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So I have been going kind of crazy lately. I have gotten a dell card, JCP, express, and HSN card. There are all things I would love to buy with them, but since I have about 1000 dollars of credit card debt, I don't want to dig myself in a grave. Until I get all my cards paid off I am only using my debit card.
What are the odds of these cards getting closed if I dont' use them for a while? How do they report to the credit reporting agencies if I have never used them? Instead of an "okay" mark every month, is it just "no data" instead?
If I buy one item now and then paid it off, and then leave it for a year, how would it report?
Good question. I need to know this as well.
You will get a string of OK with $0 as balance posted after your first purchase.
Each lenders percieve this differently : I never applied for a card that I won't use but I have prepaid a lot of cards and that's what I have noticed.
No lender has viewd my $0 as balance negatively and a few ahve given me auto CLIs, but I did have usage on all cards.
@jeremyj wrote:What are the odds of these cards getting closed if I dont' use them for a while? How do they report to the credit reporting agencies if I have never used them? Instead of an "okay" mark every month, is it just "no data" instead?
1. Depends on how long a while is. 6 months seems to be a safety threshold.
2. They report nothing but the fact that the account is open. You may get an OK mark, or nothing depending on the CRA.
I have some cards like this and recently just checked all 3 of my credit reports. Depending upon the report, some show OK under it for a few months and some for the entire time the account has been open. It shows the account as open and paid on time. $0 for the high balance and reports the credit limit.
I have a J. Crew / Comenity Card with a $1,000 limit that I've never used. It's still open as of now and I've had it about a year or more.
I had an Ultra Diamonds / GE Credit Card with a $2,000 limit that I thought was open till I looked at my CR. It shows the account as closed. Funny, but they never even told me. Don't know when they closed it, but I know why: I never used it in the first year I had it. EDIT: It looks like GE doesn't issue the card anymore and Ultra merged with Kay...
So it just depends on the creditor. I'm kinda in the same boat, so maybe you can find something really inexpensive that you want and use the card for that. Otherwise, they may close it.
If you want to keep the card open, probably a small purchase every 4-6 months should be OK. Some lenders don't care (I have open cards that haven't been used for 4 years) others do.
If you don't care if it is closed, it is possibly a little safer to close it yourself than have it closed by creditor: while who closed it doesn't impact your score, it might raise a question on manual review, but for most it won't matter.
@jeremyj wrote:
What are the odds of these cards getting closed if I dont' use them for a while?
Don't rely on odds. Check with each issuer.
@takeshi74 wrote:
@jeremyj wrote:
What are the odds of these cards getting closed if I dont' use them for a while?
Don't rely on odds. Check with each issuer.
+1
And as others have mentioned.
@takeshi74 wrote:
@jeremyj wrote:
What are the odds of these cards getting closed if I dont' use them for a while?
Don't rely on odds. Check with each issuer.
Do issuers really (correctly) answer questions about their inactivity policies? Seems to me that they would want to give shorter timeframes to encourage usage.