Should I close my Freedom card?

[longtimelurker]

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@randeman wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@randeman wrote:

Add my voice to the keep it chorus, and think of this:  things change.  Just like you no longer have the gas-guzzler.  That changed, right?  Categories can change just as easily 7% annual UR point bonus is changing for the CSP.  It ain't hurtin' ya.  Toss it in the sock drawer and buy lunch with it once a month.

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Right, but why I said there are weak arguments on both sides: So things change.  The Freedom adds a $100 AF.  Or there is a fraudulent charge on it.  Or something.  Now you either miss these things because the card is sock-drawed and don't pay attention (because you have 50 other no AF cards  you have acquired and never closed) or you do pay attention in which case you are spending time looking at stuff about a card you don't use.  And if you are putting small charges on every so often to keep it alive, there is a cost there as well.

IMO, there are equailly weak arguments for both, making it a personal preference rather than an informed choice.

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Well, I am not completely clear with your sentence structure, but, frankly, if someone has so many credit cards that he/she can't keep track of them, he/she shouldn't have credit cards.  "Sock-drawed" or not.  I have cards that I haven't used in months, and don't plan to, but keep them around for utilization purposes.  But you can bet your #$% that I go on each card's website at least twice a month (usually weekly) to monitor them, and have many of them set up to alert me by instant messaging if a charge appears that exceeds a certain amount.  Someone who has a bunch of cards and doesn't monitor them on a regular basis is just asking for trouble and is, imho, too irresponsible to have credit cards.  Moreover, I can't imagine a credit card company that has a card with no annual fee that should suddenly add an AF (surprise!) with no prior warning.  What it comes down to is that the OP was looking for advice.  He's gotten the advice from several people and can use that advice or not as he sees fit.

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OK, to put it more simply: some people, those you deem unworthy of credit cards, find keeping track of unnecessary stuff unneccesary.  It makes perfect sense for them to close unwanted cards, in the same way that some people are neat-freaks and get rid of all the clutter, and others are hoarders who keep everything "because you never know"

Either approach is fine if it works, just reacting to all the claims of "keep all no AF cards for ever"   As I said, the arguments on both sides are weak but advocates try to make it sacred writ.

Note I didn't say that they would add a fee with no prior warning, just that you might miss such a communication if you didn't sepnd time checking all the mail, going on the website etc.  There is nothing especially virtuous about regularly checking the websites, setting up alerts, tracking util etc.  Some people choose to do other things with their time, and keep a minimal set of cards that suit their purposes.

[lg8302ch]

To each their own preference. I would never give up the option of getting 5 x  UR points instead of  1 x with a no AF card ...unless I would also give up CSP and forget UR points

[randeman]

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@Josh2942 wrote:

Having alot of cards and not reviewing them often does not mean they shouldnt have them Thats a ridiculous claim. And just because you check twice a month or once an hour, identity theft happens to the best of us. So there is nothing wrong with somebody has multiple cards and not being all over them. I dont touch or look at about 18 cards i have sock drawered. But any charge over 15 dollars gets emailed, texted, and alerted by app to me. But even that wont save me from the best thief.

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Having credit cards is your responsibility.  If you don't take reasonable efforts to safeguard them to your own comfort, then you have only yourself to blame if anything goes wrong.  Regardless of whether or not you consider my opinion "ridiculous."  Identity theft does happen to even the most prudent.  It's like your home security, you can have all the locks and alarms and guard dogs or humans that money can buy, but if someone wants in badly enough they're gonna get in.  How you choose to manage your own security is your own business. I expressed what I do for my own peace of mind.  If you're happy and comfortable how you keep your cards secure and can sleep at night, yay for you.

Not to be rude, but to be direct, at the end of the day no one here cares whether you keep the card or not.  You seem to be a reasonably intelligent individual and I suspect that you have already made the decision whether or not to keep the card already--although you may not be concious of it.  You asked for opinions and you got them, regardless of whether or not the arguments pro and con are "weak."  They are the opinions expressed that you sought.  You don't have to like them.