@IWOL wrote:I didn't read the entire thread but wanted to chime in on the appearance of chase closure threads being abundant.
First of all, credit related message boards offer a very small number of cardholders relative to the total number of cardholders out there. Relative to the total number of Chase cardholders here and on other related boards very few have reported Chase closures. If everyone that uses Chase cards including those that buy gift cards etc that have never had a card closed posted here......I think you would have a hard time finding the closure posts.
Based on that alone I think people are way overacting to the relatively few reports of closures.
on top of all that we rarely get the full picture if a posters credit situation....i.e. Util, number of recent accounts, inquiries, spending patterns, months of min payments etc.
Posters often correlate the closure to one thing like buying a gift card when in fact it could be any number of factors.
gift cards are a huge business. Visa, MC and AMEX sell hundreds millions worth of gift cards. The only way to purchase AMEX gift cards on their site is with a credit card as well as places like gift card mall. Buying GC with a credit card is perfectly acceptable and is even promoted by the very issuers that sell them.
Doing MS at any level always has it's risks but if you are not buying GC for this purpose, you should not worry about buying GC for presents etc.
There are so many possible factors involved in each individual scenario, it's a waist of time to try speculate unless you have all the facts which we never do.
Respectfully disagree. True, not everyone is being shut down, but those that are, and post notes on these boards are not doing large MS. There are several with new Freedom accounts, they just got through the bonus spend period, and bought a gift card.
My projection of the likely set of circumstances that raises the likelihood of an account closure is meant to try to make some sense out of these "random" closures. You are free to continue to purchase gift cards with your Freedom or other Chase card. My take on the situation is, however, when combined with other likely behaviors of MyFICO users such as focusing on and maximizing Bonus spend and then ignoring the card if there is not Bonus spend needed, is the exact pattern that seems to raise the profile of these accounts. A new Freedom card, with a just-completed Bonus Spend period is underwater for Chase profitability. Because of the MS'ers poisoning the well, and big banks learning that "cash equivalents" lead to them losing money, the computer systems are simply turned on to look for "cash equivalents" combined with accounts that are underwater due to Bonus spend. They don't have time to sift through the little accounts to make decisions, the closure is nearly automatic.
@Anonymous wrote:
@eddie84 wrote:
@techiegirl wrote:
If your card is closed while you still have a balance, how does that reflect on your credit?I had a card that was closed down while still has a balance on it. I just continue to make payments as usual. It didn't seem to effect my score though (on the CR it just listed as closed by lender).
Wow "Closed by Lender" on the report?
Thats not good
I don't think it makes any difference, whether it says closed by lender or closed by customer. What counts is, making the payments. Yes the balance remains open. The lender should maintain a reasonable CL even though the account is closed, and as you pay it down, it still counts as positives on your credit report. I've got two closed accounts (closed by customer) with balances still paying down. I didn't like the change in terms so kept the old terms and am paying on that.
@napplegate wrote:Perhaps I will be the only one to say this but I don't believe any of these stories aside from the first person who posted, who I wouldn't put it past to create new accounts for the sole purpose of trolling. There was just a new post made alluding to things that are theoretically impossible as far as MS goes. You cannot purchase a prepaid with a credit card at a Walmart. You cannot purchase a $4000 prepaid. The entire post was just screaming to stir people up with a ridiculous, constructed story. On top of that there is soo much misinformation regarding MS it's insane. Take a stroll over to Flyertalk and brush up on their section devoted to MS. Not one single report of shutdowns nor on any other forum board for that matter. Why in the world would an issuer care if you purchased a small denomination merchant gift card? It is NOT a cash equivalent in the way that a prepaid is. You can use it at one merchant and that's it. Did any of you stop overthinking things to realize that millions of consumers buy gift cards (merchant mind you) on a daily basis? There is nothing fraudulent about this and it is certainly not prohibited by T&C by issuers. The matter of contention is cash equivalents, which none of these supposed people ever purchased. If you honestly think Chase or any other issuer is going to close your account for purchasing a $25 gift card to Olive Garden, frankly, you're an idiot.
No one on this thread to my knowledge would disagree that these purchases of gift cards are innocent. They are cash equivalents, however. The argument I am making is, the Chase algorithm is misreading how these smaller accounts are working, applying the MS profile, and trying to close accounts that are unprofitable with any indication of attributes that look like MS, without regard to volume.
You have not looked enough at FT. There is a thread there specifically about Chase shut downs, with a list of a dozen preliminary questions to ask about your own account to see how you rate for possible targeting by Chase.
Cheers
@Anonymous wrote:
@napplegate wrote:Perhaps I will be the only one to say this but I don't believe any of these stories aside from the first person who posted, who I wouldn't put it past to create new accounts for the sole purpose of trolling. There was just a new post made alluding to things that are theoretically impossible as far as MS goes. You cannot purchase a prepaid with a credit card at a Walmart. You cannot purchase a $4000 prepaid. The entire post was just screaming to stir people up with a ridiculous, constructed story. On top of that there is soo much misinformation regarding MS it's insane. Take a stroll over to Flyertalk and brush up on their section devoted to MS. Not one single report of shutdowns nor on any other forum board for that matter. Why in the world would an issuer care if you purchased a small denomination merchant gift card? It is NOT a cash equivalent in the way that a prepaid is. You can use it at one merchant and that's it. Did any of you stop overthinking things to realize that millions of consumers buy gift cards (merchant mind you) on a daily basis? There is nothing fraudulent about this and it is certainly not prohibited by T&C by issuers. The matter of contention is cash equivalents, which none of these supposed people ever purchased. If you honestly think Chase or any other issuer is going to close your account for purchasing a $25 gift card to Olive Garden, frankly, you're an idiot.
I buy WM GC's at WM to use at SC all the time with my SM. I intend to do this as well when Groceries is a 5% on the Freedom.
You are planning to buy groceries at WM with your Freedom in Q1?