Which Cities Offer Highest Credit Card Limits?

HOBOKEN, N.J.—Three California cities are among the top ten in the country for credit card spending limits, a new study shows.

The report, from LendEDU, noted that higher spending limits are one of several reasons that credit card use is overtaking the use of popular debit cards.

LendEDU pointed to a 2016 TSYS report that shows 40% of consumers preferred credit cards as a payment method as compared to 35% of consumers who preferred debit cards.

In 2013, LendEDU noted, 48% of consumers preferred debit cards over the 33% who preferred credit cards, saying the tide is turning to credit cards.

“To some consumers, the spending flexibility of a credit card is especially appealing and useful. Credit card holders have up to a few hundred to thousands of dollars at their disposal, and there is always the prospect of increased spending power down the road with credit limit increases. On the contrary, debit cards will always be limited by how much money consumers happen to have in their accounts,” LendEDU said.

Credit cards, too, are a more consistent source of funding, and they allow consumers to avoid dipping into their bank accounts until it’s time to pay the credit card bill, said LendEDU. Plus, they often offer rewards and offer greater purchase security.

“With that being said, we thought it would be interesting to see which towns and cities in the United States had the highest overall credit limits, or in other words, we wanted to rank U.S. towns and cities by their spending power,” said LendEDU.

LendEDU used Experian’s Premier Aggregated Credit Statistics. Below are the top ten cities for card limits: