a minimum of six months
• Hard pull, although in some rare cases the front line CSR operators can process the reallocation and in this case a soft pull will be done.
• You can only perform can only perform up to two credit limit increases and two credit limit decreases as part of the one hard pull (Thanks to reader Andre for pointing this out)

Discover

Most people will only have one credit card with Discover (e.g the Discover it or Discover secured credit card), so shouldn’t require any reallocation. That being said, it is possible for those with multiple cards to reallocate credit.

• Can reallocate if you have two or more accounts, or one account and apply for another one.
• If reallocating credit lines when opening a new account, a hard pull will be done for the next account but not the reallocation. If reallocating between existing credit limits, call them to discuss your options (varies on a case by case basis).
• Both credit cards must have a credit limit of at least $500

U.S Bank

According to reader TomT they no longer allow reallocation anymore.

US Bank allows you to reallocate credit limits and it’s only a soft pull to do so, but you need to get manager approval first.

Wells Fargo

• It’s possible to reallocate with Wells Fargo, the best number to call is 1-866-412-5997
• Reallocation used to always be a a hard pull with Wells Fargo. Recent reports indicate it’s now always a soft pull. Somebody was able to get it done with a soft pull only. Another report of soft pull and another
• It’s possible to also ask for a credit limit increase at the same time

Thanks to O from the comments for this information.

Smaller Card Issuers

Elan Financial (Credit Unions)

Elan Financial issues credit cards for more than 1,600 financial institutions, most of which are credit unions. If your card is with Elan then reallocating your credit limit will result in a soft credit pull.

First National Bank of Omaha

Allows credit limit reallocation and doing so will result in only a soft pull. Remember this bank does a lot of co-branded and white label credit cards, so you might not always be aware that you have two cards issued by them.

HSBC

HSBC doesn’t allow you to move or reallocate credit limits between cards.

Navy Federal Credit Union

Allowed a reallocation with no hard or soft pull to get a card up to the $5,000 limit required for Flagship Rewards.

Synchrony

It’s not possible to reallocate your lines of credit with Synchrony. Thanks to reader Cait for this information.

USAA

Not possible to reallocate credit limits with USAA.

Final Thoughts

Reallocating your credit limits can be a useful tool, especially if you’re planning to close an account but want to keep your credit limits mostly intact. I’d also like to thank everybody on twitter who helped to provide data points for this post, if you’ve got any more data points to share then please do so in the comments below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on twitter so you can help on future posts!