I recently (October 2011) was approved for both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Amex Blue Preferred. In both cases, I was given a low limit due to a mistake on my credit report, which has now been taken care of. For the Sapphire, at least, I was given the minimum limit after a reconsideration call. The Amex was approved outright, though also low limi. I use the Amex exclusively for the groceries and gas categories, so I'm never in danger of needing a huge limit; I generally put about 200-2500 per month on the Sapphire as my main spend card. The only other card I have so far is the Freedom, which has a reasonable limit as I've had it since before the mistake showed up.

All that to ask: which is better, asking for a limit increase on one or both cards, or not? I am jumping into the churning game in 2012, so I can see it working either way. If the issuer has to do a hard pull for the increase, that's bad and not worth it. If getting a couple new credit cards and thus increasing my overall credit availability is just as good, then it's a wash. And if Chase especially has an approach of "we will extend this person only X dollars of credit", then it might work in my favor to have the lower limit, and perhaps score an extra card.

So I turn to the experts...my thoughts are just hypotheses. What's the best approach in the real world?

Raising the limit on your CC improves your debt to credit ratio, thus improves your credit score. I do not see a downside. (Assuming you stay within the bounds of paying the entire nut each month.)

I had Chase up my limit in order to make a $10K spend. No problems.

If your TOTAL CL on all cards is too high you may be denied a new card. All depends on your score, income, etc.