topic Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing. in Credit Cards

Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2015 18:20:30 GMT

I had an AMEX card for 12 years. I'm not 100% positivite but it was probably BC original. It was my highest card with history. 5+ years ago I stopped using it completely.

Beginning April 2015 started researching credit cards. I had not applied for any credit cards for 10+ years while using just 1 Shell Mastercard the whole time. Started reading forums and realized how important it was to keep that Amex card open.

Apr 10 - Started researching credit cards.

Apr 15 - Applied for Citi DC

Apr 15 - Amex card with 12 year history closed - Card closed by credit grantor (Probably for inactivity) Noticed there were no Amex inquiries on reports.

Apr 25 - Read about Amex not backdating and also wanted a Amex BCP card. Called and discovered Amex closed my card.

What are the chances of that? Coincidence?

Good thing my next highest card was at 11 years but I was still angry!

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

rlx01 — Sun, 17 May 2015 18:32:04 GMT

Tried asking for reinstatement?

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

taxi818 — Sun, 17 May 2015 18:39:47 GMT

Why are you so surprised if you were not using the card. this happens everyday. not just with amex but with all cards. These truly are businesses and they are in it to make money. if you are not using. they will always close it. in most cases a little over a year it would have been closed. i do hope you get it re opened.but 5 years of no use is extrordinary to be honest. lucky they did not close it 3 years ago

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

DeeBee78 — Sun, 17 May 2015 18:37:21 GMT

This is why it's important to use your SD'd cards. I have a lower limit QS1 that I only use for Netflix and iTunes purchases - usually less than $20 a month.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2015 18:54:09 GMT

OP, you hadn't used your Amex for 5 YEARS and you're angry bc they closed it? Really??? Call them and try to see if they can reopen it.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2015 19:16:33 GMT

If this is indeed an OBC, it is going through a wave of closures right now. An Amex CSR has told people that a number of risk detection algorithms are being run specifically on that card, and you may just have fallen foul of them. (IME, Amex doesn't close cards for non-use, although that many years is pushing it!)

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2015 23:55:20 GMT

I've tried calling! Nothing they can do. I'm more angry about the fact that if I started 2 months earlier I could have saved an 12 year Amex card which no longer allows backdating. Working on rebuilding my score now!

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2015 23:25:53 GMT

Your scores are already high. Just apply for another Am Ex BCE. You don't need to rebuild.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2015 23:28:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've tried calling! Nothing they can do. I'm not really angry. Just shocked that I just missed out on some important dates like Amex not backdating and an account that I didn't care about closing when I should have cared about. Working on rebuilding my score now!

Scores are not everything and with your profile, I don't see why you are waiting to apply. Unless of course, you are rebuilding your score to the 800s

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2015 23:35:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Your scores are already high. Just apply for another Am Ex BCE. You don't need to rebuild.

Or an OBC if that is what you want....

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

elim — Sun, 17 May 2015 23:43:12 GMT

ehhh, you didn't need it. just smile and be happy without it. :]

nice scores by the way.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2015 23:51:38 GMT

Thanks everyone. Well I was literally down to my last credit card Shell Mastercard with a $3200 credit. And started panicking. So I went on an app and CLI spree in the last month!

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 00:36:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I had an AMEX card for 12 years. I'm not 100% positivite but it was probably BC original. It was my highest card with history. 5+ years ago I stopped using it completely.
Beginning April 2015 started researching credit cards. I had not applied for any credit cards for 10+ years while using just 1 Shell Mastercard the whole time. Started reading forums and realized how important it was to keep that Amex card open.

Apr 10 - Started researching credit cards.
Apr 15 - Applied for Citi DC
Apr 15 - Amex card with 12 year history closed - Card closed by credit grantor (Probably for inactivity) Noticed there were no Amex inquiries on reports.
Apr 25 - Read about Amex not backdating and also wanted a Amex BCP card. Called and discovered Amex closed my card.

What are the chances of that? Coincidence?

Good thing my next highest card was at 11 years but I was still angry!

Lesson here to other people in credit land --- even if you hate your card and it's SD'd. Use it from time to time or they WILL close it down faster than you can sneeze.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

bada_bing — Mon, 18 May 2015 03:05:22 GMT

Amex hasn't really seemed to want to keep OBC cards in circulation. I got

a pretty hard sell to PC my OBC to a BCP several times before I finally did it.

BCP is a better fit for my spend anyway.

If you call anymore, you might work in the angle you want to reopen the account *and*

PC it to another card. Amex CSR's used to seem like they had incentive to PC OBC to

BCP. It can't be coincidence that I got asked by multiple CSR's if I would like to do the PC.

If you want the account history to continue bad enough, that might work.

Amex CSR's are very variable in what they know and what they will do. I wouldn't accept

a turndown from the first 2-3 for something I really wanted that wasn't too far out, like

requesting a recent closed account opened. You might be surprised that the 5th call

to CS about an issue that was impossible for the first 4 CSRs is trivial for the 5th. Luck of

the draw. At least that has been my experience with Amex.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 05:42:58 GMT

@bada_bing wrote:
Amex hasn't really seemed to want to keep OBC cards in circulation. I got
a pretty hard sell to PC my OBC to a BCP several times before I finally did it.
BCP is a better fit for my spend anyway.

If you call anymore, you might work in the angle you want to reopen the account *and*
PC it to another card. Amex CSR's used to seem like they had incentive to PC OBC to
BCP. It can't be coincidence that I got asked by multiple CSR's if I would like to do the PC.
If you want the account history to continue bad enough, that might work.

Amex CSR's are very variable in what they know and what they will do. I wouldn't accept
a turndown from the first 2-3 for something I really wanted that wasn't too far out, like
requesting a recent closed account opened. You might be surprised that the 5th call
to CS about an issue that was impossible for the first 4 CSRs is trivial for the 5th. Luck of
the draw. At least that has been my experience with Amex.

Yea. What the hell. Can't lose anything but time. I'll give it few more tries. Thanks for the advice.

Edit: Called them up. They're sending me a letter with decision. That's better than last time I guess when I was outright rejected over the phone by my best guess as a CSR in India.

This time the English was much better and didn't sound scripted. Will be odd if I'm approved since I don't even have my BCP card yet.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

budwiser — Mon, 18 May 2015 06:39:58 GMT

My wife has a card (pretty sure US bank) opened in 1989 and has not been used for almost 20 years. It is still open to this day. It keeps reporting to her credit report also.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

taxi818 — Mon, 18 May 2015 11:54:04 GMT

Yes. But not Amex. My mother has a 46 yeAr old Sears card. From 1968. She has not used it in maybe 15 years. But it's still there opened.

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2015 20:21:43 GMT

Just received letter from Amex about unable to reinstate account. Should I bother asking again? There was nothing in the letter about inactivity. I actually was approved for Amex BCP card on 5/15. So I'm guessing they used the same HP as on 5/15/15.

5/18/15

Request to resinstate the account referenced above has been declined.

Reason(s) for Our Decision

We made this decision for the following reason(s)

Your FICO score as provided by Experian.

Bleh bleh on May 15, 2015, FICO Score was 723.

Then 4 random reasons: Too few accounts. No loans, Time since most recent account opening is too short. Too many inquiries. (I think I have 4 on Ex)

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

NRB525 — Sat, 23 May 2015 20:40:38 GMT

@taxi818 wrote:
Yes. But not Amex. My mother has a 46 yeAr old Sears card. From 1968. She has not used it in maybe 15 years. But it's still there opened.

Mine is from 1984, should have noted closed in 1998, but still is on TU, the only CR with it:

Re: Unfortunate story of AMEX Blue Cash card closing.

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2015 20:51:10 GMT

Sorry to hear. It is very important to use all of your cards. No matter what you put on them, use them! I was an avid debit card user. So much so that I had 2. Just in case the other wore out & I needed a new one asap. I slowly started to convert to my cc's for everything. I make good use out of at least 5 at a time & am getting rewards. Putting all personal bills on autopay with them now. No more debit. But it's there just in case. Good luck & try again in 90 days or call backdoor right away. Never say never!