Have you had a credit card account closed due to inactivity?

AprilSun

AprilSun

Senior Member
I received a letter in the mail yesterday from Chase Cardmember Services stating that I needed to use my Amazon credit card in the next 15 days if I want to keep it open. They stated otherwise, it would be closed due to inactivity.

I haven't purchased anything from Amazon since Sept. 2019. That is because I have had so many problems with them I will only use them as a "last resort". Some of my problems were I had ordered 40 lbs. of cat litter and a small bag of cat food. When they shipped it, they put both in the same box without any protection and when I opened the box, the cat food was busted open by the heavy cat litter.

Other problems I have had with them was when several of my packages were delivered, they were left at my basement door rather than my front door. I had to go down the steps or outside and climb a hill to get the packages back into my house. Then, they automatically signed me up for Prime one time and then started charging me for it. I didn't order enough from them for it to pay me to sign up for Prime and that should be my decision anyway and not theirs.

After all of this, I started shopping at other places. I don't mind them closing my credit card but I had never heard of a credit card being closed due to inactivity. They're not going to scare me into shopping from them. I say close it!
 

The 3% cash back is a good deal with the amazon/chase card but if you don’t use amazon often then it would necessarily appeal to you.

I order from them all the time and find their service to be excellent. I’m you’ve had difficulty.
 

I order from Amazon frequently and have only had a couple of issues which really wasn't their fault, but the delivery people. I also have had great service as far as making returns for whatever reason. But like you, my Honorary Daughter has had problems with them. To answer you question, I seem to remember that once I was informed that my card would be closed because of inactivity. The only thing about that is I read that it's better for your FICO score if [you] close the card than if the credit card company does it.
 
I had heard of it, but the card not having been used since Sept 2019, seems like a short time to me, for it to be cancelled for inactivity.

But if it's not been of good service for you, anyway,
then like you said, I too, wouldn't let them pressure into keeping it and using it more often.!

I did wonder if you can use that card for other than Amazon, IF you did want to keep the card,
or if it is some contract that does require Amazon orders.
If so, then there was perhaps, in VERY tiny print, a policy rule that specified how often you would be required to use it.

But myself, I wouldn't want a card that required as frequent use as that one of yours either!

And that was very poor experience you had, with those shipments!

Nice to see you, though, @AprilSun ! :)
 
I've read that credit card issuers are closing dormant credit cards and in some cases reducing credit limits in an effort to reduce exposure during the pandemic.

One of the fears is that if people are losing their jobs they will start to dig out those old dormant cards and begin to live on them until they can get back to work or worse charge them up and walk away.
 
i had term life insurance to pay $5000 for death / burial for the last 25 years. Paying every month. Just got a letter they are cancelling it and I have to switch to whole life. What? You don't want to hear what I told them!
 
Yes, @Gaer I agree with what you told them.....

I once had one, that the benefit to be paid out, was drastically reduced every couple of years older I got,
despite paying the premiums for all the additional years....
until it would have been worth barely ANY return.

I cancelled out of that one, long ago, as soon as I read that very fine print!
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I order from Amazon frequently and have only had a couple of issues which really wasn't their fault, but the delivery people. I also have had great service as far as making returns for whatever reason. But like you, my Honorary Daughter has had problems with them. To answer you question, I seem to remember that once I was informed that my card would be closed because of inactivity. The only thing about that is I read that it's better for your FICO score if [you] close the card than if the credit card company does it.
Click to expand...
It’s better not to close anything, it can effect your debt to what you earn ratio, and, no, I can’t explain it any better than that, but it can lower your credit score. However, if you don’t use credit much, I suppose it doesn’t matter.
 
Gaer said:
i had term life insurance to pay $5000 for death / burial for the last 25 years. Paying every month. Just got a letter they are cancelling it and I have to switch to whole life. What? You don't want to hear what I told them!
Click to expand...
We are all bored, we do want to hear what you told them 😀
 
Yes I had my available Balance reduced by half by a Credit Card company last year, because I hadn't used the card in 5 months.. I was stunned, I didn't realise they could do that. I've never been in the red, always pay full balance off every month long before the final date .
In fact I was about to use it the following month to book flights, but because they halved my credit limit ( I still would have had enough to book the flights)... I decided they could stick their card on principle .. and I just don't use it at all now.. instead I use the credit and debit cards I have with my banks
 
Yes, had one of our gas cards cancelled for non-use. It's a company that doesn't have many stations in our immediate area, so we tend to only use it when we're traveling to certain locations.

We use our Chase/Amazon card for most of our major purchases, since the cash back feature works on all purchases, not just Amazon.

We rotate use of our charge cards to keep our accounts active. It doesn't take much - a couple of modest purchases annually will do.

I don't use debit cards as often. Long ago we ran into a credit theft situation at a restaurant and $2100 disappeared from our checking account within minutes. It took 18 months to retrieve the funds.

The legal protection for debit cards and third party vendors like PayPal and Venmo is much weaker than the legal protection for credit cards.
 
Citi closed my 3 double cash MC CCs when I quit using it since Aug 2019. They closed it March 29 this year without stating any reason. It dinged my credit report a bit since my total available credit went down by $25K. I didn't mind it since it went back up the next month. I'm sure eyes were on my accounts which was unprofitable to them while I earned the 2% cashback each month. I will not be surprised if Chase,Amex, Cap1 and other CCs close more unprofitable accounts.
 
I've had that happen to me not too long ago...within the past 6 months.

It was a Sears CITI MasterCard. I have one rewards card that I use, and the others just take up room in my wallet. Likely had been years since I bought anything with it...I only used it when shopping at Sears for discounts or points or something.

I got a letter when the expiry date was approaching saying that if I didn't charge some minimum amount of dollars, my card would not be renewed. So I used it the next time I went to the grocery store, just to keep the credit line active. I guess the made me do what they wanted. They got their processing fee plus some some amount of transaction fee from my $12 grocery purchase.

I wouldn't have even bothered except for the stupid way Credit Scores react when you pare back your available credit. If there had been an annual fee, I would have just let it expire. I did that with another card last year.
 
Gaer said:
i had term life insurance to pay $5000 for death / burial for the last 25 years. Paying every month. Just got a letter they are cancelling it and I have to switch to whole life. What? You don't want to hear what I told them!
Click to expand...

I have seen this happen to people several times as they get older. A lot of term policies have a maximum age for coverage.

Do they want to substantially increase the monthly fee, or is it a nominal amount? If the cost is reasonable, I would do it, but I doubt that they are going to play nice.

One fellow I knew in the Navy decided to pass on the subsidized survivor benefit program when he retired and buy a cheap term policy. Somehow that insurance company found out that he had cancer and jumped the cost from about $25 a month to $4000 a month for the same coverage the day he turned 70. (The Navy SBP would have cost around $210 a month.) Of course he could not afford it and he died leaving his wife with no insurance and no Navy Survivor retirement. I got nowhere when I tried to talk him and his wife out of doing this (she had to sign the document) back in the late 1980's. Twenty five years later she called me and asked what could be done. I broke my heart to tell her that there was nothing that could be done.

Life insurance is such a landmine!
 
Pecos said:
I have seen this happen to people several times as they get older. A lot of term policies have a maximum age for coverage.

Do they want to substantially increase the monthly fee, or is it a nominal amount? If the cost is reasonable, I would do it, but I doubt that they are going to play nice.

One fellow I knew in the Navy decided to pass on the subsidized survivor benefit program when he retired and buy a cheap term policy. Somehow that insurance company found out that he had cancer and jumped the cost from about $25 a month to $4000 a month for the same coverage the day he turned 70. (The Navy SBP would have cost around $210 a month.) Of course he could not afford it and he died leaving his wife with no insurance and no Navy Survivor retirement. I got nowhere when I tried to talk him and his wife out of doing this (she had to sign the document) back in the late 1980's. Twenty five years later she called me and asked what could be done. I broke my heart to tell her that there was nothing that could be done.

Life insurance is such a landmine!
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Thanks Pecos! Don't need whole life. Just wanted my burial which was supposed to be good as long as I paid it, (according to my late husband)
My husband was a Federal Marshal and a vet and I got , what? $255.00! I contacted VA and the Government and they both said the same thing, "Well,Keep your chin up!" Now the insurance Co is a rip off! Thanks though!
 
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