topic Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help. in Credit Cards

capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Superduper2014 — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 19:34:41 GMT

Trying to see if this can be reverted.

My girl friends' capital one card was closed due to no being used in 3yrs.

She received a letter stating the account can't be reopened, but I wonder if others have had luck calling them to get it reopened.

She now has 2 other cards with them. All in good standing and zero balance.

If this requires a hard pull, would it be better to just leave closed?

Thanks

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 19:38:38 GMT

If yoou don't use it then you lose it.

I had this happen with Chase for a card I parked for future PC ability. Once it's done it's done.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 19:42:04 GMT

3 years of no use is 2 years too many in todays credit environment. Most likely that account is closed for good. Sorry to hear , but credit cards must be used to keep them open and active.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

gdale6 — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 19:43:24 GMT

There is no re opening with Cap-1. If she needs the utilization padding I suggest an app with someone else to replace it.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

hawkins — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 20:10:01 GMT

I will put this as gently as possible. Your GF clearly did not need that card if she left it idle for 3 years. What’s done is done.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Superduper2014 — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 20:21:40 GMT

@gdale6 wrote:
There is no re opening with Cap-1. If she needs the utilization padding I suggest an app with someone else to replace it.

Thanks everyone.

She needed this card for the utilization padding as you well put it.

Amex reduced avail credit from 20k to 11k a few months ago (apparently can call to get it back to what it was)

Will have to start charging unused cards at least every 6 months for little things and paying right off? Does that work to prevent this?

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 20:56:13 GMT

I tend to toss a coffee or something similar on my unused cards every other month or so. Probably more frequent than need be but better safe than sorry.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 21:04:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I tend to toss a coffee or something similar on my unused cards every other month or so. Probably more frequent than need be but better safe than sorry.

Another good way is to put small recurring bills on a padding card - Netflix, Amazon Prime (if paying monthly).

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 22:20:22 GMT

@Superduper2014 wrote:
@gdale6 wrote:
There is no re opening with Cap-1. If she needs the utilization padding I suggest an app with someone else to replace it.
Thanks everyone.

She needed this card for the utilization padding as you well put it.
Amex reduced avail credit from 20k to 11k a few months ago (apparently can call to get it back to what it was)

Will have to start charging unused cards at least every 6 months for little things and paying right off? Does that work to prevent this?

This use every few seems enough for most cards. One possible caveat: With Capital One, with higher limits (above $30K) a few of us had the limit cut dramatically despite a little bit of spend. In that case Cap One was looking for spend that justifies the CL, not just "activity"

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Andypanda — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 22:38:42 GMT

The way I make sure nothing happens to my card with I am using the disco first year cash back match is once a week I buy a $1.50 Costco hotdog.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

yfan — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 00:26:02 GMT

Not exactly surprising. Despite what it sometimes seems on credit forums, banks do not have an unlimited amount of unsecured credit to give out. They'd rather someone who uses it... use it.

I wouldn't worry about keeping cards open just to pad utilization. If you have the funds to PIF every month, then you can just make payments midstream for cards that you use that are getting close to their limits. Also, you can try to increase the limits on the cards that are actually useful to you.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 00:55:03 GMT

I find it amazing that Capital One left the card open for 3 years with no usage and didn’t even slash the credit limit in that time! From what I understand, most issuers will close after a year and a smaller subset will close up to 2 years with some even closing accounts that have been dormant less than a year. It seems pretty remarkable that Capital One allowed it for 3 years.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

CreditInspired — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:24:26 GMT

@Andypanda wrote:
The way I make sure nothing happens to my card with I am using the disco first year cash back match is once a week I buy a $1.50 Costco hotdog.

I thought Costco only accepted Visa in store. Now, I have used Disco online but obviously not for a $1.50 hotdog 🤣

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Superduper2014 — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:25:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I find it amazing that Capital One left the card open for 3 years with no usage and didn’t even slash the credit limit in that time! From what I understand, most issuers will close after a year and a smaller subset will close up to 2 years with some even closing accounts that have been dormant less than a year. It seems pretty remarkable that Capital One allowed it for 3 years.

The letter received in the mail states 3 years, but then she got an email today and they repeat the same thing, BUT they say the card hasn't been used in over four years and they closed it on july 9th. This is not a joke

Called wells fargo for one of my cards that received a letter. They tell you to call if you want to keep it open or just charge it. Supervisor stated that when the account is dormant for over 6 months they send out these letters, however I have not used this card in over 2 years and this is the first time I get a notice in the mail. I am using another card with them though and have a bank account there too.

Gotta keep up with buying the starbucks every 6 months it seems..

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:34:44 GMT

A good rule of thumb is "use it or lose it." If she hadn't used it in 3 years, sounds like she didn't really need it in the first place.

To prevent this, put a charge on and pay it off every so often. If you think you'll forget, throw something recurring like a gym membership or Netflix on the card and set up autopay.

Some issuers will also CLD if you have a large limit and aren't utilizing much of it, even if you use the card regularly. Capital One, and more recently, Amex. Not much you can do to avoid this unless you run up a balance every so often.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

M_Smart007 — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:34:46 GMT

just a good reminder for us all to put a little spend every 6 months or so on a SD Card, put it at the bottom of The Stack,

grab the top one and repeat. I usually spend a few$$$ on Gas, or load $10 on The Starbucks APP.

Maybe even a Hamburger Run.

some people put a recurring charge of some kind and forget about it.

I try to do January & June for SD cards.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:38:23 GMT

I do $5 Amazon gift card loads for mine every so many months. Amazon literally lets me do them back to back and I am always buying stuff on Amazon so why not?

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Superduper2014 — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:48:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I do $5 Amazon gift card loads for mine every so many months. Amazon literally lets me do them back to back and I am always buying stuff on Amazon so why not?

This is a great idea and didn't know you could do this. Need to start hanging out on the forum more apparently.. lol. great stuff.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

ChargedUp — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:58:44 GMT

My "Never going to grow no matter what" Cap One Union plus MC got $18~ in spend last year. I paid it off 5 days after the swipe.

As one of my oldest (but most stubborn) cards, I've held onto it. If for no other reason than it was my only MC until recently and Capital One tends to work seamlessly in situations that make Chase, Amex and BoA nervous for whatever reason. (Card declined, followed by a "Was this really you???" text or email about 5 to 180 minutes later...) FWIW, Elan has been solid this way as well.

Re: capital One closed 15k account for no use. Help.

Gollum — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 02:28:25 GMT

@Superduper2014 wrote:
Trying to see if this can be reverted.

My girl friends' capital one card was closed due to no being used in 3yrs.
She received a letter stating the account can't be reopened, but I wonder if others have had luck calling them to get it reopened.

She now has 2 other cards with them. All in good standing and zero balance.

If this requires a hard pull, would it be better to just leave closed?

Thanks

I wouldn't bother trying to get the card re-opened. It should report for the next ten years anyway.

Here's what I do (currently, anyway):

If it's a card I don't care about (my Capital One card ), the advice from the (old?) Clark Howard radio show is what I follow:

Charge something near my birthday and charge something near Christmas, because those dates are easy to remember.

I have two rewards cards that I use for chain stores/restaurants, utilities, etc., but for small merchants that I like, I alternate between my two non-rewards cards that I do care about. I think merchant fees / whatever are higher for rewards cards, so I figure I do my small part to keep the merchant's costs down, and it's a way to use those cards regularly.