topic To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question in Credit Cards

To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 03:57:20 GMT

Hello and thank you all for any help. Im new here but I love this sight! Long time lurker I guess.

I have two capital one cards and I qulify for the combing of two cards into one card with the credit lines of both becoming one. It will immediately closing the other.

To qualify, of course have two cards for a set peroiod. One of those cards must have a zero balance with no pending.

One is 3,300 the other 2200. Resulting in one card with a credit lone of 5500.

Here's the meat of the question. 2 fold. 1. Will having two cards with the limits noted above be better for my score or the one card now with a larger limit would be better? 2. In this process, the one card with with the zero balance is the one that gets closed immediate. Will the closing of the one account be worse for my score than any good the combing of the two accounts into one did for my score?

Thank you again everyone that might be able to offer any insight so I can make a some what informed decesion.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 04:59:31 GMT

just keep your oldest one open an having the larger card looks better because it shows you can handle higher limits.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

SouthJamaica — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 05:15:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello and thank you all for any help. Im new here but I love this sight! Long time lurker I guess.

I have two capital one cards and I qulify for the combing of two cards into one card with the credit lines of both becoming one. It will immediately closing the other.

To qualify, of course have two cards for a set peroiod. One of those cards must have a zero balance with no pending.

One is 3,300 the other 2200. Resulting in one card with a credit lone of 5500.

Here's the meat of the question. 2 fold. 1. Will having two cards with the limits noted above be better for my score or the one card now with a larger limit would be better? 2. In this process, the one card with with the zero balance is the one that gets closed immediate. Will the closing of the one account be worse for my score than any good the combing of the two accounts into one did for my score?

Thank you again everyone that might be able to offer any insight so I can make a some what informed decesion.

I recently did it and regret that I did. Once you combine, they'll make you wait for a long time to get a CLI. I think it's better to have 2 smaller accounts, with different due dates, and just let it be.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

NRB525 — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 05:16:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello and thank you all for any help. Im new here but I love this sight! Long time lurker I guess.

I have two capital one cards and I qulify for the combing of two cards into one card with the credit lines of both becoming one. It will immediately closing the other.

To qualify, of course have two cards for a set peroiod. One of those cards must have a zero balance with no pending.

One is 3,300 the other 2200. Resulting in one card with a credit lone of 5500.

Here's the meat of the question. 2 fold. 1. Will having two cards with the limits noted above be better for my score or the one card now with a larger limit would be better? 2. In this process, the one card with with the zero balance is the one that gets closed immediate. Will the closing of the one account be worse for my score than any good the combing of the two accounts into one did for my score?

Thank you again everyone that might be able to offer any insight so I can make a some what informed decesion.

OP, do you have any other credit cards? You only mention the two Capital One cards. If you combine those into one card, and that is the only credit card you have, it might not be the best for your score.

Having said that, however, since the limits are decent, I'm guessing you do have other credit cards besides these two. In that case, as noted above, just keep your oldest CapOne, combine the newer into it (unless the APR on the newer card is really a lot better) and you will be fine. A closed card is no issue on your credit report. I have about half a dozen closed cards, two of which still report balances that I am paying off, and are closed cards.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 05:18:43 GMT

How much of this CL combining trend is really just about paying less in the way of annual fees when the signup bonuses are used up?

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 05:40:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
How much of this CL combining trend is really just about paying less in the way of annual fees when the signup bonuses are used up?

This combing has nothing to do with anything funny ie intrest rates lower on one ect. I am simply looking to do everything i can to have a better score. Annual fees dont bother me.

Thanks and as of now the thinking is to keep em seperate. Lets hear some more

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 07:11:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
How much of this CL combining trend is really just about paying less in the way of annual fees when the signup bonuses are used up?

It used to (and may still) be the case that Capital One wouldn't lower your APR; their policy was if you want a lower APR apply for the card again. So people ended up with multiple accounts for that reason. Of course this has evolved over time, and now another popular reason to apply for multiples was to get a high CL via combining instead of asking for CLI, especially useful since Venture was/is typically generous with SL. The avoidance of paying AF was a pleasant side effect, but not the driving factor, from what I've seen.

@Anonymous wrote:
Here's the meat of the question. 2 fold. 1. Will having two cards with the limits noted above be better for my score or the one card now with a larger limit would be better? 2. In this process, the one card with with the zero balance is the one that gets closed immediate. Will the closing of the one account be worse for my score than any good the combing of the two accounts into one did for my score?

Agreed with NRB and XTERROR...in general having higher limit cards begets approvals for more higher limit cards in the future. In terms of score maximization, you'd want the older card open to preserve its AAoA (the newer account will fall off after 10 years), but this wouldn't be the only factor:

instead of spreading purchases across two cards, you'll have them all on one, which may be easier to keep track of
does your older card have higher APR and/or AF? If so then maybe it's worth the sacrifice of AAoA to instead merge the older one into the newer one
do the two cards have different benefits? It might be worth keeping them both open if you don't want to lose out on one of the card's perks
you can ask for 2 CLI's with 2 cards, but only 1 with 1 card...some people take advantage of this by asking for CLI on both cards immediately before combining

Of course, there's also the overall question: are you looking to maximize your score for an upcoming financial event (new app, mortgage, auto loan, etc.)? If so then the maximization makes sense. Otherwise, letting both continue to age won't affect your score much. So really it's up to your personal preference!

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

takeshi74 — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 13:41:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Here's the meat of the question. 2 fold. 1. Will having two cards with the limits noted above be better for my score or the one card now with a larger limit would be better? 2. In this process, the one card with with the zero balance is the one that gets closed immediate. Will the closing of the one account be worse for my score than any good the combing of the two accounts into one did for my score?

Take a look at the Closing Credit Cards thread linked in the Helpful Threads sticky.

@Anonymous wrote:
in general having higher limit cards begets approvals for more higher limit cards in the future.

This meme gets a parroted a lot on credit sites but it's a gross oversimplification. Limits factor into revolving utilization which falls under Amounts Owed but higher limits do not simply "beget higher limits" on their own. It's certainly possible to get lower limits even with higher limit cards. I have multiple $25K cards and a $30K card and I've received $5K approvals. Do not simply rely on limits or any one factor. One's entire credit profile and income are taken into consideration for granting limits and CLI's.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 13:47:16 GMT

and yes the whole report and income factors into the limit but creditors will likely give higher limits if they see one $5k limit vs three $2k limits (even though with the three cards you have more credit, it doesn't show you handle higher limits well yet. it shows you handle low limits well)

so, to say that higher limits do not have bearing in getting more high limits is completely incorrect.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 15:05:15 GMT

@takeshi74 wrote:
This meme gets a parroted a lot on credit sites but it's a gross oversimplification. Limits factor into revolving utilization which falls under Amounts Owed but higher limits do not simply "beget higher limits" on their own. It's certainly possible to get lower limits even with higher limit cards. I have multiple $25K cards and a $30K card and I've received $5K approvals. Do not simply rely on limits or any one factor. One's entire credit profile and income are taken into consideration for granting limits and CLI's.

There's a reason I specifically stated in general as opposed to using absolute terms. Although it's possible to get low SL's when one already has high SL's, getting high SL's with a portfolio full of low SL's is not very common; there has been plenty of anecdotal evidence (as well as personal experience) where one of the reasons for low SL was due to lack of experience with high credit limits. No one was claiming that having high limits was the only factor, but it's definitely an important one.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 14:56:11 GMT

Hey look at the end the choice is up to you. I have been planting seeds since 2009 playing the credit card game.

I recently did the same thing, BECAUSE we had 4 Capital One Credit Cards. We didnt need 4 cards, two were due

to expire anyway, the hard part is to see those limits go away. When I saw that Capital One offered this, I decided to combined

3 cards into one. They are the only bank that will do this for you, as far as I know. Ultimately I chose to do this because

we didnt want that many revolving trade lines or to loose the rovolving credit. Think about it, it looks better on your credit to

have 1 high credit limit card than to have several low limit cards. Especially if you already have established credit. If your planting

seeds to build credit then keep them both. I know the 800 beacon gods in here will tell you to keep them both. BUT if your not a 750

or over having to many revolving trade lines will affect you when you go to apply for credit or for a credit limit increase. You will see

denials along the lines of:

To many revolving trade lines

Inexperience at current limit

Under utilization of current account

Total payments are low or lack of account activity

These are the excuses I got from when I was planting seeds and it sucks. Again your situation is completely different from the people in here with an 750++800 scores.

I have read on here that the people with excellent credit have 7 credit cards or less. Theres alot on here with a crazy amounts of credit cards as well but once they get to 750++ nobody really says no anymore, but you can still get it cancelled for not using it. I had up to 11 at one time and then when I got a better card, with a better rate, and higher limit, i would close my crapy low limit credit cards. Now im down to 7 and highest credit limit is $15,000. You have to decide how much credit you really need and will use, if you dont use it you lose it anyway.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 03:28:58 GMT

Thank you eveyone for your input and effort! I have decided to combine two into one in doing so closing one of the card accounts and having one large credit line card.

Re: To combine two cards into one or not to combine is the question

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 04:30:37 GMT

I wasnt able to close the newer card, I had to close the 3 year old card, but i got the lower apr. the 0 balance gets closed if you have anything on the other one it takes the limit increase.