Young professional woman holds a pen as she works on laptop

Does Increasing Your Credit Limit Affect Your Credit Score?

7 min read

Last Updated: March 20, 2025

Table of contents

Key Takeaways

An increase in your credit limit may help your credit score if you keep your credit utilization low.
If your lender does a hard inquiry to approve your credit score increase, your score may go down.
An increase in income can make you eligible for a credit limit increase.

Your credit limit is the maximum balance you can have on your credit card. When you increase your credit limit, it could help your credit score, leave it unchanged, or lower your score, depending on the circumstances.

Find out what factors could cause you to hurt your credit score, and when it’s the right time to ask for a credit limit increase.

How can increasing your credit limit affect your credit score?

Increasing your credit limit may influence your score in several ways. You might see a small decrease in your score immediately after requesting a higher credit limit. However, increasing your total available credit may increase your credit score in the long term.

Requesting a credit limit increase may result in a hard inquiry

Your credit score may go down slightly after you request a credit limit increase. That’s because a credit card issuer typically conducts a “hard credit inquiry” (also known as a “hard credit check”), which means they request a copy of your full credit report to better understand your credit history. FICO^® explains that hard inquiries like this usually don’t have a significant impact on credit scores unless many occur in a short period of time.¹

Each hard inquiry’s impact on your credit score depends on your overall credit file, but you can typically expect your score to go down less than 5 points after you apply for one new credit card or request a credit limit increase, according to FICO.

However, multiple hard credit checks within a short timeframe may do more damage to your score. That’s because applying for too much additional credit at one time might point to financial instability, making you a greater credit risk.

Any credit inquiry connected to a new credit application is considered a hard credit check. While hard credit inquiries stay on your credit report for 2 years, they only impact your credit score for 1 year. Soft inquiries—credit checks that aren’t directly related to a new credit application—don’t affect your credit score. So, you can view your own credit score before requesting a credit increase without hurting your credit.

Change in credit utilization

If your balance doesn’t change, a credit card limit increase can reduce your credit utilization ratio. Your credit utilization rate is the amount you owe as a percentage of your total credit limit. A low credit utilization rate may help your credit score.

If you increase your credit limit, your spending habits remain about the same, and you continue to pay your credit card bill on time, your utilization ratio will go down. This may have a positive impact your credit score.

However, if you increase your spending too much after increasing your credit card limit, your credit utilization ratio may increase. That may negatively impact your credit score.

For example, if you have a $1,000 credit card limit and spend $500 before you pay the bill, that’s a 50% credit utilization ratio. But if you get a credit limit increase to $2,000 and then spend $1,500 before you pay the bill, your credit utilization ratio will go up to 75%.

When to ask for a credit limit increase

Good timing could affect your chance of approval for a credit line increase. Consider these things before requesting a credit limit increase from your credit card company.

You received a raise: Report an income increase to show credit card issuers you can repay more debt.
You make on-time payments: Credit card issuers take into account your payment history and how reliably you make payments on all your loans.
You have a low credit utilization ratio: Use only a small percentage of your available credit to show that you can manage debt responsibly.
Your credit score is good to excellent: Credit card issuers are more likely to issue additional credit if you manage your existing credit well. A good credit score usually indicates responsible credit card use.

You can request a credit limit increase on your Discover^® Card by logging into the Discover Account Center, selecting “Card Services” and then “Credit Line Increase”. Or on your Discover Mobile app, select “Services” and then “Credit Line Increase”.

You can also request a credit line increase by calling the phone number on the back of your Discover^® Card.

When you shouldn’t request a credit limit increase

While access to more credit is often helpful, requesting a credit limit increase at the wrong time may hurt your credit score. You may not want to request a higher credit line in the following circumstances:

You recently applied for a new line of credit: If you recently applied for another line of credit, increasing your current credit limit might impact your score even more. Both an application for new credit and a credit limit increase request can result in a hard inquiry. Multiple hard inquiries may negatively impact your credit score and potentially show financial hardship.
Your income has decreased: If you recently transitioned to a lower-paying job, your credit card issuer may deny your request for a credit limit increase to prevent you from accruing more credit card debt than you can afford to repay.
Your credit isn’t good: If changes to your credit history have left you with a bad credit score, it may be best to improve your credit score before requesting a credit limit increase.

Did you know?

If you’re looking for new credit, you may want to consider a credit card that rewards you for cash back on all your purchases. You can compare Discover credit cards with other industry-leading cards to find the one that best fits you and how you spend.

See If You’re Pre-Approved

Automatic credit limit increases

Requesting a higher credit limit isn’t the only way to get one. If you have used your credit card responsibly and consistently pay your credit card bill by the due date, your credit card issuer may automatically increase your credit limit.

Automatic credit limit increases don’t usually require a hard credit inquiry, so they typically don’t affect your credit score. Updating your income with your credit card issuer after a raise may increase your chances of an automatic credit limit increase. According to Experian, your card issuer may be considering an increase if they request updated income information.

Can your credit limit decrease?

Your credit card issuer can usually decrease your credit limit if they determine it’s beneficial to do so, according to Experian. They may decrease your limit due to changes in your credit score or income. Credit card issuers sometimes decrease credit limits during economic downturns.

If a credit card company decreases your credit limit, they have to give you advance notice. They can’t penalize you with fees or higher interest rates for exceeding your new credit limit until 45 days after they’ve issued you the notice.

You can also request a lower credit limit. If you want to continue using your credit card, but have concerns about overspending, requesting a smaller limit can help you avoid accruing an unmanageable balance. Just keep in mind that, if you have outstanding balances on any credit cards, reducing your limit will increase your credit utilization ratio.

Access to additional credit, in the form of a credit limit increase, can help you meet personal finance goals. However, it’s important to manage a higher credit limit responsibly, so you can maintain a good credit score.

Important Information >

See if you’re Pre-approved before you apply

Check Now

Next steps

See if you're pre-approved

Check Now

View all Discover credit cards

See rates, rewards and other info

Learn More