Hi All,
I'm currently using BoA Premium Rewards card for travel, but going to switch over to my CSR now that I'm committed to UR ecosystem on personal and business (my "trifecta" is CSR, CFU, and CIP). This means that I'll be using the CSR for travel spending. The only problem is that my CSR has a $20k limit on it and I'd like to have a little more buffer for the type of spend I plan to do.
So I'm thinking about killing two birds with one stone and would love your feedback about whether it makes sense.
I stay at Ritz Carltons and other Marriott properties frequently, but don't have a hotel credit card.
My plan is to apply for the Chase Bonvoy Boundless card (my guess is I can probably get a $20k - $30k SL based on my history with Chase) and get the SUB. Then, after one year, move all but $10k of the limit over to my CSR and then PC the Boundless card to the Ritz Carlton Infinite card (which for me, nets more value than the Boundless plus gets me a 50k annual night stay vs 35k). So this gets me the SUB on Boundless, increases my CSR limit, and lands me the RC card that has higher expectancy for me.
Thoughts on this strategy? @Aim_High didn't you do something similar?
I suppose the biggest risk is the RC card not being around in one year.
Yes, my understanding is that the Ritz-Carlton card is still available as a PC from the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card even though it's not open to new off-the-street applications.
Your discussion is similar to some things I've done (or planned to do) with Chase, @audioman00, although slightly different. I think the strategy would work just fine but it could also be done other ways if your main goal is to pump up CSR. Personal limits with Chase can all be moved between them, just not between business and personal. So moving some of your $43.9K limit on CFU is also an option, as well as adding another new card like a Freedom Flex, and then reallocating limits. I can't imagine the Ritz Carlton card being cancelled without some sort of replacement offering but stranger things have happened. Cards are a moving target and continue to evolve so there are no guarantees.
I was 0/24 with one Chase card and applied for five Chase cards gradually over a 15-month window, vastly increasing my overall limits with them. I believe I started out with a $39.5K or so limit on my Freedom Unlimited. (The CFU was PC from a Slate Visa and I had an Amazon Visa for about six years which I had eventually closed and combined limits with the CFU. I'm not a heavy Amazon shopper.) The cards I added were a Sapphire Reserve, INK Business Preferred (later PC'd to INK Cash), Freedom, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, and World of Hyatt.
The CSR was approved at $35K SL. Marriott Bonvoy Boundless approved at $33K. Freedom at (I believe $21.7K)? By the time I got done with the last card (WoH), they borrowed from my CSR limit to approve it at $30K. My overall limits were capped at $138.4K. I've seen similar CL caps with them so there must be something to that CL range, IMO, perhaps similar to BofA's $99.9K glass ceiling that is tricky to bust.
I did some credit limit moves and ended up with just $10K per hotel card and pumped CSR up to $55K. I got the hotel cards for the SUBs, to test drive them, and to possibly eventually close and transfer limits to the CSR. One objective I've had for a few years was to have a few selected very high limit cards. I've got BofA Premium Rewards to $85K and would like to take CSR to $80K to $100K.
Besides the hotel cards, I've considered whether I would close one of the Freedoms since I don't know if I really need all the quadfecta cards that I have now combined with my other rewards cards strategies. (While the Freedom Unlimited's 2.25% in UR travel on everything is great, it's still less than my 3% on AOD FCU Visa or 2.625% on BofA Premium Rewards, and those are both payable in flexible cash instead of travel. I also find I don't spend a lot on my Freedom rotating categories. So I'm evaluating what to do. Fewer cards is attractive to me in some respects.) Regardless, my plan is to have a higher-limit CSR, probably lower limit Freedom(s), no Chase hotel cards. I felt that my spending probably doesn't justify accruing both URs and hotel points in multiple chains. It dilutes my travel earnings too much among too many pools.
I seriously considered converting my Marriott Boundless to the Ritz-Carlton card but the $300 in airline fee credits didn't seem as useful to me as the very similar AMEX Bonvoy Brilliant's Marriott property credits. Even though it's a higher AF, the AMEX Bonvoy Brilliant seems to offer a lot more value for the money even than the Chase Bonvoy Boundless so it is probably the one I would find more practical out of the hotel cards. That also gives me an AMEX rotator card as a target, since I'm non-plussed with some of the rest of their rotator card lineup for my spending and needs.
That's where I am right now. 
It's been somewhat of a moving target and still evaluating, as you can tell. Hope this helps.
Love these Strats!!! I need a Pen & Paper 🤓
@Aim_High super helpful response. Thank you! You've been my FICO role model for some time!
I think I'll move forward with my plan.
I'm 1/24 right now, so ready to app for some Chase cards. Though I don't know I'll go as crazy as you did! I can also confirm that they seem to limit total exposure to 50% of income, which gives me some ceiling and means I can probably squeeze in two new cards.
You're right about transferring some limit from CFU. I find myself with too many non-category cards and I'm a bit in limbo. Currently using Navy Flagship 2%. I should probably switch to the Premium Rewards card at 2.625%, but I'm somewhat hesitant to because a) I feel indebeted to Navy for lending to me when I was poor and b) because I would have to move assets to BoA / setup a new account and I'm trying to simplify my financial life. But you're right that 1.5% / 2.25% on CFU is less appealing to me than Flagship 2% cash or Premium Rewards 2.625% cash.
I'll app for the Boundless in July and move some CFU limit to CSR. In a year, PC Boundless to RC. And we'll see by that time whether loyalty to Navy and keeping things simple is worth foregoing the 0.625%. We'll call it a $400 annual loyalty / simplicity tax!
Thanks again!