Barclays: Closing accounts after new accounts, poll!

[bs6054]

Just trying to get some numbers here as there seems to be a lot of disagreement!    So, please respond if you have ever held a credit card issued by Barclays (US ones).

1) Is the card still open?  If so

   a) How long have you had it

   b) Do you open other accounts after getting the card?  If so, how many and how soon.

If closed:

  a) Who closed it?   If Barclays did they give reasons?  Do you open other accounts after getting the card?  If so, how many and how soon.

My answers:

Card 1:  Us Air, closed by me after 18 months.   2 cards opened between opening and closing, no comment from Barclays.

Card 2: Rewards, still open after 8 months, 5 cards applied for.

[Open123]

1.  US Air - Opened for 40k bonus.  Closed by me after 8 months.  No other Barclay card.

2.  After opening the card and before I closed it, I had app'ed for 4 other cards for sign up bonuses last year.

I never heard from them, except for balance transfer checks they kept sending me.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Yes
8 months
Opened Chase Freedom, Discover, and Amex from the fourth - seventh months

[navigatethis12]

Barclays Rewards Mastercard - open for eleven months on the 24th. At least six acconts reported after I opened the account (February 2012) and I just opened five more past two months (four reporting, one not yet). I have spoken to an analyst three times for new cards and increases and all declined . They all have referenced the new accounts as the reason but did not say anything about closing it. I started at 2500 and at six months went up to 3400.

I got it for mobile phone bills but have Chase/American Express at 5% and many other cards with no interest so if they do close it, that is fine since the limit is the third lowest.

[Unique620]

---

@bs6054 wrote:

Just trying to get some numbers here as there seems to be a lot of disagreement!    So, please respond if you have ever held a credit card issued by Barclays (US ones).

1) Is the card still open?  If so

   a) How long have you had it

   b) Do you open other accounts after getting the card?  If so, how many and how soon.

If closed:

  a) Who closed it?   If Barclays did they give reasons?  Do you open other accounts after getting the card?  If so, how many and how soon.

My answers:

Card 1:  Us Air, closed by me after 18 months.   2 cards opened between opening and closing, no comment from Barclays.

Card 2: Rewards, still open after 8 months, 5 cards applied for.

---

I have Apple Barclay Card open for a month. No other accounts open around the time. I did apply for Apple Credit Union a day before I applied for Barlcay. The account is not open yet for Apple. Barclay is still open.

[jake619]

Sticky candidate... too bad this can't be more like a database so the answers were structured (thus indexed and searchable like Edited.

This post has been edited to remove a link that was in violation of the myFICO TOS.

Shogun, myFICO moderator

[Walt_K]

You should also try to figure out if people who had closures had borderline profiles, and if they were actually using their Barclays card. I'm guessing that they are more likely to take AA against someone who was a little bit of a risk and who continues to seek new credit. I've also always wondered whether they shut people down who had sock drawered their Barclay card more often than people who were actively using it.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

My Travelocity Amex has been within 70-80% of the limit the whole time Ive had it. Although.. I paid off a $5500 bal in full to avoid the 0% ending :-) Im about to pay off $6500 on it again haha in full!  Ive used it a lot bc of the cheap rates!!

[bs6054]

Yes, all that data would be good.  But for now I was just interested in the basic "Does it happen very often" which is certainly the impression you get from reading the forum.

My guess (and just a guess) is that it is much less common, mainly because it gets reported when it happens, and doesn't get reported when it doesn't(!), but that said, it might be that Barclays is more likely to do this than other lenders.   But is the chance of Barclays doing it say 2% compared to other lenders 1%, or, as claimed the other day, 99.5%, i.e. should you be just a tiny bit concerned, or totally scared!

And of course the experience may differ by card, those cards  needing excellent credit may be more or less at risk than those needing average credit.

[beb86]

Apple Visa 4/12, yes walmart, and mortgage in the same month....also my util has been high on that card but only thing was I was denied a CLI