Is it possible to place a freeze on your credit card account

[babbles]

I have a credit card  with a balance of 19k and plan to pay it down to about $500 or so.  Is it possible to request that a freeze be put on the account so it won't be used any longer?  I am undisciplined an figure I may use it again once paid down , and of course i wouldn't want to close it.  Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I don't think there is a way to do this by contacting the issuer.  Even if you could, it seems like it would raise all kinds of alarms and possibly cause AA.

The best way to do this:  Take a plastic container (I prefer the reusable ones that come with lunchmeat inside).  Fill it with water and put your card in.  Replace the lid and stick in the freezer.  Voila!  Frozen account.

[drkaje]

Scissors.

[Anonymous]

Delete the card from all your online accounts where it's a payment method and shred the actual card. You won't be able to use it that way. And if you absolutely have to, you can always tell them the card was damaged and ask them to send you a new one.

Damaged/worn is better than lost, since they don't necessarily need to issue you a new card number that way.

[singulardedication]

Yeah when I was yound and stupid I attempted 'freezing' and ended up closing my account.

If you really want to play dangerous some companies let you close an account and then re-open it in 30-60 days, but probally gets a review and red flags.

[LS2982]

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@babbles wrote:

I have a credit card  with a balance of 19k and plan to pay it down to about $500 or so.  Is it possible to request that a freeze be put on the account so it won't be used any longer?  I am undisciplined an figure I may use it again once paid down , and of course i wouldn't want to close it.  Thanks.

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Shred the card. Oncve paid down, ask for a replacement. But IMO, if you feel like your undisiplined and you have 19K worth of CC debt, I'd shred it and keep it that way.

[learnin113]

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@babbles wrote:

I have a credit card  with a balance of 19k and plan to pay it down to about $500 or so.  Is it possible to request that a freeze be put on the account so it won't be used any longer?  I am undisciplined an figure I may use it again once paid down , and of course i wouldn't want to close it.  Thanks.

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Wait a minute...did you say 19 grand???

Cut it up!!!

[FrugalRican]

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@babbles wrote:

I have a credit card  with a balance of 19k and plan to pay it down to about $500 or so.  Is it possible to request that a freeze be put on the account so it won't be used any longer?  I am undisciplined an figure I may use it again once paid down , and of course i wouldn't want to close it.  Thanks.

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Seems to me that you've become disciplined enough to actually start paying this down.

Go to bankrate, and go figure out how much you'll be paying off in interest over the course of time it'll take you to pay it off.

And if you plan on paying only the minimum, your credit card statement should definitely tell you how long it'd take you to pay it off and the total amount of the interest tacked on.

If that figure doesn't scare you enough to start the discipline process, then I don't know what will.

[pizzadude]

I'd advise you to cut the card up.  If you suspect that you will have trouble with it in the future then you need to do something permanent, maybe even closing it.

IMO it is better to have smallish open CCs than to have $19,000 of available credit if you have issues with being able to only charge what you can afford to pay off.

[LS2982]

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@FrugalRican wrote:

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@babbles wrote:

I have a credit card  with a balance of 19k and plan to pay it down to about $500 or so.  Is it possible to request that a freeze be put on the account so it won't be used any longer?  I am undisciplined an figure I may use it again once paid down , and of course i wouldn't want to close it.  Thanks.

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Seems to me that you've become disciplined enough to actually start paying this down.

Go to bankrate, and go figure out how much you'll be paying off in interest over the course of time it'll take you to pay it off.

And if you plan on paying only the minimum, your credit card statement should definitely tell you how long it'd take you to pay it off and the total amount of the interest tacked on.

If that figure doesn't scare you enough to start the discipline process, then I don't know what will.

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+1

The interest is going to be insane if not handled properly!