Originally Posted by
Diplomatico
You'll get mixed responses on this. Some do what you've described to try to increase their chance for "auto-approval". ... Conversely, if you've proactively reduced your own credit limit prior to applying, you've removed that option.
I did exactly that before applying for the CSR after reading the advice on here. Reduced credit line on another card from $20K to $10K hoping for auto-approval. That didn’t work, but I was approved for the CSR after review. Didn’t have to call in, but instead of using the $10K I had just freed up, they took $5K more from that card and $5K from another card. That’s not what I wanted, so I called in to request the credit line on the CSR to be increased by $10K. The request was immediately granted, but cost me another hard pull. I am now firmly of the opinion that once you have credit available, it is best to keep it (and as
pallhedge pointed out, it also helps your utilization ratio).