Looking for credit cards with high credit limits? Whether you want to accommodate a hefty monthly spend, finance large purchases or pay off a big balance, you’ll find them here.
What do we mean by high limit?
Let’s start by tackling the definition of “credit limit.”
Your credit limit is the amount you’re allowed to charge to your credit account without having to pay off at least some of your balance. If you exceed your credit limit, the issuer will usually decline the transaction.
$10,000 is generally considered to be a high credit card limit. If you get credit lines like that, it’s clear that the card issuer trusts you to be a pretty responsible borrower.
Here are a few of our favorites – we’ll dig deeper into each card below.
| Best For | Card |
| Premium Travel | Chase Sapphire Reserve® |
| Premium Travel & Lounge Access | The Platinum Card® from American Express |
| Airline Travel | Various |
| Hotel Stays | Various |
| Balance Transfers | U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card |
| Fair Credit | Capital One QuicksilverOne Rewards Credit Card |
| Bad Credit | Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Secured Card |
With most cards, the credit limit you get will depend on your creditworthiness, with an emphasis on your credit scores and income. In general, the better your credit and the higher your income, the higher your credit limits will be.
That means almost any card can be a high limit credit card – even those you can get with average credit. But those designed for good and excellent credit are most likely to get the highest limits, because card issuers feel more comfortable extending more credit to people with better scores.
Best for Premium Travel
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is one of the leading premium travel cards, with competitive reward rates on travel and dining, a flexible travel credit and a variety of cost-saving perks.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a minimum credit limit of $10,000. It’s issued as a Visa Infinite card, the highest tier of Visa benefits available.
Other premium travel cards
Not ready for the splendor that is the Reserve? Check out its cousin, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which has a minimum credit limit of $5,000, a smaller annual fee and fewer perks.
Or for some other high-end travel credit card offers, consider:
- The Platinum Card® from American Express: No preset spending limit
- U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card: No minimum credit limit published by issuer, but reported by Doctor of Credit to be $5,000
- Various airline credit cards and hotel credit cards
Best for Premium Travel and Airport Lounge Access
The Platinum Card® from American Express
Ah, The Platinum Card® from American Express. With near-mythical status in the credit card universe, the Platinum card has long been one of the most well-known and coveted travel cards.
In today’s competitive market, the card tends to be valued more for its benefits – like the annual travel credits, unrivaled airport lounge access and elite hotel status – rather than for its rewards, which are a bit limited. There’s a lot going on here, so if you’re a cardholder be sure to explore the many features before booking travel.
This former charge card doesn’t have a traditional credit limit. Instead, you have no preset spending limit and your purchasing power adjusts over time with your usage of the card. You can typically expect it to be relatively high, but you can use Amex’s “Spending Power” tool to test different purchase amounts.
Other cards for travel and lounge access
Some of the best cards for airport lounge access are:
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Same excellent lounge access as the personal Platinum card
- Mastercard® Black Card™: Priority Pass Select membership, with access for cardholder and unlimited guests
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card: Delta Sky Club and Centurion Lounge access; terms apply
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Priority Pass Select membership, with access for cardholder and two guests
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card: Priority Pass Select membership, with access for cardholder and two guests
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Priority Pass Select membership, with access for cardholder and two guests
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: Priority Pass Select membership with 10 complimentary visits per year
- United Club℠ Infinite Card: United Club access for cardholder and up to two guests. Includes participating Star Alliance lounges
Best for Airline Travel
Take a bird’s-eye view at these premium airline credit cards. The United Club℠ Infinite Card in particular will get you quite a high limit – its minimum required credit line is $15,000! The others don’t have published minimum limits.
- United Club℠ Infinite Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
Best for Hotel Stays
Book your hotel and resort stays with premium hotel credit cards like these and you’ll be accompanied by a retinue of premium benefits as well, like elite hotel status, free night stays and Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership. These two cards don’t have published minimum limits.
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card
Best for Balance Transfers
U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card
The U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card is without a doubt one of the best credit cards for balance transfers. Although there are many cards with balance transfer offers, this card gives you the most time to pay.
Some other balance transfer cards have similar intro periods and no transfer fees, though the 0% periods tend to be shorter.
Best for Fair Credit
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Capital One QuicksilverOne Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One QuicksilverOne Rewards Credit Card isn’t your ordinary credit card. It’s designed to give people with limited or average credit a chance to earn rewards, something you don’t find on every card at this credit level.
How? Well, you’ll have to pay an annual fee, but it’s on the small side. Cards made for average credit typically don’t offer the highest credit lines right off the bat, and the minimum credit limit for this card is $300.
But, Capital One may consider increasing your credit line after the first six months – a nice feature if you need more spending capacity.
Other Credit Cards for Fair or Average Credit
- Discover it® Cash Back: 5% cash back in quarterly rotating bonus categories, up to $1,500 spent per quarter, then 1%
- Discover it® Student Cash Back: Excellent starter card for students, with great cash back rewards for no annual fee
- Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card for Students: One 3% cash back category of your choice, along with 2% categories (3% and 2% rewards up to $2,500 spent per quarter, then 1%)
- Journey Student Rewards from Capital One: 1% cash back for every purchase (1.25% if you pay on time). Open to everyone, not just students
- Deserve EDU Mastercard for Students: More accessible for international students. 1% cash back for every purchase
Best for Bad Credit
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Secured Card
If you want a secured card with the highest credit limit you can get, the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Secured Card is the plastic for you.
You can provide up to $4,900 for the security deposit, although you should consider if some of all that money could be better spent elsewhere. If you have a load of credit card debt increasing your credit utilization and bringing your scores down, for example, it might make more sense to pay down some of that debt.
You’ll even earn decent rewards, a rare feature when it comes to secured cards.
Bank of America will review your card account and your credit periodically. Show responsible credit use and BofA may return your deposit plus let you keep using your credit account. The U.S. Bank Secured Visa® Card actually allows a slightly higher max deposit of $5,000, but it won’t return your deposit and allow you to continue using the card.
Other Credit Cards for Bad Credit
- U.S. Bank Secured Visa® Card: Security deposit of $300 to $5,000; no annual fee.
- BankAmericard® Secured Credit Card: Security deposit of $300 to $4,900; no annual fee.
- Discover it® Secured: Security deposit of $200 to $2,500; no annual fee; cash back rewards.
- Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card: Security deposit of $49 to $1,000 (minimum required deposit funds a credit limit of $200); no annual fee.
How High Should My Credit Limit Be?
A credit card with a higher limit lets you charge more before you need to pay anything off.
It’s generally best to have credit lines that will let you charge as much as you need to each month, with some extra room to prevent you from getting close to the spending limit.
If you’re only going to charge $500 to your card each month, you’ll likely be fine with credit limits as low as $2,000 or so. If you’ll be spending upwards of $5,000 each month, you would probably want a credit line over $15,000.
The credit limits you get will be based in large part on your credit history and income. Young people, who are just beginning to establish a credit file and generate income, can expect to get relatively small credit limits when applying for new credit cards – often $1,000 or less.
Student credit cards typically have low limits for this reason. Retail store cards often tend to come with low credit lines as well, likely because they’re relatively easy to qualify for.
On the other hand, premium travel cards tend to require credit limits of several thousands of dollars. If you can’t qualify for the minimum limit you won’t be approved. Many mid-tier travel cards with annual fees require credit limits of at least $5,000.
No matter what credit limit you get when approved, most cards allow you to request a credit limit increase. We recommend doing this once every 6 or 12 months if you want higher limits, but take note that these requests can often lead to hard inquiries on your credit reports (but not always). If approved, you’ll get what’s known as a “reactive” credit line increase.
Sometimes an issuer will automatically increase your credit limit, with no need for a request. This type of increase, known as a “proactive” credit line increase, will not result in a hard inquiry on your credit reports.
Benefits of high credit limits
- Greater spending capacity: You’ll be able to charge more before you need to make payments, which can be useful in emergencies.
- More comfortable shopping: Large credit lines mean you won’t need to worry about your card being declined at the register for hitting the limit.
- Finance large purchases: Credit cards can be used to pay off purchases over time, especially with 0% intro APR cards.
- Improve credit scores: The higher your credit limits, the lower your revolving credit utilization ratio will be (as long as you don’t rack up more debt, of course). This is great for your credit scores in general.
- Consolidate debt: A large credit line lets you move all your debt onto the same low-interest card, like a 0% APR balance transfer card.
- Transfer credit lines: Some credit card companies will allow you to transfer credit lines between cards. You can consolidate debt onto one card to get a very big credit line, or spread your total credit line out over multiple cards.
- Access more benefits: The credit limit you’re approved for may factor into the number and type of card benefits you receive. A Visa Signature card, for example, will often require a $5,000 credit limit and may come with more perks than a Visa Platinum card (and in rare cases, a better signup bonus).
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get a high credit limit?
Hoping to get the highest credit limit possible? Build great credit, make a lot of money and avoid carrying unnecessary debt.
Great credit scores suggest that you pay your debts responsibly. If you make (and save) a lot of money, it’s a good indicator that you’ll always have the cash you need to continue paying your debts. This makes it less risky for lenders to provide you with a high credit card limit.
You don’t have to be rich to get a high credit limit, to be clear. You can likely get a decent limit with a modest income, good credit scores and a low debt-to-income ratio. But you’ll generally get higher credit limits as you make more money.
Unfortunately, high limit credit cards for bad credit probably don’t exist. Poor credit scores imply that you’ve struggled to manage credit in the past, and that can make it hard to get a high credit limit, especially if your income is low. Your best bet is to apply for a good credit card and then use it as responsibly as possible to build your credit scores. If you can prove you’re a dependable borrower, the issuer may be willing to increase your limit later on and you may qualify for other cards with higher limits.
What are the best high limit credit cards?
With good enough credit, high enough income and a low debt load, you’ll likely be given a fairly high credit limit on nearly any unsecured credit card. Still, we suggest you pick a card that suits your needs all around.
Our current picks for the best high limit credit cards include:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card
- Capital One QuicksilverOne Rewards Credit Card
- Discover it® Secured
Can you get a no limit credit card?
Not exactly. Most credit cards – even the most exclusive – tend to have limitations. But if you have enough money, issuers may allow you to bend the rules (on their terms, of course).
Legendary cards like the Centurion® Card from American Express and J.P. Morgan Reserve Card are the closest you’ll get to “no limit credit cards.” They’re designed primarily for millionaires and billionaires, so their limits are tailored accordingly. The Centurion®, for example, comes with no preset spending limit whatsoever.
A few easier-to-attain Amex cards (like The Platinum Card® from American Express) also come with the issuer’s no preset spending limit perk. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you can spend as much as you want. It means that your credit limit is malleable and will vary depending on factors like your income, your credit history and how you use the card.
Do Amex former charge cards have credit limits?
American Express offers some former charge cards in addition to regular credit cards, for both consumers and small business owners.
These former charge cards differ from regular credit cards in a few ways, and, importantly for our purpose here, they have “no preset spending limit” instead of a credit limit.
However, this does not mean you can spend an unlimited amount with these cards – there’s still a spending limit. It means that your particular spending limit will adjust over time, based on your use of the card and general creditworthiness (similar to a regular credit limit).
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to see your spending limit with these former charge cards. But Amex does provide a “Spending Power” tool you can use to test purchase amounts. If you’re planning a large purchase and aren’t sure if you’ll be approved you can use this tool to check beforehand. You can also contact customer support to ask if a purchase amount will go through.
But beware: Overuse of the Spending Power tool may lead to a financial review by Amex, in which they temporarily freeze your accounts to review your activity. Sebastian from AskSebby has reported triggering a financial review by testing the Spending Power tool with big transactions of $20,000, $30,000 and $50,000.
