I'm open to ideas before I do anything.

[ficus]

Short-term consequences are of no concern.

Here's my current CC spread:

Chase1   -13yrs    $9,200    0%
Chase2   -2mos    $1,000    0%
BoA         -1mos    $5,200    0%
Wamu     -N/A       $1,500    0%
Amex       -N/A       $5,000    0%
1stPrem  -6mos       $200    0%

The N/A means these cards haven't reported yet. 1) I want to dump the 1st Prem card AFTER all cards had reported. 2) Combine Chase1 and Chase2 cards, closing the Chase2 account. I'm not sure if this will somehow improve the avg. age of all accounts. But I want to bring the total # of cards down to 4, "making room" for more cards that I intend to apply for in 12 months. I want to achieve the best possible FICO scores in the LONG RUN with the above-mentioned plan.

I'm open to ideas, though. Thanks.

[scramblingin2007]

Your plan sounds good! 2 thumbs up!

[Anonymous]

I talked to Chase earlier this year (I believe in March or April) about the possibility of consolidating my 2 Chase accounts.  The representative did mention to me that if I decide to consolidate my accounts, the account to be closed must have a $500 credit line remaining.  I would then lose that $500 in available credit after the 2 cards are consolidated.  I don't know if that's still the case now--you would have to ask Chase if that's still their procedure. 

[ficus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I talked to Chase earlier this year (I believe in March or April) about the possibility of consolidating my 2 Chase accounts. The representative did mention to me that if I decide to consolidate my accounts, the account to be closed must have a $500 credit line remaining. I would then lose that $500 in available credit after the 2 cards are consolidated. I don't know if that's still the case now--you would have to ask Chase if that's still their procedure.

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I understand. When I was activating the second Chase card, there was an option to just add the new card's limit onto the old card. They didn't mention any conditions. That was 1.5 months ago. Perhaps, my circumstances were different.

[Anonymous]

Avg age counts all open and closed accounts-
So you avg age will not change-

It will change when those 2 cards report.

[Anonymous]

For what it is worth, I did consolidate two Chase cards last week. They combined the credit limits and closed the newer account. I have a third that was single holder that we have to convert to joint and then all three will be one. That one requires a signature and I sent back the paperwork yesterday. They have already closed the second account and the CL on the first is the amount of the two. My understanding is that the third will do the same and the CSR did confirm when this was done I would have a single CL equal to the combined three. These were all zero balance cards so I am not sure how they would have handled otherwise. BOA actually did a CLI when I combined two with them. The CL on the one is actually higher than the sum of the two. That was done two weeks ago. The web sites reflected the changes immediately for both.

[Anonymous]

I thought that it was not a good idea to transfer balances because part of the FICO scoring system is made up of longevity of your credit and if you close out your card to transfer the balance, you are basically starting with a new line of credit and losing that longevity credit life.  I read that on this website.

[Anonymous]

In my case, it is not a balance transfer but a CL consolidation to the original account. My original account number is still in force and I use the same card as I did before. The CR shows no change in the date opened, simply an increase in the CL.

[Anonymous]

Try not to have too many credit cards as it will affect your scores. Fico states high achievers have no more than three credit accounts-revolving.

12/01/07 EQ 735 EX 713 TU 737

[fused]

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kefinest wrote:

Try not to have too many credit cards as it will affect your scores. Fico states high achievers have no more than three credit accounts-revolving.

12/01/07 EQ 735 EX 713 TU 737

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It's not the number of CCs but rather the number of CCs carrying a balance.