How are you guys showing activity on less frequently used cards?

[Kenny]

Are there a lot of companies that AA or CLD for inactivity? any particularly know for that?

[enharu]

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@KennyS2006 wrote:
Are there a lot of companies that AA or CLD for inactivity? any particularly know for that?

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most companies would either close the account or CLD for inactivity. It just depends on how long the account is inactive for.

[Kenny]

Thanks enharu for the quick reply! Going to make sure I'm not too inactive on my cards. (The only one I've not used at all in like 6 months is Capital One.)

[SnackTrader]

I added a family member as an AU to my Capital One account to make sure it gets a little bit of activity. That family member uses it primarily for online shopping and connected their bank account information within my online banking. I initiate the payment once a month and the money comes out.

Of course, I wouldn't recommend this situation for everyone. But it works for me.

[TheConductor]

I wouldn't invest the effort in keeping a card active if the only reason were AAoA  or utilization.  As aforementioned, AAoA would only have a delayed effect 10 years later, which is not even worth worrying about. And utilization is really not a problem at my current limits and spending habits.

What I do invest effort in keeping active are the cards where I need to maintain a points balance i haven't extracted yet (Zync) or where I get some benefit from maintaining the card (e.g. Bank of America's cashback mall occasionally has the best offer for some retailers I frequent, Walmart has the free FICO score). But even so, I look to minimize my effort as much as possible.

It's easy to set a small, monthly recurring charge (e.g. Hulu or Spotify subscription) and an auto-pay plan, so I can set it and forget it.

Anything more than that is unnecessary complication.

[tinuviel]

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@dollar_bill wrote:

It really depends on YOUR situation. If you have a fairly high Util, say over 20%, then an account closing due to inactivity might throw off your % and drop your score as well as make you look worse when apping for new credit. If you keep your balances low and/or paid off, then who cares really? The only people who would care are people with new credit, and if you're in this boat then you probably haven't had a card long enough to become "inactive".  I'm sure there are people out there who fall into the outside edges of the curve and these things could have a temporary impact, but so long as you pay your bills it really is only temporary.

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Yes, absolutely. If you don't really need the card, then it might make sense to close it. But if you need or simply want to keep the card open, then you just need to run a charge of some type through every few months to show activity.

My DH has a set of cards for his spending, and I have mine. But, I'm farther along with my rebuild than he is, so I have better limits. One of my cards is with Wells Fargo, which is where we have our joint checking/savings accounts. The limit on the card is 7000, which is considerably larger than any of his limits. But the rewards are meh. So, I put him on as an AU and he has it available in case he needs to make a large charge; it gives peace of mind in case I'm not around to use my cards and an emergency comes up. So far, this hasn't happened, but I want to keep the card in case. So, every couple of months I'll ask him to use it to pick up something at the store or some such thing. Then, I pay it and have him go back to the card he usually uses. No big deal.

But the point is that everyone needs to decide if keeping a card is worth it. If it is, make an occassional purchase with it, pay it, and then go back to the usual cards. No biggie.

[Captain4Ever]

Bring the card that you want to keep its activity to the gas station the next time you're out . Authorize, then cancel the transaction.

Then use your usual one for the gas.

I assume you may want to try this method since you are willing to go through some hassle to keep yours.

[HeilFico]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the input. I'm going to close three cards and use a mixture of the multiple methods listed.