Make Sure Lenders Are Reporting Your Credit Card Limits.

A chunk of your credit score is based on revolving debt outstanding compared with the total amount of credit available, or your debt-to-credit-limit ratio. If your debt nudges up against your credit limit, your score will fall.

But some creditors withhold credit limits to tarnish customers' credit histories, making them less appealing to competitors. If a lender does not report your credit limit, you look a little bit worse to any other creditor, and you're less likely to get competing offers.

Credit Limit Information Determines the Level of Credit Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board published a comprehensive study examining the information in consumer credit reports in 2003. This study identified several areas of concern regarding the data. The primary area of concern with data integrity highlighted in this study was that of missing credit limits. About 70 percent of consumers had at least one revolving account in their credit files that did not contain information about the credit limit. Without information on the credit limit, the level of credit utilization – a key factor used in credit evaluation – cannot be determined, and as a result these consumers are likely to be deemed less credit worthy than they are.