Closing a few cards?

[longtimelurker]

---

@VinnyofLegend wrote:
I find this pretty interesting. Years ago during the credit crunch I closed several accounts with a balance reporting to avoid a rate jack. I was able to pay them off at the fixed rate lower apr. These say closed by consumer but I don't think that wins me any points compared to closed by grantor unless its a card with abusable rewards. (Implying closed by grantor for abuse). And closed by consumer may look negative for cards known for sign up bonuses. Really you could read either remark any number of ways.

---

Yes, I think the impact is probably small either way (except in the case of lots of "closed by grantor" in a short period of time).  The credit report doesn't list the type of card though, so I don't think the bonus/perk abuse issue would arise.

[Dubious]

Even if you are questioned about 'closed by grantor', would just saying that it was closed due to inactivity be a big deal? 

[longtimelurker]

---

@Dubious wrote:

Even if you are questioned about 'closed by grantor', would just saying that it was closed due to inactivity be a big deal? 

---

No, because you can just say it wasn't as useful as you had thought, you had a card that offered more rewards on the same spend etc.  

But..., a manual review may not provide you with the opportunity to answer any questions, just an underwriter looking at the file and making a decision.  So the questions being raised are in his/her mind, not asked to you.  That's why I recommend closing yourself.

[Dubious]

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@Dubious wrote:

Even if you are questioned about 'closed by grantor', would just saying that it was closed due to inactivity be a big deal? 

---

No, because you can just say it wasn't as useful as you had thought, you had a card that offered more rewards on the same spend etc.  

But..., a manual review may not provide you with the opportunity to answer any questions, just an underwriter looking at the file and making a decision.  So the questions being raised are in his/her mind, not asked to you.  That's why I recommend closing yourself.

---

Oh, haha. For some reason I had a picture in my mind of talking on the phone with an underwriter during recon. I completely forgot about the fact that there's a whole process before that 

[Open123]

Sometimes, it's just more prudent to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, especally when one has the choice to so easily avoid it.  I agree it makes very little difference either way, and certainly has no bearing scoring wise; however, there's always a small chance of getting manually reviewed by the lone anal conspiracy theorist underwriter who pores through everything unearthing financial armageddon at every turn.

It's like running into the anal cashier who won't let my friend using his Costco card buy a $5 roast chicken with my credit card while I'm there with him.  In this case, if one were closing the card anyway, I see no reason to even allow for the possibility of "closed by grantor" causing an issue with the "green ink" manual reviewer, however remote.

[Open123]

---

VinnyofLegend wrote:These say closed by consumer but I don't think that wins me any points compared to closed by grantor unless its a card with abusable rewards. (Implying closed by grantor for abuse). And closed by consumer may look negative for cards known for sign up bonuses. Really you could read either remark any number of ways.

---

Analysts care about mostly about risk, and rewards abuse would be a distant second.

Here's what I mean.  Is it riskier to issue credit to a bonus chaser who will always pay his bill, or a person who has CCs closed by grantor for unknown reasons?  For the former, the risks are well defined--namely, aside from the person taking the bonus and not using the card, there is no credit risk necessitating further review.  While for the latter, there is an unknown risk associated with "closed by grantor," which merits further investigation; was it closed because of utility, financial review, fraud, or questionable purchases?

When issuing credit an issuer is mostly concerned with risk.