I want to close my Citi Dividends World Mastercard and open a Chase Sapphire. The thinking is to keep 1 Visa, 1 MC, and 1 Amex while spreading my accounts around through different banks. Which option would be better?
1. Close the Dividends World Mastercard before I apply for the Chase Sapphire and see if they will transfer my CL to my Forward or
2. Open the Chase Sapphire and then close the Citi Dividends World Mastercard and see if they will transfer the CL then
The thinking is that a higher CL on the Forward will lead to a higher initial CL on the Sapphire. On the other hand, it might look better to have 2 open revolving lines (in addition to my Amex charge) than 1. In the end, I will be happy as long as the Sapphire reports a CL, but it would be nice to get a higher CL from the start. After my recent CL increase on the Forward, I'm still only at 18% of my salary. One big spend and my utilization will be trashed if I don't pay before the statement cuts.
Thanks in advance.
Honestly I don't know if that straight follows anymore. I think the old common wisdom was that Chase matched one's current limits, but the wave of both Freedom and Sapphire approvals in the past few months speaks differently where they're sometimes much higher than prior limits comparitively.
3 tradelines revolving tradelines is a better place to be than 2, and unless you aren't actively using one of the Citi cards or the Sapphire replaces it, I wouldn't bother closing it yet. For that matter I'd rather have 4-5 instead of three since I suspect that's closer towards the mythical average, but it probably doesn't make too much difference FICO wise.... diminishing returns if nothing else.
That said, if you have a healthy relationship with Amex and you're chasing CL's, why not open a revolver there as well?
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3 cards is more than enough for me to handle. I try to consolidate my points on one card, so my Amex is my pay for everything card. The Forward gets used exclusively at restaurants and Amazon, and the Mastercard is sitting around for any of the places that don't take Amex (given how watered down Thank You points are, I don't use the Forward at these places). I want both Visa and Mastercard so I'm set if I travel internationally to a place where one is more widely accepted than the other. The Sapphire will just replace my current Mastercard. I'm staying away from Amex revolvers because there just isn't a need for one with my current spend. All my Amex spend would still go on the PRG, and the revolver would just sit in the sock drawer. I'd rather not get a card I don't plan on using. The magical number for me right now is 3.
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