A Credit Card in the Outer Limits

Book the next flight to Paris, dahling, put all the fashionable fashion boutiques on alert. Oh, and leave the cash at home. Living it up has gotten a trifle more convenient now that a leading credit card issuer, MBNA America Bank of Wilmington, Del., has extended its credit limit to $100,000 on MasterCards and Visas. But don’t count on using the new “Platinum Plus” plastic for something crazy like a condo or a wild shopping excursion--unless, of course, you can meet the strict qualifications for income and credit quality. That includes the ability to make the minimum monthly payments on a $100,000 balance: about $2,000. (Incidentally, someone with a $100,000 balance who made only the minimum payment on a card carrying a 16% interest rate would spend 43 years reducing the balance to $100.) “This is just another push toward catering to the affluent in bank services,” Robert K. Heady, publisher of Bank Rate Monitor in North Palm Beach, Fla., said Thursday. His company tracks U.S. banking trends. MBNA’s $100,000 limit is the highest in the country, although some banks, including MBNA, have offered six-figure limits to certain elite customers in the past, said Robert McKinley, president of RAM Research, a credit card research firm in Frederick, Md. Credit limits on most gold cards usually range from $5,000 to $25,000, which account for a majority of the nation’s $360-billion bank card debt. American Express has promoted an elite platinum card program for about 10 years, with less than 1% of its 36 million cardholders currently carrying one. California financier Eli Broad once charged a $2.5-million painting from Sotheby’s on his platinum card. He received 2.5 million frequent-flier miles as a bonus, American Express spokeswoman Emily Porter said.