Chase reportedly ends credit card line transfers. Edit: "product trades" seem dead too. Please add updates

Chyvan said: My Personal Banker shared htis very recent memo with me.

Customers Can Again Combine Credit Cards; Select Products Eligible
Published on December 11, 2009

Several months ago, a change to the credit card policy no longer allowed customers with multiple credit cards to consolidate their credit lines onto one card. Starting December 10, this policy has been updated to allow consumer customers to once again combine cards; however, credit lines may only be consolidated onto select credit cards.


Customers can now request to combine lines from any Chase-branded or partner credit card onto any of the following products: Chase Sapphire, Chase Sapphire Preferred, British Airways, Continental, IHG, Marriott, Southwest and United Airlines credit cards.

If customers want to consolidate credit lines, call Banker Support at (866) 373-3991, option 8. Customers can also call the phone number of the back of their card.

All States - Branches

Does anyone know if this policy allows transfers from Business cards to a Personal Sapphire? I've got a couple of biz cards from my last AoR that I'd like to close out but still keep the lines if possible. It would involve converting one of my personal accounts if its possible.

Has anyone who was experiencing the issues with this policy a while back figured out anything? Are the kinks worked out yet?

pbsee said: Echoing the requests for more information. I have a Chase Disney card with a $50k credit line from an AOR from long ago, and I am wondering if it is usable for anything. It looks like there are not that many good offers out there.

You can get a special character meet and greet if you go to Disney World... and 10% off merchandise at the parks. Yeah, that's pretty much it.

jackcrawfish said: I was approved for a CHASE OptionsXPress card in late November 2009 with a $5,000 line. As part of my 5 calls to consolidate existing limits to the November 2009 card, they closed everything open at that time. Among the casualties:

CARD                  Opened?   Closed?
CHASE HOME            2007      Yes
CHASE Sony            2007      Yes
CHASE (WAMU)          2007      Yes
 
CHASE Rewards (WAMU)  2008      Yes
CHASE Perfect         2008      Yes
CHASE BIZ             2008      Yes

CHASE OptionsXPress   2009      No

CHASE Sapphire        2010      No

Just out of curiosity, and if you don't mind sharing with us, what were the credit limits of each of those above CCs? Also, what does your revolving util % look like? Lastly, what does your DTI look like? Again, just looking for data points, but only if you are comfortable sharing. Thanks again.

SuperG03

Has anyone tried to convert a Chase Sony card to another card? I was just told that due to federal regulations they can't convert from one partner to another. Is this true or are they just blaming 'federal regulations' for just about anything now?

jackcrawfish said: SuperG03 said: jackcrawfish said: I was approved for a CHASE OptionsXPress card in late November 2009 with a $5,000 line. As part of my 5 calls to consolidate existing limits to the November 2009 card, they closed everything open at that time. Among the casualties:

CARD                  Opened?   Closed?
CHASE HOME            2007      Yes
CHASE Sony            2007      Yes
CHASE (WAMU)          2007      Yes
 
CHASE Rewards (WAMU)  2008      Yes
CHASE Perfect         2008      Yes
CHASE BIZ             2008      Yes

CHASE OptionsXPress   2009      No

CHASE Sapphire        2010      No

First, thanks for sharing.

Based on what you said, I am dumb founded as to why they did that to you? Have you tried calling in to them to get the lines / cards re-instated. I read on another forum of consumers having success when calling to:

CRR Department for CLD recons (no hard pulls)
800-219-0015

Basically, it is like the Executive Service Line for CLD/Closures.

If you do call, let us know how it goes. Thanks.

SuperG03

I recently applied for the Continental Card and was approved after delay (i.e. they had time to review my credit report) for $10,000 line.

I received a letter stating they had tried to reach me (no phone messages found however) and had reduced another card to give me this line.

I called and activated the card (pleasant fellow). I inquired about having the new credit line set up at the expense of another card rather than the one they had chosen. Mistake.

Fellow noted I had several cards and asked assorted credit questions. He then immediately announced decision to reduce all lines to $1,000 per card (from a much larger total). This implies that their decision to risk letting me spend $10,000 on a Continental card was a mistake and had been reversed to a total of $5,000 spread among 5 cards After I pointed out that I owed $2,000 on my British Airline card, he made that $2,500 on that card.

I was given the option of faxing in material to document my claimed liquid assets of X million, which I did.I did this but it was time consuming (Update: the lines were eventually restored)).

Of course, people who request airline cards (they had kindly given me BA, United, and Continental cards fairly recently) often contemplate using them to purchase flights. It is easy to imagine spending over $1,000 on a tickets for a single trip (not to mention hotels etc that may need to be paid for). Airline cards with low limits probably do not get used much. In fact, I wonder if BA has a single round trip flight from the US I could purchase with the remaining $500 on my BA card. They can lose some business by such abrupt cuts. He claimed they had no procedures to put temporary holds on card utilization to prevent the reporting to credit agencies of the new limits until someone cold look at materials faxed in.

I did learn the name of the group that looks at these is the Portfolio Risk Review group (PRR). This implies they they are smart enough to look at total exposure to a person (although perhaps not before giving them a card with a substantial line). Possibly they are approaching the level of sophistication of looking at the total profitability of a customer (whether after promotional bonuses, etc. they are making any money).

The obvious lesson is to avoid being transferred top anyone who is involved in credit and to avoid trying to get better allocations of credit lines. Even when you just got a new card which had involved reallocations, it would seems risky to request adjustments which return you to a more preferred position. All I wanted was a lower line on the new card (whose line probably does not get reported to Credit Bureau's) in exchange for a smaller reduction in another line (which does get reported). It is also possible I may close the new card when the fee is charged, and I would have liked to minimize the loss if I do that. Such things do appear possible, but only with difficulty . While I hope I may come out all right, if I do it will be because I am financially well off and able to prove it (although doing so takes time). It is easy to imagine a worse outcome for someone with more ordinary finances.

Professor Ed took the wrong approach on this one.

Although you stated that all you wanted was to reduce the line on the new card, what you really wanted was to increase the line on one of your old cards. The fact that the line on this card was higher before you opened the new card isn't relevant (when it comes to getting the limit on the card back up you are talking about an increase).

Keep in mind that requesting an increase on any card for any reason adds a hard inquiry to your credit report and puts all of your accounts with Chase under credit review so you are taking some risks. If it is worth the risk, here is how to get your increase by rellocating existing lines:

1. Request an increase on the card
2. If it is approved you are done, if declined call and ask for the credit department
3. Tell them that you were declined for an increase and that you believe the reason you were declined was the amount of overall credit with Chase (this is very important). Ask them if it would be possible to reduce the lines on other cards to get the increase on this card. This should work.

DaveHanson said: Bump for a useful post and well-stated conclusion. Any updates ProfEd?

ProfessorEd said: The obvious lesson is to avoid being transferred top anyone who is involved in credit...All I wanted was a lower line on the new card... While I hope I may come out all right, if I do it will be because I am financially well off and able to prove it (although doing so takes time). It is easy to imagine a worse outcome for someone with more ordinary finances.

I updated the original post to indicate the lines were eventually restored. However, about that time they did cancel a large ex-Washington Mutual (which was also ex-Providian) card of my wife which had been little used. This was not restored.

I suspect someone may have been smart enough top deduce we were married (imagine looking for people with the same last name living at the same address in a single family neighborhood, with one being authorized users on the other's cards). The name of Portfolio Review groups suggests they are looking at their total exposure (some of which may have come to them through mergers) related to one repayment source (Homemakers
frequently have little income beyond that of their husband).

With hindsight one error may have been stating I had liquid assets of X millions. There may be enough liars out there that he got suspicious and took immediate action. Possibly a more modest number might have raised few concerns, but this is just guessing.

Today I inquired about converting either one of my Slate cards (one of which is redundant because it was Platinum swallowed in the WaMu takeover) to Freedom and they were unable to do so. Each card has a limit around $5k. The CSR suggested I apply for a new line of credit to which I replied that if I apply for a new line of credit, it will likely be with another provider like Capital One. My Fico is above 750 and the 2 Chase are my only revolving lines. Very frustrating.

After a follow up request, Chase did agree to convert my newer Slate to Freedom. I want to close the older Slate as it doesn't do me any good with no rewards, but it's the oldest card I have and will significantly shorten "length of credit line" history. Sigh.

CL & rate will remain same after conversion. That's fine with me.

I think in a few months I'll apply for the PenFed AMEX (already PenFed member) or the Cap One Venture, since I spend a significant amount of time overseas. The only thing that will keep me with Chase after that point is if they cut back on forex fees (which given the volume of overseas transactions essentially negates any benefit of the Cash Back rewards).

Has anyone triggered a review by asking for conversions or consolidations? My highest reported CL is a $30,000 Chase Platinum MC. It used to be a WaMu card, and has no rewards or other exciting features. However, I'm very nervous to talk to anyone about it for fear of losing it.

Has anyone had any luck recently with any type of product conversion? I currently have a Sony Card with chase and I would like to convert to the Amazon chase visa.

Just got a Chase Amtrak Rewards card for the 30,000 AGR points. I talked to the Indian CSR on activation and they said they couldn't do a reallocation of credit limits. This replaces an old United Mileage Plus card that I had in the Chase portfolio, to get me back to four cards with Chase. The credit line was about 40% of what the Mileage Plus card used to have. I now have two Chase Freedoms (since one was an old Cash Plus Rewards card) which is really unhelpful since I never hit the quarterly limits on one card.

Called Chase today re. closing my SWA Rapid Rewards Credit Card. I asked them if I had any options on keeping the credit line, either by transferring it to another account, or changing the SWA card to a different card (because I do not use it). They transfered me to the PRR (Portfolio Risk Review) Department, which allowed me to transfer roughly 20K CL to my Freedom Mastercard for a total CL of approximately 34K. They required that $500 be left on the SWA card to close it. After 20 minutes, the changes were reflected in my account online.

notacrackhead said:   I went into a Chase branch today and a personal banker reissued my WaMu card as a Slate card.
Thanks for the corroborating data point.

Given how little the branch personnel can do with CCs (vs deposit accounts), it's interesting that they're empowered to do all kinds of product trades. Too bad the can't handle reallocations too!

I turned a former WaMu card into a Sapphire card. Also done at a branch.

The branch told me I could reallocate credit limits TO this card but not FROM it. I was fine with that.

Drmoneybags said:   I currently have a Sony Card with chase and I would like to convert to the Amazon chase visa.
...and now the Chase Sony cards are becoming Capital One cards...