Canceling A Credit Card? 7 Things To Consider...

Good discussion. Whether a card is "ultra premium" or just a regular card, Frequent Miler has a great spreadsheet tool to help people assess whether a given card is worth holding. One thing FM emphasizes is overlapping benefits. As an example, if one's "keystone" card is the Amex Platinum, which offers Priority Pass, one should assign zero value to other cards' Priority Pass benefit. This leads one to assess a card's "incremental" benefit.

Just cancelled my wife's AMEX Hilton Surpass Card a few days before the renewal date since annual fee jumped to $150 and the Priority Pass benefit is gone. Did the same with my card just before the renewal date.

Be sure not to close a card that allows you to transfer points from it to a partner if that’s important (or potentially combine points from other cards in the same “family” to then transfer to partners). Examples: CSP; CIP; C1VX; Premier; Prestige

What if you want to cancel a card but want to apply to another one from the same bank/issuer (say Bank of America)? Should you cancel first, wait one month, then apply for the new OR apply first, then cancel old one and transfer credit line?

If you open the new card first you can transition from the old to the new one for example the credit line, automatic charges, rewards, etc.

I think it is important to keep in mind that some perks of a credit card do not apply if you have multiple credit cards giving the same perk. Also, not all perks are created equally. For example, many Amex perks are divided semi annual, monthly, or even more detailed than that. Chase issued priority pass cards have more benefits than others. So many people concentrate on the credit score which is important but closing a card won't affect it too much and it will recover soon.