Amex limits and new card

[Anonymous]

I am coming up on my 180 days 3X CLI this week.  I am thinking of asking for an increase on my delta card which is ending it's 12th month.

Soon after, I want to apply for BCE because I don't do a lot of traveling and have enough MR points for a couple years at this point.  Looking to go cash back over MR for a while.  I suspect I am near their limit for my income so it will probably come back with a lower SL.  I can then shuffle around my Delta and Everyday limits to the BCE.

Any thoughts as to if this is a decent strategy or if I should go about it another way?

(Or should I keep with the MR points and work on my FICO score by not getting any ANY new accounts)

[JustBPatient]

You certainly have some CL to shuffle for your BCE and the good news is any new apps for AMEX will be SP.

Good luck!!

[K-in-Boston]

@Anonymous I think your strategy is good if the BCE makes sense for you; of course I'd suggest taking a deep look into whether the BCP would be better if you want to go the cash back route.  When weighing whether to do a CLI or new app with Amex first, I always suggest to go for the CLI first.  If for some reason you are denied, it's a lot easier to make that call to recon the decision by offering to move your existing credit lines around in order to open it. 

The "rules" used to be that one or both cards needed to be at least a year old prior to moving credit lines around, but most of us are finding out that it's no longer the case and have been able to move credit lines to and from new accounts online with no issues.  Just keep in mind that you are limited to one credit line reallocation each 30 days, so you'd need to wait a month between moving over the other credit lines.  Also, having "enough MR points" is a foreign concept to me, hehe.

[NRB525]

Yes, before we declare victory, how many MR points do you have, OP?

My preference is to do the app first, because my experience has been good starting lines after my first AMEX had some experience.