So I'm looking ahead to my next Citi application, and pondering the fate of a card or two I opened one year ago. My history with Citi...
Prior to around 1 year ago, I never had a single Citi credit card. Lots of Chase and some others, but I never played in Citi programs. A year ago, I decided to jump in. Since then I have received the following...
- Nov 2012: Citi Visa Platinum and Citi Amex - used the old two-browser trick, instant approval on the same day. $22.5 CL each, 50K AA miles each.
- Jan. 2013 (about 65 days after first apps): Citi Business Visa. Approved after call to Biz recon line. $20K CL, 50K AA miles.
- July 2013: Citi Visa Platinum #2. Instant approval, $22K CL, 50K AA miles
- Aug 2013: Citi Visa Platinum #3. Instant approval, $9K CL, 50K AA miles
An easy 250K AA miles in 10 months - I'm thinking I like playing in this one.
So now the first wave of cards is up for annual fees, I'm thinking it's time to start cutting back a bit. Because there's one more card I think I'm going to apply for, a Biz MC (I have one Biz Visa, but never had a Citi Biz MC, so I'm thinking I can still wring another 50K miles out of that one).
I'm thinking that I should cancel the first 2 cards I got a year ago, before the annual fee is due. My plan would be to wait 30 days after the cancelation, then apply for the Biz MC in January. But I have a couple questions...
Canceling the first 2 cards would drop my credit exposure to Citi by a whopping $45K (combined CL with them now is about $98K, which seems excessive). I would prefer to get instant approval for my next app, but will talk to them if necessary.
My question...
Will canceling these 2 cards now (dropping my exposure by $45K) make any difference if I apply for a
business card (as a sole proprietorship using my SSN) in another 30 days? I'm not sure how the approval process goes for business cards, nor the time it takes to reflect the lower combined credit limits.
I know I can call them and get a retention offer to keep these two cards, and it's highly likely that the offer will cover the annual fee and also include a few miles, too, for some modest spend. So I
could keep the cards. Having read the wiki and many pages of posts in this thread, I'm unsure of whether to kill these cards now (in hopes of easing my next app for the biz MC), or if that's going to make any difference at all.
Ideas?
Thanks!