I am parting ways with my Amex Hilton Honors Aspire. The fee is not worth it to me, as I have switched to mostly using Marriott.
I am wondering if when I call and request to close it, can I have my credit limit added to my other Amex cards? I have a 25K limit with that card that I would like to put into my BCP and Bonvoy Business card. Does anyone know if they will entertain this request? Thanks
Thoughts in no particular order:
- From what I gather you can transfer CL from personal to business cards at AMEX, but not the other way around.
- The Aspire can almost assuredly be product changed to one without an AF.
- If converted to a no-AF card, the Aspire (even with a small CL, presuming you transfer most of it to another card like the BCP) still retains value -- it will help your average account age (relevant to credit scoring) as it continues to age. Since there is literally no other way to weight account age other than to have cards get old, you want cards to get old, not get canceled. In this keep-the-card scenario (at low CL), you sockdrawer it, buy a candy bar or whatever with it once a year, and pay it off immediately to avoid closure due to inactivity.
- I would be disinclined to move the CL into a business card, as doing so will lower your aggregate CL on your personal credit scoring, thus affecting your utilization ratios (both now and forever since you can't transfer it back from the business side). Even if you don't care about utilization ratio right now (for example, if you don't let balances report), that situation may change in the future. And keeping a large CL reporting (whether individual tradeline or total -- both matter) can also help with how you're viewed by other lenders for other applications -- it speaks to what you are actively entrusted with.
If BCP = Blue Cash Preferred, that's a solid card, I'd put the bulk of the CL there, leave the rest on the Aspire, and PC the Aspire to a no-AF card. If there is a no-AF card that you actually want, I would PC to that card and then determine how much CL you actually want to move (but check with others on this board about AMEX-allowed order of operations when CL tinkering involves a just-PCed card).
Hope this is useful.
Very helpful indeed. Was not aware of that one way transfer rule to business lines. I currently have 5 Amex cards: BCP, Platinum, Bonvoy Brilliant, Bonvoy Business, and Hilton. I've converted to using Marriott, over Hilton, and my Platinum gives me gold status with Hilton. Even having a no AF card wouldn't benefit me (sock drawer) or not. I did not have the Hilton Card very long so 3 years or so, so I'm not worried about average age; more interested in not losing TCL. So my idea was to divide some into the BCP and Business; as my Brilliant has a 35K CL; whereas my BCP is at 12K and Business at 16K. I figured I'd request 9K for Business adding up to 25K and the additional 16K to my BCP adding up to 28K. Plus I'm at 17 cards, and I wouldn't mind bringing that down one, espcially with a high AF.
@Openwater wrote:
Very helpful indeed. Was not aware of that one way transfer rule to business lines. I currently have 5 Amex cards: BCP, Platinum, Bonvoy Brilliant, Bonvoy Business, and Hilton. I've converted to using Marriott, over Hilton, and my Platinum gives me gold status with Hilton. Even having a no AF card wouldn't benefit me (sock drawer) or not. I did not have the Hilton Card very long so 3 years or so, so I'm not worried about average age; more interested in not losing TCL. So my idea was to divide some into the BCP and Business; as my Brilliant has a 35K CL; whereas my BCP is at 12K and Business at 16K. I figured I'd request 9K for Business adding up to 25K and the additional 16K to my BCP adding up to 28K. Plus I'm at 17 cards, and I wouldn't mind bringing that down one, espcially with a high AF.
Glad to be of assistance. And sounds like you have navigated this space with some skill.
Just to clarify re average age, one of the things I've found frustrating is the raw math of it. It's a contributor to credit scoring that you can't really manipulate, and literally any new card addition starts to tinker with the math perceptibly, even when the number of cards you have is in double digits (I have a few more cards than you -- but not a lot more). For that reason alone I practice the keep-so-long-as-there-is-no-cost rule on every CC I have; that has proven more critical than anticipated as I try to optimize both what products I have and TCL+utilization % flexibility, via new account openings (CLIs just don't tend to move upward as quickly). There are only two ways to have average age go up and "stick": have cards get old, and don't open any new cards. I don't like the second option so I counterweight via the first. 
Why not try to PC it to the Blue Cash Everyday? I didn't dive too far into your current cards, but the BCE is a great no-carry card. It has no AF and gives 3% cash back on all online orders, and that includes Amazon and Walmart checkout if you use Walmart Pay. You could litterally just throw it in a drawer and only use it for online purchases and get more chash back than you are currently getting ( I think). Just a thought.
The BCE wouldn't be a useful option as I already have the BCP. Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I beleive that a PC with hotel cards with AMEX have to be within the same family. Like Hilton Aspire to Hilton Honors, I don't think they allow you to change to a different family of cards.
You could be right about the family PC. But, I think you are greatly under estimating the BCE. There are overlaps with BCP, but the 3% on online purchases is something that you don't get with BCP. It's pretty nice. Plus, if you hit your $6k grocery cap on BCP, you have a 3% fall back option.
Amex normally restricts product changes within rewards families. Hilton cards can't PC to cash back cards. Applying for a new BCE when you already have BCP will also likely prohibit you from earning a SUB.
Regarding credit limit reallocations, that is something that I have been able to do myself in the past through my online account login. I believe it was located in the Account Services section. It showed which accounts were eligible for reallocation from/to. It also said that I had to leave at least $500 (though sometimes it was really $1000) behind on the donor account.
