Line of Credit

After I had bought and sold a few houses I realized I needed a line of credit.

The credit cards were working ok, but there were so many of them to keep track of I started canceling any card that would not give me more than $1,000 in a cash advance.

I applied for a line of credit at a local bank and was accepted.  It started off at $5000 but I kept calling there customer service every 6 months to get it increased because of my good payment record.  I eventually got it raised up to $100,000.  

The major advantage to a line of credit is you only have to make one payment and only one transaction when you go to get the money.  Credit cards are easier to get but you need a lot of them at my peak I had between 25 to 30 different credit cards.  

I was constantly applying for larger credit cards and canceling the ones that had a low cash advance limit.  If a credit card company was only going to give me $500 after a while it just was not worth the trouble.

When you start out with your line of credit just take anything the bank is willing to offer, even if it is $100.  As soon as you are approved call their customer service and ask what there policy on increasing your line of credit is.  

Some banks will raise your credit limit every 3 months, others a manager must put in a request so it just a matter of talking one of the manager into doing it for you.

After credit cards getting a line of credit was my next best step in the real estate business.