Combining Credit limits instead of just cancelling.

[Anonymous]

This is my first time posting on here but I have been reading advice on here for years. I have 2 Chase Credit cards (Freedom and Amazon Rewards) and I recently found out I have the option to take my credit limit from my Amazon Rewards ($500) and transfer it to my Freedom Card ($700) making my limit for my Freedom $1200 and canceling my Amazon Rewards. I opened my Amazon card less than a year ago and really only use it to keep it open and have my credit utilization ratio stay good. I am trying to repair my credit right now. I lost my job a few years ago and needed to open cards to pay my bills and buy food and gas, a few months after I started work my boyfriend( we have lived together for a long time and share finances) lost his job for about a month right before the holidays, we had to charge more to the cards we just started paying off and open a couple new ones( I seem to just get approved for $500 limits so I had to open more cards than I would have liked to). We have since then been trying to catch up on all of our bills and get everything in order. Luckily this month I had my CapOne card increase the limit from $750 to $2250 so I transfered most of my balances to that card so I could have $125 monthly credit card payments instead of $275. One of the cards was the Amazon Rewards, I was going to close it but found out about being able to just transfer my credit limit to my Freedom, which would give me one less card to think about, but would save me from having my credit ration be affected. Is this a good idea to do? I really want to keep my limits up so my ratio doesnt' suffer. And just so you guys know, I don't charge really anything anymore, and 90% of my balances are because I needed to pay bills or buy food or gas when one of us was out of work, so I'm not worried about charging up my cards again.

[ksantangelo23]

What is the APR on both the Freedom and Amazon card?

[Kenny]

I'd keep the one that you've had the longest if you don't really charge anything anymore. Plus, you can PC the oldest one if you want to the Freedom if the Amazon is the oldest.

GL!

[Anonymous]

The APR is 21.00% on Amazon and 22.00% on Freedom, but the Freedom is older. For 1% I would rather keep the Freedom since it's older.

[ksantangelo23]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The APR is 21.00% on Amazon and 22.00% on Freedom, but the Freedom is older. For 1% I would rather keep the Freedom since it's older.

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If your goal is that you want to simplify your credit card management, then yes, choose to stay with the Freedom card. 1% is worth it, especially considering the reward program and its longer account history.

Good thought on wanting to keep your total credit limit the same.

Best of luck

[CenturyChild]

I did read though, that the card you want to close (at least with Chase) needs to have a 0 balance AND inactive for the last 90 days before they will do this.

Again, just info I had read hopefully others that have actually done this can verify or dismiss this.

This sounds like a good idea and something I may consider in the future with those same 2 cards.

Since closing a account has no impact on AAoA, its age still counts and will age for the next 10 years even though closed. The only thing to worry about is Utilization and Total available credit.  But consolidating the credit lines nullifies that negative.

[Anonymous]

I called Chase last night and they said it's no problem as long as the Amazon card has a $0 balance, which it does. I just wanted a day or two to think about it. But there is no wait period of non-use as long as there is no balance.

[odd_dog]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I called Chase last night and they said it's no problem as long as the Amazon card has a $0 balance, which it does. I just wanted a day or two to think about it. But there is no wait period of non-use as long as there is no balance.

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Yes Chase will close/consolidate anytime there is a zero balance, the reason they say wait 60 days or so is for reward points to hit. If you close a card you will forfeit any points/rewards that have not posted yet.....

[Gunnar419]

I just apped for and got the Freedom and asked Chase to transfer my old Amazon Visa CL to the new card.

They transferred the majority of the CL in minutes, but they told me that since there had been recent activity on the card (even though the only activity in months had been paying it down, then off) I had to leave it open for now with a $100 CL on it. Then I could call back after 30 days, transfer the rest of the CL and close it.

[SunriseEarth]

Yes, I'd say absolutely combine limits!