Is it better to do it immediately, or after a year or so? Probably won't get any credit line increases for a while if you combine?
I'd have to guess that your CLI gets based primarily on your usage of the card and then the payment history. If you're not going to use a card very much, i.e., you have it open just for lowering your overall utilization, then I'd go ahead and combine, because you're not likely to get a CLI for a card that just sits in the sock drawer. On the other hand, if you are going to use both credit cards on a regular basis, then I would say wait a while and see if you get CLIs and then if you don't, go ahead and combine them. You also have to go by company policy. I believe companies like Citibank allow you to combine your cards whenever you'd like. Capital One says that your 2nd card must be open for 6 months before you can combine. And probably for good reason. Since most of their cards have annual fees, if they allowed people to combine right after get the card, that means they'd lose the $$ from that annual fee when people combined right away. Just my .02. Sorry for rambling.
