Closing a card without it looking bad on my report?

[Noctilum]

In 2009 I got a Chase Slate card.  I don't use it at all anymore.  I try and remember to charge something small each month to it and pay it off immediately but in all honesty, the card serves no purpose in my eyes other than it's my highest credit limit at $7,000. 

So now I am wondering if I should close it and if possible, is there anything I can do with Chase so it does not reflect poorly on my report.  I bank with Chase and also have a Chase Freedom card which I use religiously.  That card only has a $6,000 limit.  Can I neogotiate with them to possibly merge the Slate into my Freedom and increase my Freedom credit limit?  I never come close to the $6k limit (about $1.5k) but I always pay in full before the statement closes.

[jamesdwi]

Call them up move your Availible credit from the slate to the freedom, all you have to do is ask, they will move all but $500 to the other card I would sock drawer the card or put in a safe deposit box, wait for them to close it. But if you really want it closed go ahead and have them close it after the credit has been moved to the other card, see the sticky thead on closing card, nothing negative for closing the card it stays on your credit report for up to 10 years.

[maiden_girl]

Chase can move your entire Slate CL to your Freedom and can close out your Slate card. The only  requirement is that the account you're merging from has a zero balance and no pending transactions or they can not process the request. Just call the number on the back of your card and tell Chase what you would like to do. Literally a 5 minute call.

You can also leave 500 on the Slate as suggested if you would like to keep the card open but from your post, you would probably be better off transferring the entire CL and closing out the card. Freedom has better reward structure.

[Walt_K]

As others have suggested, you should be able to move the limit over.  Even so, I would not shut down a card preemptively just to avoid the notation "closed by creditor" or "closed due to inactivity" or similar.  That really doesn't matter.  

These notations are not scored for FICO purposes.  Yes, people will tell you that it could make a difference on manual review, but this is more a hypothetical concern than a real concern.  I have 7 accounts that went very late during a period of unemployment in 2008.  They range from 90-150 day lates.  They were closed down by the credit grantors with comments to that effect. Once my scores recovered, it has not stood in the way of me getting new credit cards (some with ~$30K initial limits), a new home, and a new car with good rates.  That is with the lates still reporting.  I can't imagine that these remarks make a difference.

So, even if you decide to move the credit line over.  I would leave the account open and see what happens.  If they close it, they close it.  If not, it continues to age which helps your reports.  If you are concerned that the account could be used for fraud and just don't want the hassle of monitoring it, I could see closing it for that reason.  But I wouldn't close it just because of fear of a negative credit reporting factor.  

Incidentally, so as not to thread jack, I've started another thread to see whether creditors will close down one card for inactivity when you are using another one of their products heavily.  My suspicion (based loosely on my own experience) is that they will not.  So your use of the Freedom may insulate your Slate from being shut down.  But we'll see what others have to report.