Originally Posted by
Zamboni Driver
Originally Posted by
philemer
A. You'll have 4 hard pulls no matter what since they are different banks.
B. Banks look at your total CL so you may not be approved for a new card if your current CL (credit line) to too high.
How about closing one acct. now, wait a couple weeks & then apply for one card (do this for both of you). Rinse, lather & repeat.
There is no "perfect" solution. Just use common sense.
C. Most people only see a few points drop in their FICO score when they close a card.
The advantage to applying for all four cards on the same day is that the credit bureaus cannot see all of those credit pulls, increasing your chances for getting approved. Otherwise, if you are applying every few weeks, it may be a red flag that you need increasing amounts of credit, thus increasing your chance of getting denied.
I would suggest applying for all four cards on the same day (make sure at least 90 days have passed since the last application - judging from the dates you listed that seems to be OK). In the process of negotiating with Chase, be prepared to trade off the credit limit from the cards you want to close, or even offer to close the cards outright, in order to gain approval for the new card(s).
I would not cancel all of the cards at the same time. Instead, I'd apply for the new cards first, trade (in the case of Chase) as necessary, then gradually cancel the cards as the renewal date approaches. There is no risk or benefit to canceling them on the same day - there is no credit pull.
HTH and welcome (i srecno).
+1 this has worked for us