I've been considering doing this after a fraudulent charge scare. I don't make large purchases often and I'd lower it to where my credit utilization score would still max out at 35%.
I wouldn't. Yes, fraudulent charges can happen, but a good credit card company will remove that for you without it leaving any negative marks on your credit. I would rather have a higher credit limit available in case I really needed it for something.
I did about 10 years ago. I had several credit cards and one of the companies just kept raising the limit, time after time. I had a great looking credit report and didn't want anything on it to make it look bad because I was going to be building a house soon. I did not want to be denied getting a mortgage because a bank might have thought I would actually max out that one credit card with a really high limit. I had the company lower the credit limit so anybody who looked at my credit report would know that I would not be spending a lot of money on that card. I don't think by doing so that it had any negative consequences..
Yes, I've asked the company to lower the limit, after the first credit card I had gradually raised the limit until it stood at £8,000. I wasn't worried that potential creditors may be worried by that, but I was concerned that I may be tempted to max out the card. I asked them to lower the limit, and they said they couldn't, but they wouldn't raise it again. After that, I called the company each time they proposed to raise the limit and asked them to lower it again.
I have never asked any credit card company I had a card with to lower the limit. I made horrible credit card usage decisions when I was younger. I cleared up all my credit card debt and now I only use cash. Lowering your credit card limit is a good idea if your worried that may max out the card. You should contact your credit card company and see what they could do.
Here is something else to consider before you do that. If you want to keep a good credit score, your balance should be less than 50% of your credit line. If you lower your credit line on all of your credit cards, I would think that it will hurt your credit score.
I wouldn't lower my credit limit, but you can put some type of watch on your account. This usually involves showing an id for any purchases.
I haven't asked my credit card company to lower my limit because it's not a super high limit and I don't abuse credit or shop that much. I've never felt a need to lower my credit limit and I haven't gotten any offers to raise it either.
