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In 2003 I opened a furniture store charge card to make a purchase. It's a card handled by Wells Fargo with a $4,000 limit for purchases and $1,000 for cash advances. Haven't used it since then. It has continued to appear on my CR (all 3 bureaus) as an open (but inactive) revolving account with the last date of activity listed as February 2004. The card is helping my credit profile because it's my only store card and because the $5,000 limit is being factored into my UTIL.
There's a notation in my Experian report that the account is scheduled to continue appearing until February 2014 (I assume after 10 years of inactivity, an account falls off). I don't want it to fall off, so I dusted off the card in hopes of using it again to generate new activity. But when I called to confirm that I can still use the card, the CSR couldn't locate any record of my account. Nothing came up under my name, SSN, or account number. The CSR advised me to write to their "Retailer Billing" department, which keeps information on "archived" accounts. So I sent a letter and am awaiting a response.
I'm hoping I'll be told the account is still open and available for use, but the fact that customer service has no record of it doesn't seem encouraging. Could they have closed the account years ago without ever notifying me or any of the credit bureaus? Can they do that? If it turns out that the card was closed, do you suppose I'd have any luck convincing them to reopen it (especially since I was never informed that it was closed)? I want to keep this account alive so my credit score doesn't take a big hit.
Depending on the length of your file, the card falling off shouldn't make too much of an impact - of course, I'm assuming that this isn't your only TL that you have reporting on your CR.
It would hurt me most with utilization. The $5,000 limit is counting toward my available credit for my revolving accounts. My other revolving accounts are all credit cards carrying large balances and high UTIL. High UTIL is the one bad area on my CR. Having the $5,000 line with a $0 balance has helped reduce my UTIL.
Ah I see. On the plus side, any dips in score due to loss in util won't matter unless you're planning to app for new TLs. Since it's going to stay on your CR until Feb'14, you could apply for another card to help cushion your util. Good luck.
I think Lexie meant that now that you have notified WF about the account they might report it closed in your credit reports and your util ratio might be hit.
Yes, I realize that telling WF about the account might now lead them to report it as closed and my UTIL ratio taking a hit. But that would happen anyway because after 10 years of inactivity, the account is due to come off my report in February 2014. It seems that the only way I can avoid this is if I find out that the account is still open or can be reopened so that I can use it again before February.