If you have two or more cards with the same bank, and the one you want to get rid of has either a much longer credit history or a good credit limit, ask to consolidate the one you want to get rid of onto the one you'll keep so as to keep the credit history.

There's not much you can do with a bank where you only have one card, as it's not possible to consolidate across different banks. If it's a card with a credit history you want to keep but don't want to keep the card because of an annual fee, ask if you can get the card converted to another type with no annual fee and move the credit history.

Btw, please note that what matters is the bank, not the name on the card. Ie, Neiman Marcus is a store, not a bank, and they probably have some bank administer their card (few stores have their own totally independent credit card deparment these days).

Be careful which cards you winnow though.

You want to end up with a creidt history that includes some open card accounts you've had for a long time, with non-trivial credit limits. (A store card that you've had for years but only has a $300 credit limit is not all that useful, as long as you have some other cards you've had for years that you keep.)

If you have multiple cards with the same bank, figure out which one has the longest credit history. If it's a card you don't want to keep, but you want to keep another card at the same bank, then ask to have the old card consolidated onto the card you're keeping so that it inherits its credit history.

Similarly, if you want to get rid of a card that has a high credit limit, and you're keeping another card at the same bank, ask them to consolidate the card you're cancelling onto the one you're keeping so as to move the credit limit over.

What you don't want to do is to instinctively cancel cards "because I never use it any more" without looking at a credit report (remember, one free credit report a year from each of the 3 reporting agencies at www.annualcreditreport.com, and you can get all 3 reports at once or stagger them over the course of a year, as you wish). Cancelling a card can hurt your score more than keeping the card locked away in a drawer, if you choose to cancel cards that have long histories and good credit limits (that often keep creeping up as you don't use a card for years!).

What you do want to cancel is the cards you've gotten recently from churning. At Citi, you can cancel after the bonus posts (many of us wait an extra statement just to be sure there are no problems), though at Chase you must wait at least 6 months or they might retract the bonus. These cards are typically no more than a year or two old, and are typically going to have annual fees come up if you keep them. The main problem with canceling such cards is getting them really cancelled (with Citi, never call on the phone, always cancel by logging into the account you want to cancel and then using the "Help - Contact Us" menu to send them an email requesting the cancellation). It can be hard with Chase too (they'll try to convert you to another card, instead of letting you cancel!), unless you have other cards with them (and you explain that it's only this card you're cancelling, and you love to use one of your other Chase cards ).

Well my Neiman Marcus Card is HSBC as is my Saks WEMC so could I ask HSBC to consolidate my credit to my Saks card?

Yes, you should ask HSBC to consolidate the cards, i.e., keep the old card active and transfer all the available credit and the balance on the newer card to the older card and then cancel the newer one.

You can't consolidate store card credit limits into major credit card limits. You have to consolidate major to major only.

You can if the cards is a Visa or a MasterCard.

My NM card can only be used at NM...the Saks card however is a Master Card...so I probably cannot transfere credit from my NM card to my Saks card.

Yes, you are correct. In this case you will not be able to transfer credit from one to another.

Now that's interesting. I have a chase card I've had for +5 yrs and want to get rid of. At the same time, I want to sign up for another chase card (United promotion for 40k miles).

If I sign up for the new card, how long to do I have to wait until I consolidate the old card into the new one?

I don't do card turnover for miles (churning), but I would recommend waiting at least until the entire UA bonus posted appropriately.

Good thought.

Ya, normally I don't either...but I was planning on switching to a UA card anyway. I never use the old card.

I would not ask to consolidate two of my CCs because I have heard that asking for it hurts your credit score. The same goes for asking for a credit line increase.

I have two CCs with Chase. One card I use a lot and the other not at all. Twice Chase has reduced my credit limit on the card that I do not use and moved it over to the one I do. I never asked for it and only found out about it when a letter arrived. Maybe Chase will one day just consolidate both cards once and for all, but I will not ask for it to be done.

You've heard mostly wrong.

The only way I can think of that this would affect your score is if both lines are very old and you consolidate them into one, it could possible raise the average age of your accounts(thus lowering you fico score). But consolidating a new account into an old account will definitely raise your fico score.

You also need to take into account that one 30k credit line helps your score more than two 15k credit lines, so there is a break even point.

Under no circumstance will a CLI alone harm your score. The opposite happens, it improves your debt to credit ratio and your score goes up.

Now if they do a hard pull for the CLI, then you'll see a very temporary 2-5 point drop possibly, but a big enough CLI will more than cancel that out.

To the OP - check your credit reports before doing anything else. Your BF may be damaging your score big time by uncontrolled churning. Also watch your inquiries as they stick around for two years (unless you get into bumpage) and can hurt you getting new lines. He also may be breaking the law if he is doing this without your permission.

That said, the number of cards is probably not as important as the overall amount of credit and utilization. Cleaning up cards you don't need by consolidation is a good idea as many banks have a limit on the number of cards you can have. First reallocate and close anything that has an annual fee. Then reallocate and close any dormant cards to the oldest line with the bank.

It is always good to have a mix of Amex, Visa and MC spread among at least two or three banks. Say you have only a Chase Visa and MC and they detect fraud - they might shut down both cards and leave you with no credit. I carry an Amex, Chase MC and US Bank Visa so I am covered if one gets shut down.

I currently have:

10 personal cards (five banks) - three with 0% balance transfers, one primary spending, two alive for account age, and four emergency backups or waiting for consolidation at my next round of 0% shenanigans.

Three or four store cards: I think my furnace company card was closed, Lowes and Art Van Furniture are dormant, Kohls gets used for their 30% off promos.

I've also got seven business cards that don't hit my report.

I'm shocked at how many people here have these insane amounts of credit cards. Yeesh, what do you need them for???

I have an SPG Amex and an MBNA Mastercard.

If I wind up staying in Chicago past the next couple months, I'll probably get another UA MP Visa.