Disadvantages of combining card limits?

[RonM21]

I'm sure that was a bit frustrating.

[jamesdwi]

since 2 of the accounts to be closed are chase, and you would still need to visit the chase site for both you an your DH, I don't see much point.  Sock drawer the card put a small automatic charnge on it, like Netflix or hulu and setup auto-pay. 

If your CR is ever manually reviewed a card that is open a year  or more looks better than one closed only 5 months after it was openned. 

[Anonymous]

One downside is a potential decrease in overall available credit. Banks want to keep about ~$500 in "available" credit on the closed account in the rare case that it needs to be used (e.g. a reversed chargeback). Generally, the bank will check to see if you qualify for the that additional small amount and apply it to the account to be closed, then move the original CL to the surviving account. I've had to give up $600 in CL on my Amex Delta card when I requested it be combined with my ED card because I couldn't get that small additional amount due to a CL increase on my ED card within the last 6mos (only 1 CLI per customer across all accounts per 6mos). As a result, instead of a total combined CL $16,300 I had to settle for $15,700. 

On the flip side, Barclays was able to give me an additional $500 on my old account, and then move the original CL to my suriving account. 

When I looked at my closed accounts online, they showed as having $600 and $500 in CLs, respectively, but not available for use. 

[Anonymous]

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@jamesdwi wrote:

If your CR is ever manually reviewed a card that is open a year  or more looks better than one closed only 5 months after it was openned. 

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 I have never heard/read that before.  Thanks for the information. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@jamesdwi wrote:

If your CR is ever manually reviewed a card that is open a year  or more looks better than one closed only 5 months after it was openned. 

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 I have never heard/read that before.  Thanks for the information. 

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I think this very much depends on the reviewer and the thickness of the file.   Currently I show about 60 open and closed accounts (and some here have many more).   I'm pretty sure very few reviewers will go through each one.  

If anything, they are looking for patterns, in particular getting cards just for bonuses and closing.   Since the record doesn't indicate the specific card, they can't be sure, but several cards closed quickly would raise suspicion.   But so would closing a card around the year mark, maybe you were collecting bonuses and closing just before you had to pay the AF.

TL/DR: Don't worry about closing one or two cards early.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@jamesdwi wrote:

If your CR is ever manually reviewed a card that is open a year  or more looks better than one closed only 5 months after it was openned. 

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 I have never heard/read that before.  Thanks for the information. 

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I think this very much depends on the reviewer and the thickness of the file.   Currently I show about 60 open and closed accounts (and some here have many more).   I'm pretty sure very few reviewers will go through each one.  

If anything, they are looking for patterns, in particular getting cards just for bonuses and closing.   Since the record doesn't indicate the specific card, they can't be sure, but several cards closed quickly would raise suspicion.   But so would closing a card around the year mark, maybe you were collecting bonuses and closing just before you had to pay the AF.

TL/DR: Don't worry about closing one or two cards early.

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That's very helpful, thank you.  Truthfully, I did get a bonus. I think I got an $80 gift card with both of the Chase Amazons, and I got the $100 with $1500 of spend bonus on the Penfed card.  It was not my intention to open them for the bonus then close, but in reality it did end up that way, if I'm being honest.  What actually happened, though, is I went on an app spree and now am doing damage control.