Wells Fargo (Formerly Secured) CLOSED for Lack Of Activity

[Anonymous]

Good riddance, I say! If you search on this board, you'll find that this was my first foray into rebuilding my credit back in December 2014, nearly 3 years ago. I was also excited when I got the "graduation letter" advising that it would become a regular card in November 2015.

BUT, I started with a $500 secured limit, got refused on reconsideration once it graduated. Then got a couple of $200 unrequested increases over a 2 year period. Not to mention, a couple of HPs for my troubles. 

So today when I got the innocent looking letter telling me they'd closed my account for lack of activity in a 6-month period, my limit stood at a mighty $900. Mind you, the MAJORITY of my other major credit cards limits are of $10k to $25k CL variety, which is pretty standard for me these days. And they actually bring me tangible benefits (airline miles, hotel points, cash back, etc.), unlike that chintzy "rewards points I could never figure out with Wells Fargo. (I think I earned 2.13 points towards a10,000 pt hostage-holding WF online store of junk.)

At the time of my "graduation", I think my lowest major card limit was $3k.

Now you have to understand that I've banked at Wells Fargo for some 16 years; hubby even had a refi-mortgage with them. I've NEVER burned them. And never been late or over-limit on anything with them. 

Besides the nearly 4-year-old BK7 on my CRA, there are NO Derogs. My scores hover around the mid-700s depending on when things report. I've not applied for new credit in 12 months. And all tradelines are reporting at 100% on-time, low-ish to $0 balances. I've PIF 1 of my 4 student loans (tax advantages, plus used Discover BT check for 0%), and the remaining 3 are showing good standing, no missed payments.

I'd be pissed at Wells Fargo just on principle, except that first measly card probably stoked my rebuild effort to where my total revolving credit went from $500 to over $160k. And since the tradeline was closed in good standing (and at such a tiny limit), I will reap the benefits of it's AAOA effect for 10 more years. I dare say it won't even make a blip on my CRA.

So tomorrow, I'm marching myself to the branch and closing out everything else. Never fear, I'd moved most everything else, (including business accounts) to Chase years ago. Wells was just a "habit". Ironically, my neighborhood WF and Chase are next door to each other! I still have accounts at HSBC (for international), and now also Navy Federal Credit Union. Wells was about to go up on piddly fees that used to be free, anyway.

So, Adios MofoS!!!!

[Anonymous]

Closing my WF accounts next week as well.  Ragequit over a $15 fee they applied incorrectly and refused to remove.

Such a bizarre bank -- losing customers left and right but they won't adjust a $15 fee.

Only kept them open during my rebuild thinking I'd go with their secured card since it offered a $5000 max deposit and hints it could have rewards added to it.  Soooooo thankful I never had to go that route considering that I started getting unsecured cards with prime banks just 2 months into my rebuild.

Just waiting for next Monday when I will be half a block from a branch anyway.  That way I can close it out and get my $1500 minimum checking balance paid in cash -- the balance that was supposed to prevent a $15 fee.  The balance that pays 0% interest.

The only thing of value I got out of them was the free FICO 09 score monthly, but that's not worth any amount of frustration.

[Anonymous]

Hello LadyAng.  Can you tell us when the last transaction date was and the date of the last payment?

Wells Fargo tends to close cards due to inactivity a bit sooner than some other issuers.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I used to like WF because they seemed easier to deal with and more forward thinking technology-wise. It was very easy to transfer money to relatives' accounts for presents or reimbursement, which other banks lacked the capability.

But now with Zell and such, it's a snap with just about any major bank. So "ba-bye" WF. I hardly knew ye.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello LadyAng.  Can you tell us when the last transaction date was and the date of the last payment?

Wells Fargo tends to close cards due to inactivity a bit sooner than some other issuers.

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Honestly, I had to remind myself to buy a stick of gum no and then, but I sure it's been since Jan/Feb 2017, so about 9-10 months since I used it. The letter says it was closed on Oct 25, 2017.

[Anonymous]

That's interesting.  The letter specifies six months as the period of inactivity, right?  But as far as you can see, it was nine months?

I wonder whether that means that six months is their official policy, but that they typically give customers longer.

Would you guess that the last payment was in March?  I wouldn't be surprised if CC issuers set the "inactivity" clock at the last point of activity of any kind, whether a payment or a transaction.  In most cases that would be a payment.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's interesting.  The letter specifies six months as the period of inactivity, right?  But as far as you can see, it was nine months?

I wonder whether that means that six months is their official policy, but that they typically give customers longer.

Would you guess that the last payment was in March?  I wouldn't be surprised if creditors set the "inactivity" clock at the point of activity of any kind, whether a payment or a transaction.  In most cases that would be a payment.

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I'll quote it (with comments)

"We closed your account because of one or more of the following reasons:

     One or more credit inquiries in the last 2 years on credit report (are you kidding me? There've been NO inquiries in a whole year, and 3 of the HPs in the previous 24 months are by WF themselves.)

     Total monthly payments(s) due for bankcard or line of credit account(s) on credit report is high (that's not it as I KEEP my overall UT at 10% or under, and no card has more than 14% UT as I pay several times monthly BEFORE statement report and PIF. My income is also 6-figures as reported in their own records. Nevermind that they can see the cash and checks coming and going.)

     Over Six Months Account Inactivity (BINGO!)"

So if I used the card as late as February and it didn't report until March, then that's 7 months until it was closed in late October. So, as usual, it's if the moon is in the 7th house, or the planets align in a particular way, or if the wind blows.

Compare Wells to Cabela's who sent me a letter 2 months ago saying I hadn't used the card in awhile, (it may have been 6-11 months) and since it was up for renewal, I only needed to use it for one transaction, and all things (on CRA) considered, I'd get a new card. I did use my $10k limit Cabela's at the gas station, and sure enough got the new card yesterday. Now, THAT's the way you do it, WF.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I was guessing from your first post that you felt that WF had behaved in a pretty unusual way by closing your account without warning.  But actually that's pretty common.  When a closure due to inactivity is being contemplated by the issuer, I think it is a bit more common for them to do it without warning than to send you a letter or email in advance and let you correct the problem.  If I had to guess I'd say maybe 60/40 in favor of without warning -- though I couldn't be sure.

At any rate, since you seem to like your other cards, I would plan on using each one at least once every six months, to prevent the same thing happening to you again.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, I was guessing from your first post that you felt that WF had behaved in a pretty unusual way by closing your account without warning.  But actually that's pretty common.  When a closure due to inactivity is being contemplated by the issuer, I think it is a bit more common for them to do it without warning than to send you a letter or email in advance and let you correct the problem.  If I had to guess I'd say maybe 60/40 in favor of without warning -- though I couldn't be sure.

At any rate, since you seem to like your other cards, I would plan on using each one at least once every six months, to prevent the same thing happening to you again.

Actually, the main reason I think WF behaved pretty badly is that they stuck to their stingy $900 limit for nearly 2 years while ARs, HPs, and SPs easily showed that I handled 5-figure limits effortlessly while earning their competitors profits on a regular basis. I failed to use their card regularly because I'd be bumping up at least the small limit weekly if not daily; even danger even of the dreaded "over-the-limit". I told them that when they'd contact me with BT offers. They could see it for themselves. Go figure.

The lack of notice has no effect on my credit, no my daily life, as well, I don't use the card, don't need the extra $900, have already gotten the benefit of its AAOA. 

As for Cabela's, I suspect that notice had more to do with World's Foremost Bank's assets being sold to Capital One and them actually wanting to transfer as many active accounts as possible than with them actually wanting to close the card. At any rate, I've set alarms in EV to rotate usage of my cards. WF is the only one I didn't care about. The others are fit for purpose.

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[rmduhon]

What I do with my cards that I don't use regularly is put Netflix, Ancestry, etc on them and set them to auto pay. That way there is regular usage on them to keep them active and I don't have to worry about changing them out. Just thought I'd give you some ideas.