I have a couple of questions:
Given: I have a Citi Mastercard with a limit of $5,600 (card member since 2007), Visa Amazon card (card member since early 2009) with a limit of $3,600, and have perfect payment history (always paid each statement in full and on time - never paid any interest). Other than these two credit cards I have no loans or anything to prove or disprove credit worthiness. My current salary is about 50k and will change to about 56k mid-year. I don't know what my credit score is because I've never run a report.
1. I recently applied for a Paypal Mastercard. I haven't gotten the card yet, but was told over the phone that I had been accepted and that my credit limit would be $500. I didn't request a credit line increase over the phone (I was just accepted and don't even have the card yet), but I really would like to have a larger limit. Every once in awhile I might use paypal for a large purchase in excess of that amount, probably only like once a year, if that, although most of the time I'd just be using it for gas because it gets 3% back - and I'd never spend more than 500/mo on gas - so for the majority of the time I'd have no issue with it. But, it really would be nice to have a larger limit, in the $2,000 - $3,000 range, especially because I'm thinking of getting rid of my Citi mastercard because it only gets 1% back on purchases (5% back on quarterly categories, but I'd rather have consistent year-round rates, which both the Amazon and Paypal cards have). Would my credit score be negatively impacted if I were to request a CLI after a month or two? Should I wait longer - if so how long?
2. Late last year, I increased my credit limit on my Citi card twice. I believe the first was mid-year and the second was late in the year. I think my first increase went fine, from like 2000 to 3500. In the second case, I wanted an increase because I was going to pay my graduate school tuition using the credit card, and the charge would be almost $5,000, so I had to request another CLI. This time it didn't work out. I'm pretty sure I had requested an increase and gotten denied twice in a relatively short time frame (through use of Citi's online form). The reason I requested it a second time shortly after being denied was because I thought the issue might have been my income, so I changed my income to my household income, which someone over the phone said I could do. My household income is significantly higher because I still live with my parents (just graduated from college - undergrad - last May). It was also denied so I called to ask why, and explained my situation further, that my income was X, my household income is Y, I need a larger CLI because of Z, I have a perfect payment history and have been a card member since 07, bla bla bla, and they accepted the jump. My fear, looking back, is that maybe my credit score took a hit? There were two rejections, and one acceptance (an acceptance for the same thing that other two rejections were for), probably in about a one week period. I don't know if the fact that I got the CLI in the end nulls out the fact that I got denied for it twice initially. And I'm worried that, because my new card has only a $500 limit... maybe this is, in part, the reason why. I can't think of any other reason - but then again I don't know much about credit scores.
3. I really want to get rid of my Citi Mastercard. The rewards are nowhere near the Amazon and Paypal cards. My hesitation to do so stems from the fact that (1) this is the credit card I've had the longest - since 2007 - and I have established a history with them, while to other banks I'm new (2) I have a high credit lmit with them, which I very rarely go anywhere near to reaching (often times I'm between $100-200 out of a 5,600 limit) so I assume it helps my credit score (3) I have $28 in rewards but can't redeem them until I get $50 (4) I have no idea how terminating this card would affect my credit score. I really don't want it, and I'd rather have two credit cards than three... especially because the Amazon and Paypal cards are really good for me in terms of rewards. I'm basically losing out on rewards every time I use my citi card. I used to use it for gas but now I'll get 3% back using the Paypal one for both gas and restaurants. And I do almost all of my shopping through Amazon where I get 3% back through that card. I don't have a need for this one anymore, the only reason I got it in the first place was that, when I first joined, I was I think a freshman in college and looking to build some credit history. So, my question is, how bad will it be for me if I terminate this account? To an extent, my rationale in keeping it is that there's a high limit on the card and maybe that will persuade the banks associated with my other credit cards to also give a higher limit - but I don't know if that makes any sense or not.
Thanks in advance
Starting Score: EQ 546 TU 566