Credit Card canceled for non-use

[scrabbler1]

One needs to use a CC at least 2 times a year to keep it active. We have one car just to pay our T-Mobile old farts plan autoPay, that keeps it active.

Once a year has been keeping my back-up card since 2015, after I switched to a cashback card and stopped using my old card except for the one automatic annual charge. Maybe some banks require 2 while others require 1?

 

[Andre1969]

I've had a few cards get closed for lack of use, and my score on Credit Karma, at least, did take a slight hit. Depending on how old the card was, it might have diminished my credit age a bit. It also changed my credit utilization, since my ratio of charges to overall credit would go up a bit. Even though I pay my cards in full every month, the companies still report the balance at whatever point in time they update their data. So, if I have $2000 on a card, and $120,000 in total credit, it's going to look a little worse than $2000 on a card and $130,000 in total credit.

Still, my credit score is in the 780 range, so I guess that's not too bad. I was in the 820-830 range, but then paying off the mortgage on my old house, and then buying the new house, with a new mortgage, and then refinancing the mortgage hurt me a bit, mostly because my credit age went down. I just checked Credit Karma, and the main things that are hurting me now are 7 inquiries in the past two years, and a relatively young credit age, 3 years and 10 months, according to them.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We have 4 total, all in my name with DW as a second card user.

Amex for Groceries, because of the cashback.
Explorer Visa for DW's exclusive use, and vacations as it is a United Card.
Chase Visa Cashback for AutoPay
Credit union visa as there is no charge for cash withdrawals or foreign transactions. Used very rarely.

 

[ncbill]

We had a credit limited lowered on our American Express card because we were charging too little on it—go figure. The rewards suck but we’ve had the card forever.

We did just sign up for the AmEx car rental insurance program—a flat fee per each rental charged on AmEx: https://feeservices.americanexpress.com/premium/car-rental-insurance-coverage/home.do

Sidebar:

Just be aware that only covers "loss of use" if the following conditions are met:

"the Rental Company must submit a fleet utilization log indicating that during such time: 1. no other Rental Car was available; and 2. there was a demand for a Rental Car."

Courts have ruled that the above is proprietary business information and need not be disclosed, so unfortunately in practice the AMEX offering likely won't cover a "loss of use" claim by the rental company.

I believe an unlimited non-owned coverage (UNOC) rider added to your personal auto policy would, however.

Back on topic, I've had both a Target card (good riddance) and Best Buy card canceled for non-use.

 

[CaptTom]

This thread reminded me of a bank at which I had an account. Not a lot of money, maybe $1,000. They had a local branch with convenient hours. My son would also have me cash his paycheck there sometimes, since I had an account.

One time they noticed that I hadn't made any deposits or withdrawals lately. So? I go on line every month and check the balance and record the interest. They said they would have to send it to the unclaimed funds account at the state if I didn't show some activity.

So I closed the account.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Thanks all, I'll just keep my Marriott rewards cards and keep on traveling!!!

Thankfully, I don't travel too much these days (except for pleasure) but had a Marriott card for many years. If you haven't noticed, they have *really* gutted the rewards program in the last few months (Bonvoy) so you might want to take a gander at other programs. When I was traveling for work, I preferred the Hilton rewards...but I often traveled with the old farts that DEMANDED that we stay at the Marriott Residence Inn for the "home cooked dinners"

 

[rk911]

"We don't fly" says the guy who is standing in front of a cessna and lists "pilot" on his sig line. Yeah I know what your talking about. You don't fly "commercial". Still thought it was funny.

lol....you're correct.

wife doesn't like to fly with me or the airlines.

 

[zippy2020]

In our area, the reason we use gas credit cards is that most stations give you a price break so it's the same as the cash price. Using other cards costs between 5-7 cents more per gallon.

Chevron canceled my card a few years ago for non-use (they're one of the most expensive stations here, so I had lost track of when I last used it). Fortunately my spouse still had his, so he put me on his acct. We try to make sure we use it at least once a year. In some areas we travel, Chevrons are everywhere and cheap - just not where we live, LOL.

 

[FIREarly]

To keep cards from getting canceled, try to charge one item per card per month. If you forget a card some months it's no big deal. Just set the cards up for auto-payment and put small purchases on the cards you don't care about. You probably already know this but it's worth rereading sometimes.

As far as a credit card, in my opinion, that is awesome: Chase Sapphire Preffered!!
(the link below is the regular link to view cards, NOT my referral)
https://creditcards.chase.com/?CELL=6TKX&jp_aid_a=53613&jp_aid_p=homepage_carousel/slide3

If you use Uber over $100/year than you might want to review the Chase Sapphire Reserve but it has a HUGE annual fee. Not recommending this one bc no experience but providing another option.

Isn't it Dave Ramsey who preaches about not using credit cards? It's another option.

 

[Walt34]

Isn't it Dave Ramsey who preaches about not using credit cards? It's another option.

Dave Ramsey's target audience does not rein in their spending and pay off the credit cards in full every month as most (all?) of the forum members here do. When asked about using credit cards and paying them off he goes into a rant about cc being the "most advertised financial product in history" or something along those lines and states (probably truthfully) that "no millionaire ever got rich off credit card points". I've never heard anyone make that claim either, millionaire or pauper.

All that said, his program does work for a lot of people and that's a good thing. It's better than having them remain slaves to the credit industry. But one size does not fit all.