@ZeroChance wrote:
Again thank you to everyone for the advice.
Interestingly I got an offer to upgrade one of my BofA cards to Cash Rewards 123. (Both are currently no frills, no rewards cards with a low APR.) I'll do the product change and consolidate the lines of credit. Should I call the number on the back of the card and speak with whomever answers? Or should I be asking to speak with someone specific like a credit analyst?
Sorry if I seem paranoid. I've followed this forum for many months, and reading others experiences with AA, FR, denials due to inquiries, etc has made me very cautious. I used to just call and ask, but now I'm learning that one should plan when applying for credit, asking for CLI, etc.
ZC
CR123 is a decent card. If you have no AF on either current card, you might consider PC the other account to Travel Rewards if it makes sense for you. Two ~20k cards with different perks might be more advantageous than one 40k rewards card. Or combine both into the CR123 like I did. They wouldn't remove the AF on my second account otherwise I would have PC it to TR.
I called 866-506-5068 and spoke with credit analyst department after discussing the options and submitting the transfer request with a CSR.
To ensure maximum leverage and insurance against AA, one could pay accounts down to zero and be prepared to close. However, if your credit and accounts are in good shape and not high UTIL and so forth, then you should be able to get what you're asking for.
@ZeroChance wrote:I read the letter again, and the product change offer is only for one of the cards, not both. Unfortunately, the offer is for the second card that I opened, not the first card. I want to keep the history on the first card because it was opened in 1995. The second card was opened in 2001. I assume I can product change the first card even though I didn't get an offer letter, and then transfer the balance of the second card. Does that sound right?
Also I wasn't aware that there was an annual fee. I think I might get more benefit from the cash back rather than the travel rewards. To be honest, I rarely use the cards but keep them open because they're my oldest cards.
ZC
That sounds right...I'm sure you can PC either account. If you're going to PC one of the two, I'd also try the older one to keep its age. The new rewards card won't have an AF.
Just a quick follow up on my experience.
The new account details on both accounts I changed yesterday already reported to EX - i.e. the new combined and increased CL reports and the card I closed reports "closed at consumer request". Interestingly the closed account shows the reduced CL as $200 but shows the high balance accurately which is many times that.
Oddly enough, though, the hard inquiry does not report on EX which is the CRA the analyst requested permission to look at. The hard inquiry shows on TU only but TU doesn't show the updated account info.