My credit union was even more forgiving than that…I think it had probably been a few years before they threatened to close it! I hadn’t forgotten about the card, I simply keep it as a backup in case I lose or have some issue with my other cards. But now I make sure to use it occasionally.
I have both Citibank American Airlines cards and southwest cards. I have done very well getting free tickets, so they work for me. I know my southwest card doesn’t do overseas transaction fees, and I’m pretty sure there are no fees with my AA card. But the level of card may matter.
Our Discover card gives 5% cashback on special categories every quarter. I think Oct - Dec is online shopping, so since I will do Xmas shopping online, I will get some money back, I can then use it at Amazon. You can also apply it as statement credit.
My Cap one card is one of our oldest cards and we have never had any problems with it.
Our other card we have had the longest is our Sears citicard and a few years ago they just out of the blue cut our credit limit down from over $10,000 to $300. We had never paid late. I want to close it but have been told not to because of how long we have had it.
I really don’t understand why closing an old credit card hurts your credit score.
^^One of the factors that goes into your credit score is the length of time you’ve had that particular credit and another is the total amount of credit. If you close a card you’ve had for a long time, you no longer have that history as active in the ‘revolving’ credit part of your credit history. If you close a card that has a $10k credit line, you now have less volume available.
Both of these are minor deductions and the score will quickly rebound. Also, if you have the account marked ‘closed at customer’s request’ it might help a little to show the account was not closed because of misuse but the customer.
Responding to a post upstream. You could t lay me to do business with Bank of America…the bank or the credit card division. Sorry…no thanks.
We have a Chase Sapphire. It’s fine. We also have Discover…and it’s fine too.
I have been thinking about a Southwest CC…but I really don’t need another credit card.
If I had Amex, I probably wouldn’t get another card.
If you are a Costco member, and want to use a CC, you will need a visa soon.
Raises hand - happy Capital One credit card holder here.
We’ve had it for a number of years. We’d been loyal Doscover card users and then a few places we frequented stopped accepting it so we shopped around and Cap One had everything we wanted - no fee, we get a % back every year and no overseas fees (our kids were starting to travel and now my husband is in Asia twice a year). It has worked very well for us. I have no idea what the interest is as we pay it off every month.
We have had Cap 1 for decades. I now wonder what our % is and what the highest % is for cash back.
We have our credit frozen and so do not want to unfreeze unless there is a reason to do so.
Anyone?
Another loyal discover card user here. Not sure whether costco will cancel the amex cards next spring or if they can be converted to another card with the same privileges. They are talking about their blue card. Used to have that but we closed it at some point. Don’t recall why. I too have frozen our credit and it will be a pain to unfreeze it, though not a serious pain. Just a pain.
Discover I think lets you temporarily freeze your card without freezing your credit. In case you lose it.
The Costco Amex cards aren’t issued by Costco but by Amex. They may issue a new card without the affinity on them, but the underlying credit agreement is with Amex, not Costco.
Have spoken from AMEX and they have not committed to what they are planning to do with those credit cards. They said they might be able to convert them to blue cards but they haven’t made any decisions. And spoken to amex on several occasions. Would like to keep the card and the number as I have a long history with it. I prefer that they simply unbundle it from Costco but they are not committing at this point as to their plan or strategy
Also recently got a letter from either AMEX or costco (can’t recall) which was equally non-committal. Suspect they will reissue cards with new cash back agreements ( probably lower percent back on restaurant, travel, gas purchases ).
Got the same letter (from Costco), saying they will probably issue new Visas without having to re apply for a card, I think it did say it would have some cash back features (it’s Costco, I can’t imagine they won’t have a great deal!). But yes, very non-committal at this point, they are still working out details. Since Amex is still good until April (I believe, that was the date), I’m just sitting tight until they figure out what they are doing. Will probably keep an Amex for the history and get the VIsa for Costco.
AmEx told me the cards are automatically no good on 4/1/16, no choice by us consumers. Costco just sent me a statement that we can use our Costco AmEx thru 3/31 and then will automatically receive a Costco Visa, without needing a new app. We can also use ANY Visa at Costco from 4/1/16.
Wouldn’t it be better to close the Amex cards before the April deadline so that it shows that consumer closed the account?
Surely there will be a process that will address this for the hundreds of thousands of people it affects. It will not likely be a blemish on one’s credit.
I wouldn’t close the Citi Visa. I would just shove it in drawer and not use it.
OP Here. Well, I just paid off the balance. I do want to close the account because I’m furious with Citicards for not doing what they said they would do. I’m going to wait about a week and then close the account.
I plan to open a new card today, with someone who is not Citibank.
I really don’t understand all the angst, but maybe I’ve been very lucky for the past 30 plus years. Never a problem with Capital One Master for over 10 years. Cash back, no foreign transaction fee, no annual charge. Chase Visa, similarly no problems - except perhaps when the bank messed up a year or so ago, I pay on-line, they had a system problem and it didn’t process timely. Talked with Chase and charges to my account were reversed. This has happened more than once to me in almost 40 years of credit cards. I always pay off the balance monthly and a time or two, a payment was lost in US mail or something. The card issuer has always reversed charges assessed because of my previous payment record. I have a Bank of America no foreign transaction fee card for back-up purposes. Rarely use it, but it has never been closed on me. Each card issuer offers many different options for cash back, rewards, annual fee or none, etc. Pull a couple up on-line and see what fits your needs.
My credit rating has always been good, never noticed that changing when opening or closing any account - and I have both opened and closed 2 other accounts in the past 10 years when the cards ended up not meeting our needs. But then, I don’t micro manage or monitor our credit rating terribly frequently, so maybe I missed something. But certainly opening and closing cards hasn’t impacted my financial life.
My cards have been compromised or lost more than once. I would not want to be without a back-up card. One card had to be cancelled this spring just a day before I left the country - it was lost, we wrongly thought stolen. Although I was told the replacement would be delivered to me in Berlin, it wasn’t, they just sent it to my home. I would have been in trouble without a second card already in hand.