Exactly. I dont know why anyone would want to purposefully increase their utliization.
Lowering your limit does not always increase your utilization significantly. Some of us request lower limits because we have been given just ridiculous amounts of credit over the years, usually not at our request. And if we don't carry a balance and therefore we only show a small amount of usage any given month, dropping our available credit line barely results in a blip in our utilization and therefore doesn't impact our credit score. But that ridiculous amount of open credit CAN affect our ability to get new loans and other items. Banks are being even more aggressive than before in denying new loans/credit simply because you have too much available credit for your income - even if you don't use it and have a fabulous credit score. Ever notice how they ask for your income when you apply for a new credit card? They aren't making the decision off of just your credit score, they are also doing an open credit to income ratio check. Having too much credit is a risk for the bank - you could go out, charge up a storm and not be able to pay everything off. If you want to have the option to apply for a mortgage, or a new credit card because it has better rewards than your other cards, you risk being denied if you have too much credit already open. So keeping the amount of credit open in your name under control does make sense.
It's a balancing act. It's not as simple as saying more is better.
