Originally Posted by sdsearch

Do not close any BofA card if you haven't already lowered the credit limit to as low as possible as long ago as possible. Credit limit that is still on a BofA card when it's closed is "locked up" (and not available to new applications) for over a year. Credit limit that you explicitly reduce becomes available within months (but we can't be more specific than that). So reduce credit limit as possible after getting the card, rather the only when you're about to cancel it.