I did find it a bit annoying when my bank in its infinite wisdom changed my credit card number when I responded to their invitation to upgrade my account (a real upgrade, where I earn points redeemable for worthwhile goodies such as Amazon gift certificates, but still…).
I’ve almost memorized the new one the way I had the old one, but it was a nuisance.
Obviously, you probably know more about this than I do, since you deal with these things regularly, but this isn’t always true. I’ve had the same account with Citibank for 15 years. The account number has changed probably 10 times (a combination of lost cards and account upgrades), the most recent one was an account upgrade in October. This account was listed as a single, active, 15 year account on my credit report that I pulled just a few weeks ago. As far as I can tell, all of the other credits accounts I’ve had were also listed as single accounts - no silliness about “new accounts” when their numbers changed - but it’s harder for me to say since I can’t remember the last time they changed.
Gotcha. I withdraw my objection. 