How To Safely Sock Drawer (SD) A Credit Card

[credit_is_crack]

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@Anonymous wrote:
You probably aren't getting 10-30 inquiries and new accounts every six months either lol

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+++++++11111111 LOL

[woodyman100]

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@grillandwinemaster wrote:

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@beautifulblaquepearl wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

For me-

I think it is very important to make sure that my cards stay over on the left side of the drawer with my socks-

On the right side of the drawer are my wifes socks and as we all know they cannot be trusted- sure they seem like a decent lot of socks... but no!

YMMV

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Hilarious! Thanks for the laugh!

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My wife is not allowed in my sock drawer! Lol 😃

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My wife stays outta my drawers as well!

[woodyman100]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Technology our friend. you can load cards up in phone wallets. if you are a consistant Amazon Customer you can split up the whole subscribe and Save Shipment between 5 credit cards (one per item) if you want.

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I I buy about 3 cups of coffee a day.

once every other month, I take a few cards per day with me a rotate a coffee through them.

my wife and I together have 40 cards, so I'm tweekin' on caffeine pretty good by Friday

[Anonymous]

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@credit_is_crack wrote:

I made some calls to the banks and got an outline at least together. 

*Chase - considers inactive after 9mo if no charges/payments;  however if you have other cards with them and are using those, they will overlook the inactive card

*PenFed CU - considers inactive after 12mo if no charges/payments; they wont close the account though. it just makes it difficult for CLI's due to low usage

*USAA - considers inactive after 6mo if no chares/payments; but they have the same rule as chase, use another USAA card and they turn a blind eye

*NFCU - does not have an "inactive policy", but stated after 2yrs they'd reach out to member about low usage. low usage on 1 card can impact CLI ability on another card (from NFCU)

*Amex - considers inactive after 12Mo, didnt specifiy would be closed, but at 12mo they start digging in your profile (amex profile, not credit report)

*BofA - considers inactive after 9mo, but depending on "relationship" they will turn a blind eye -- i dont have anything but the card so 9mo or less it is!

*Citi - would not tell me their guidelines around inactive accounts and closing cards

*Comenity - stated 1 charge/1 payment every 6 months is considered "standard usage"

*Discover - would not tellme their guidelines, but never heard of a Disc closure so my guess is that its a loose rule

*Barclaycard - considered "low usage" at 6 months, reviewed for closure at 12-18mo depending on age of account

At least with this i know, or have an idea, of what I should charge to each and how often without having to worry about any risks...my current habits are well below thier guidelines so I'm feeling better now!

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Thanks for compiling a list!

[Closingracer99]

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@credit_is_crack wrote:

Hi All,

So i've been on a building mission this past year and am back in the garden. now that i've got a few cards, i rotate the cards charging something on each one at least every 45-60 days. I've heard of some banks that either close your account (worst case), or decrease the credit limit for low/no usage. has anybody experienced this recently - like in the last 2 years, although i'm still interested in any of these horror stories lol 

how often should i charge something on my card so the bank doesnt get weird? do some of you think thats based on how much (or low) the average spend is in a certain time frame, or are people actually putting their cards in the sock drawers for 6+ months at a time?

how long do you let your card go without any use? 

Thanks!

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I haven't used my Macy's card since I got it which was in June or July 2015 and didn't use it until Feb 2016. I have some other cards around that same time frame being idle and are still active... I usually go every 6-9 months and charge stuff on all my cards.

[All4One]

My oldest card, I haven't used since 2008. still open, same low credit limit, still reporting to the big 3

[IncrsCreditScore1]

*PenFed CU - considers inactive after 12mo if no charges/payments; they wont close the account though. it just makes it difficult for CLI's due to low usage

From personal experience I can say that statement by PenFed is not always true.  Quite a number of years ago, I had an actively used credit card with them for which I paid much, much more than the minimum each month.  When I paid the credit card off, they immediately closed the credit card without alerting me.  I still have no idea why they closed the credit card or my checking account with them.  I paid the credit card in a timely manner every month, and I had more than ample funds in my checking account.  They would never answer my questions.  They left my savings account and IRA in place.  It took a long time for me to trust them again, and I am still leary even though I still have the savings and IRA with them, as well as a credit card they approved and issued a little over one year ago. 

And thank you for the great summary.  I have saved it to a Word document.

Also, I had a store credit card that I had not used in 12 months and they closed it.

[credit_is_crack]

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@All4One wrote:

My oldest card, I haven't used since 2008. still open, same low credit limit, still reporting to the big 3

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LOL That's just epic. 

[credit_is_crack]

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@Closingracer99 wrote:

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@credit_is_crack wrote:

Hi All,

So i've been on a building mission this past year and am back in the garden. now that i've got a few cards, i rotate the cards charging something on each one at least every 45-60 days. I've heard of some banks that either close your account (worst case), or decrease the credit limit for low/no usage. has anybody experienced this recently - like in the last 2 years, although i'm still interested in any of these horror stories lol 

how often should i charge something on my card so the bank doesnt get weird? do some of you think thats based on how much (or low) the average spend is in a certain time frame, or are people actually putting their cards in the sock drawers for 6+ months at a time?

how long do you let your card go without any use? 

Thanks!

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I haven't used my Macy's card since I got it which was in June or July 2015 and didn't use it until Feb 2016. I have some other cards around that same time frame being idle and are still active... I usually go every 6-9 months and charge stuff on all my cards.

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I think in time I'll have a similar setup, but while they're fresh (and Im still attractive to the banks) I want to grow them so when i do go idle, I've got a set cushion and dont have to worry about which card to check on, or CLI, or close - you know the things every single person on here obsessively does at some point or another. lol guilty as charged!  I do know the unknown can happen too, but the day-to-day, week-to-week, month all the way to year-to-year wont be something I'll need to dedicate time too.

[credit_is_crack]

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@IncrsCreditScore wrote:

*PenFed CU - considers inactive after 12mo if no charges/payments; they wont close the account though. it just makes it difficult for CLI's due to low usage

From personal experience I can say that statement by PenFed is not always true.  Quite a number of years ago, I had an actively used credit card with them for which I paid much, much more than the minimum each month.  When I paid the credit card off, they immediately closed the credit card without alerting me.  I still have no idea why they closed the credit card or my checking account with them.  I paid the credit card in a timely manner every month, and I had more than ample funds in my checking account.  They would never answer my questions.  They left my savings account and IRA in place.  It took a long time for me to trust them again, and I am still leary even though I still have the savings and IRA with them, as well as a credit card they approved and issued a little over one year ago. 

And thank you for the great summary.  I have saved it to a Word document.

Also, I had a store credit card that I had not used in 12 months and they closed it.

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I only read your story, but even i got sick to my stomach. I imagine that would make me feel very vulnerable and panicing about the other cards I have. Yet, as soon as I read your story, i instantly though...."thats a very PenFed thing to do".... They have that weird thing where they cut people off for no reason. They seem to have a history of balancing chasing on cards similar to your experience so i deliberately only charge big buys when big payments quickly follow..just in case. When they love, they LOOOVE you, but when they dont, you almost feel unwelcomed lol