BOA - CLI and should I have done this?

[Uncle_Money]

Uncle Money is back with yet another Bank of America tale for you Fico kiddies.

I have the Amex Accelerated Rewards card ($6800) and the Platinum Visa ($5000). Both accounts have a $0 balance.

Last week, I upgraded the Platinum Visa to their Signature Rewards Visa. The process went smoothly with a credit analyst.

Today, I log into my account online and the Platinum Visa was missing. I chat with the CSR on online chat and I'm told the account was closed due to inactivity. WTF???

So, I called and spoke with, yet another, credit analyst (I think this was like the 4th or 5th time I had to call BOA in the last few weeks!) He informs me that they tried to get in touch with me to verify some information, but since they couldn't reach me the account was closed.

Rather than reopening, I decided to just have the Amex Accelerated Rewards card increased. He bumped me to $12,500, which is a slight increase as compared to when I had the Visa.

HERE'S THE QUESTION: The Visa card was opened in 2006 and the Amex in 2008. Now that it's closed, is that going to hurt me down the road? Will the $5,000 still be factored into my score? Would they backdate the Amex card since I've been with them since 2006?

My scores are in the mid 700's across the board, very low utilization (under 20%) and virtually no inquires.

UM

[haulingthescoreup]

OK, you'll probably lose the $5K CL, unless it was closed with a balance, which it wasn't. It sounds like this was more than offset by the CLI on the other, though.

It *shouldn't* affect your length of history/ AAoA until it falls off in 10 years or so, at which point other accounts will probably take up the slack. Cross your fingers that EQ won't drop it early, which they sometimes do.

And I don't think this is an issue with you, but don't dispute anything on a closed account, as the CRA's will often just drop the whole TL. And there really isn't a thing that you can do if this happens.

Uncle Money, you might want to think about taking BofA off your speed dial and blocking their number for incoming calls!

[smc733]

This is why I hate Bank of America.  If Citibank were more prevalent in my home town I would ditch them in a heartbeat.

I applied for a BofA Student card after I got my forward card, and lets compare the two.

BofA, $700 limit, 14.24% rate, no rewards.

Citi, $1200 limit, 12.99% rate, awesome rewards.

[Uncle_Money]

Thanks, Hauling.

I think you're right, I need to refrain from BOA contact! I can't help it, though, as it seems they're always doing something that warrants a call. I have to say, they have been compliant when I do call, as they should. My lowest score (Fico) is 735 (Equifax) as of 8/3. Analyst says my scores are looking great but he wouldn't give me the #. Probably different than Fico?

This might be just as well because I probably have too many open accounts at this point anyway because I just got the Citi Diamond card. Do you think they would back date the Amex?

UM

[KIPPIE12]

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@Uncle_Money wrote:

Thanks, Hauling.

I think you're right, I need to refrain from BOA contact! I can't help it, though, as it seems they're always doing something that warrants a call. I have to say, they have been compliant when I do call, as they should. My lowest score (Fico) is 735 (Equifax) as of 8/3. Analyst says my scores are looking great but he wouldn't give me the #. Probably different than Fico?

This might be just as well because I probably have too many open accounts at this point anyway because I just got the Citi Diamond card. Do you think they would back date the Amex?

UM

No, they would not backdate the Amex.  Only Amex itself  provides this service.  To my knowledge, no other banks do.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@KIPPIE12 wrote:

No, they would not backdate the Amex.  Only Amex itself  provides this service.  To my knowledge, no other banks do.

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+1

AmEx cards that come from banks other than American Express are processed through the AmEx network, and they have many of the consumer protections, but they don't provide access to the classic American Express rewards, and they don't backdate. The backdating thing comes about because of the "member since" date. Having a non-AmEx AmEx doesn't make you a member.