Switching credit cards

[Anonymous]

My FICO score is 765, 778. It used to be over 800. This year I opened a number of new cards. Some I don't want. I wish I had other cards. Until this year I only had about 4 credit cards. but we never used them. Then in 2010 both Discover and Chase canceled cards for non use (a few years). At that point I decided I should get several cards and use them. I started applying for the offers in the mail. I already had a B of A card that was converted from an old MBNA card and a Chase Freedom card converted from an old chase platinum card. I applied for and opened a capital one venture card, a citi simplicity card, a chase amazon card...by this time I'm getting a little more savvy and searched out and applied for a citi Hilton card, a chase united and a sapphire preferred and lastly an am ex Starwood. My total credit with all cards is just over $150000. I realize after doing a little more research after the fact (I am learning) that what I really want are the Hyatt and Marriott cards. At what point is it ok to close some of these new accounts and get differrent cards? Oh, I also just recently applied for a Chase Ink Bold card for my small business as a cake decorator. I haven't heard back from them...should I call the recon line before I have even been denied? Right now I have a balance of just over $7000 as I am paying for my daughters wedding. It will be paid off before the end of Jan. I don't have a mortgage, but do own a small investment property I would like to refinance, the interest rate is 6.5%. How bad would that hurt me? Thank you for your help and expertise. Oh...I mostly want cards to help us travel as we are getting older now. My husband also has a small business as an engineering consulting firm, but almost all our credit is in nay name.

[Cdnewmanpac]

First, you should probably address the interest rate on your investment property before worrying any more about credit cards. For primary mortgages, underwriters generally like to see no activity on your credit for the previous 6 months, though you didn't state what type of loan you used to finance the investment property, so rules may be different. Either way, 6.5 in today's market is a waste of money.

Second, I think you may already have the credit cards you want. The key is that the points you earn from your Chase Sapphire Preferred, Freedom and Ink can all be converted to Hyatt points, Marriott points or United miles 1:1 (plus others, but those are the three you mentioned). Between the Amex Starwood, the Citi Hilton and the CSP, you have most of the hotels covered. You will earn 2 points/dollar with the CSP at ANY hotel and you can then push those points to Hyatt or Marriott, depending on which you are targeting. 

So you can use your freedom for bonus 5% categories and because you have a CSP, those freedom points become UR points as well. So you are earning 5 hyatt points/dollar, or 5 marriott points/dollar, or 5 united miles/dollar, the choice is yours. Use the Ink for office supplies, etc., the CSP for hotels that aren't hilton or starwood, restaurants, rental cars, etc. 

You didn't mention which united card you got. If you fly United a lot, the card will be worth it just for the free bags. If you only got it to earn United miles, you can do that more effectively with the Sapphire Preferred, so if you don't fly that often, the United card might not be helping you.

The Starwood points are also very flexible (they can be converted to miles on many partner airlines) and the ability to pay for rooms with a mixture of points and dollars (when used wisely) can really add value to those starwood points. That's why so many travel/frequent flyer blogs rank this card as the best general travel card.

Sorry to be so long, but I think you have a great mix of cards that give you bonus points on just about any purchase, flexibility to add miles to just about all frequent flyer and frequent stay loyalty programs and some nice perks as well. If you use your current cards wisely, I think the Hyatt or Marriott (especially) will add little benefit over what you already have.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I think I understand what you are saying and you are right. I will just keep the cards I have. My investment mortgage is with Bank of America. They bought it several years ago. I'm not sure why I haven't refinanced it before now. I just wasn't sure I could get a good enough rate considering investment loans carry a higher rate. But B of A does keep sending me offers. Maybe next year I will close the citi simplicity and amazon cards as they don't really seem what I want/need anymore. I really appreciate the advice.

[compassion101]

I would shop around for the interest rate on the investment property first as advised above.

And would say to certainly be proactive in calling Chase about the recon.

[webhopper]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My FICO score is 765, 778. It used to be over 800. This year I opened a number of new cards. Some I don't want. I wish I had other cards. Until this year I only had about 4 credit cards. but we never used them. Then in 2010 both Discover and Chase canceled cards for non use (a few years). At that point I decided I should get several cards and use them. I started applying for the offers in the mail. I already had a B of A card that was converted from an old MBNA card and a Chase Freedom card converted from an old chase platinum card. I applied for and opened a capital one venture card, a citi simplicity card, a chase amazon card...by this time I'm getting a little more savvy and searched out and applied for a citi Hilton card, a chase united and a sapphire preferred and lastly an am ex Starwood. My total credit with all cards is just over $150000. I realize after doing a little more research after the fact (I am learning) that what I really want are the Hyatt and Marriott cards. At what point is it ok to close some of these new accounts and get differrent cards? Oh, I also just recently applied for a Chase Ink Bold card for my small business as a cake decorator. I haven't heard back from them...should I call the recon line before I have even been denied? Right now I have a balance of just over $7000 as I am paying for my daughters wedding. It will be paid off before the end of Jan. I don't have a mortgage, but do own a small investment property I would like to refinance, the interest rate is 6.5%. How bad would that hurt me? Thank you for your help and expertise. Oh...I mostly want cards to help us travel as we are getting older now. My husband also has a small business as an engineering consulting firm, but almost all our credit is in nay name.

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If I were you I would call and ask them to product change my Freedom and Amazon Cards to the Hyatt and Marriot cards... but actually I think a generic rewards card such as Chase Sapphire Preferred or Amex Premeir Rewards Gold  is much better than carrying around tons of branded cards.

You can drop the interest rate on your investment property at any time by doing a refinance... I would do this asap...  You should qualify for the best rates with any lender, so be sure to talk to the bank that you feel most comfortable with and make sure that they handle investment property mortgages.