Don’t Just Let Your Credit Cards Sit There
If you have credit cards that you have not used in many months or even years, you may want to consider using them with your next purchase. This is because your credit card can be closed at any time at the credit grantor’s request.
You may be thinking why they would want to close your credit card. The credit card companies want to close inactive accounts because they cost them money. They have to keep a file on you, they send you monthly statements, they send you special offers, etc. If all that you are doing is costing them money, of course they are going to close your account.
If your credit card is one of your newer accounts and it has a lower credit limit, then this is not much of a concern for you. But, for many people theses accounts can be an older account and have a significant credit limit. Having these types of accounts closed can lower your credit score.
So what can you do? It’s really simple. All you have to do is go out and buy something with the credit card at least once a year. If you want to be really safe, you should buy something every 6 months. As some credit card issuers are more aggressive closing accounts than others.
Of course this isn’t the case for all credit card issuers. You will have people tell you that they haven’t used their credit cards in years, and it’s still there. The problem is that you don’t know what their policies are on this and when they may change. They could decide tomorrow to cut costs by closing their inactive accounts. Guess what happens to your friend’s credit card then.
It may be also a good idea to use your cards a couple months before they expire so that the credit card company’s computers will see that they account is active.
All you have to do is buy a stick of gum or put a few gallons of gas in your car to keep these cards active. It’s so easy that there is no excuse to have one of your credit cards cancelled for inactivity.
Written by admin on July 27th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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