Reducing/dropping credit line

[eitang]

I am new to the whole cc churning business. Will it significantly hurt my credit if i try to reduce my credit line amount or cancel a card without transfering over the credit line? The reason i ask is bec i dont want to have too much cl so that i dont get an FR or AA. Thanks for helping a new guy out!

[eitang]

And how would i go about doing that? Just call the cc company up and ask to reduce the current credit line on a card?

[AsherO]

And how would i go about doing that? Just call the cc company up and ask to reduce the current credit line on a card?

You can call and ask, or transfer some of the CL from one card and close it (and forfeit the remaining CL).

BTW, you can use the button to edit your post within 2/3 hours.

[AJK]

I was considering doing the same...

This latest round of apps has...disquieted me.

[daveb]

If yo u have a card with an annual fee or you just want to get rid of a card just ask to downgrade it.  For example is you have a spg amex card ask to downgrade it to a fee free card like the amex blue card.  That way you haven't closed a credit line and you can still get the card again later.

[AJK]

If yo u have a card with an annual fee or you just want to get rid of a card just ask to downgrade it.  For example is you have a spg amex card ask to downgrade it to a fee free card like the amex blue card.  That way you haven't closed a credit line and you can still get the card again later.

 

[compddd]

I was thinking about closing my sapphire pref and transferring half of the CL to my Freedom to get ready for more apps down the road

[Moishebatchy]

If yo u have a card with an annual fee or you just want to get rid of a card just ask to downgrade it.  For example is you have a spg amex card ask to downgrade it to a fee free card like the amex blue card.  That way you haven't closed a credit line and you can still get the card again later.

Doesn't help. The credit line is still there, adding to your potential risk in the eyes of Amex and Chase.

[eitang]

Doesn't help. The credit line is still there, adding to your potential risk in the eyes of Amex and Chase.

Right. That is my concern. I am not trying to keep the credit line i am trying to get rid of it. My problem is that when i first got some cards i thought it was good to grt as big of a credit line as possible. I opened up a chase sapphire preferred while closing another. Ard and transferring the old credit line to the sapphire and now have a 19k credit line on that card. That is already a decent percentage of my current income and i dont want to get flagged.  No one knows a safe percentage of credit line compared with reported income where you wont get flagged? I looked around the forums and it seems like nobody really knows for sure.

[Moishebatchy]

I opened up a chase sapphire preferred while closing another. Ard and transferring the old credit line to the sapphire and now have a 19k credit line on that card.

Side note: your TOTAL credit lines across all cards, from all banks, is what matters. It doesn't make a difference if it's one card with 20k, or 5 cards with 4k each. Doesn't matter if they're all from Chase, or some Chase and some Amex.

#justsayin

[eitang]

So do you think it is wise to cancel one of my cards which currently has 4k cl on it before i try to do a 2bm or 3bm with chase? (thinking about gettin the 2 united cards btw and looking for a 3rd good one for me). Will dropping this 4k hurt my credit that badly? How do you guys keep opening and moving lines from one card to the other not build up a huge/risky credit line? Can i open a card, move one cl to that one and not take on an additional cl from opening the new card? Sorry for all the questions.

[myb821]

So do you think it is wise to cancel one of my cards which currently has 4k cl on it before i try to do a 2bm or 3bm with chase? (thinking about gettin the 2 united cards btw and looking for a 3rd good one for me). Will dropping this 4k hurt my credit that badly? How do you guys keep opening and moving lines from one card to the other not build up a huge/risky credit line? Can i open a card, move one cl to that one and not take on an additional cl from opening the new card? Sorry for all the questions.

I would first apply in case they dont want to approve you and then after that decide what cl u want to drop. Especially since it seems chase has really slowed down on the A/A's

[eitang]

So I tried my first 3bm ever today with chase (United Club, United Explorer and Freedom). Only the United club got approved instantly and I called them up and they said I can only open 2 cards within 30 days so I should choose between opening the Explorer or the Freedom. I chose the Explorer and moved some credit from another card to open it up. The thing that I am really not happy about though is that The United Club card, by being approved instantly online, added an additional new $9,500 credit line that I couldn't do anything about (I asked to move from an old card instead but they said it was already approved and nothing I could do about it). So now....my credit line is even higher 

[myb821]

So I tried my first 3bm ever today with chase (United Club, United Explorer and Freedom). Only the United club got approved instantly and I called them up and they said I can only open 2 cards within 30 days so I should choose between opening the Explorer or the Freedom. I chose the Explorer and moved some credit from another card to open it up. The thing that I am really not happy about though is that The United Club card, by being approved instantly online, added an additional new $9,500 credit line that I couldn't do anything about (I asked to move from an old card instead but they said it was already approved and nothing I could do about it). So now....my credit line is even higher 

first of all call back and get the freedom approved u will be able to probably u can offer for them  to take half the credit from the club to approve the freedom u can also offer to close ur old card to open the freedom. then after that u can close the old card

[compddd]

Never believe the only 2 cards in 30 days thing unless it's Citi

[eitang]

Thanks guys! Called back and got approved for the freedom by closing an old card. I asked how many credit pulls were done and she just generically answered that every time you apply for a card there is a pull so 3 for 3 cards....I dont think she actually looked at each card to see so I dont know if the 3 bm method actually worked for me. Hope it did....used ie, chrome and firefox in incognito etc etc and pressed the buttons at the same time.

[Moishebatchy]

Thanks guys! Called back and got approved for the freedom by closing an old card. I asked how many credit pulls were done and she just generically answered that every time you apply for a card there is a pull so 3 for 3 cards....I dont think she actually looked at each card to see so I dont know if the 3 bm method actually worked for me. Hope it did....used ie, chrome and firefox in incognito etc etc and pressed the buttons at the same time.

Churn Citi Identity Monitor to find out.

[statusmiles]

Churn Citi Identity Monitor to find out.

how often can you churn ?

[myb821]

how often can you churn ?

aprox 45 days