Originally Posted by
Dr Jabadski
Along the lines of “general churning guidelines”, curious how people view preparing for a churn fairly far off in terms of canceling existing accounts. I currently have all 3 Citi personal cards, two of them for about 2 years, one for about 6 months. In thinking about applying for one (or more) of them in the future, according to common wisdom, 18 months from last approval seems to be the best current theory. The question is when to cancel the existing accounts?
Don’t need to cancel to avoid annual fees, they are more than happy to credit them. Don’t need to cancel to transfer credit limits. So, cancel now, cancel a month prior to applications in a year, cancel sometime in-between? Might canceling sooner make one more likely to receive targeted offers? Thanks.
Before I put in my two cents. I think the thread title
General Guidlines are important to remember. Now having said that...
It is a very good question. I don't think the date of cancel matters, it is about when you applied. As an extra caution I would still cancel my card several months out from when I wanted to churn.
I have read people having success churning Citi cards usually 12-18 months after. I read that a cpl of FT'ers who were approved for the Citi AAdvantage Visa or AmEx 8-9 months after having been approved for the Citi AA MasterCard (they also canceled the MasterCard a cpl months before). However I only saw that once or twice.
I also have a CC App Helper that has some phone numbers, general application waiting periods for each CC and CC Bonus History. Maybe you could add some of them to your list?
Check it out.