No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
How long does Chae wait before closing a card due to no activity? I have Chase Freedom Flex there 5% catagories for several quarters 5% catagory is useless to me. Groceries is Walmart Capital One or Custom Cash +5%. Non catagory spend Synchronny Mastercard Premier - 2%. I also have Us Bank Cash+. I may keep it open with buying the perverbial pack of bubble gum or 2. If not I may close it. Also will Chase product change cards?
@AndySoCal wrote:How long does Chae wait before closing a card due to no activity? I have Chase Freedom Flex there 5% catagories for several quarters 5% catagory is useless to me. Groceries is Walmart Capital One or Custom Cash +5%. Non catagory spend Synchronny Mastercard Premier - 2%. I also have Us Bank Cash+. I may keep it open with buying the perverbial pack of bubble gum or 2. If not I may close it. Also will Chase product change cards?
I really don't know how long Chase tolerates periods of inactivity, mine see a lot of use, but maybe others will have personal experience with that situation. You don't hear a lot about them closing cards for inactivity, so it's probably not 6 months or less.
They are by far more likely to CLD it for inactivity first, so if you aren't using the one you have but would like to preserve CL, you can PC it to other core cards, including CSP and CSR.
AF cards I woudln't worry such as say IHG/Hyatt/SWA etc and the likes non af cards dunno but every 6 months to be safe. I rarely use my freedom just due to having to pay attention to rotating category and yet to be closed, but likely due to possibly having some higher AF cards with chase such as Ritz, CSP that use to be CSR and so on. Not sure how long it has been but has to be close to a year.. Not saying nothing will happen as should at least use every 6 months if not more for a small charge. I try to to do this with other bank cards just do a $5 amazon reload on all my cards every 4ish months other then said chase card
I agree with the other posters. I typically will use my SD cards every 3-4 months but some I know just do it every 6 months. Better safe than sorry. Can even do a small gas purchase at the pump for like $3 and be done with it.
I have not used my Chase Freedom for 9 months and there is no indication that its on a path to closure.
However I have 7 cards with Chase and I put money on 5 of them last month so overall I'm a good citizen.
Thank you everyone for your input. After research last evening the Affinity cash rewards card is of interest . The Amazon and bookstores at 5% year round is the primary reason. This would add a 5% catagory year round rather than for 3 months. I am thinking about becoming a member and apping for the card. I first need to pay the credit bill(s) that contain all the holiday spending. I will them off in full as I usually do. If I decide on this path it will be in a few months.
Back in 2019, when I didn't know much about credit and my score wasn't that great, I applied for the Chase Slate and got it with a tiny 1K limit. I already had the Chase Freedom Unlimited that I occasionally use, but I have not used that Slate card ONCE since I got it.
YMMV.
I have a good bit of Chase experience, @AndySoCal. I've had at least one card with them since 2000. I agree they are not likely to close or CLD as quickly as some other lenders. I had a similar situation that you and @CreditCuriosity where I applied for the (original) Freedom card and then decided the rotating categories weren't as useful as I had expected. I allowed it to go for a little over 12 months without closure. Then, they notified me it would be closed if not used within (I believe) 60 days. I thought about it and preemptively closed it, combining the limits with other cards.
So on average, I would think most Chase cards can go about 12-18 months without closure, but I wouldn't push that if you don't want to lose the account. Like others have mentioned, the "at-a-minimum-six-months-usage" is a good rule of thumb for the majority of cards that you want to keep alive.
Also, although it doesn't apply in this situation, AF cards like Marriott can most likely stay open without swipes indefinitely. That's because at a minimum, you've got annual activity for the AF and the payment, while still getting the benefits such as elite status or free nights. IMO, AF cards tend to stay open easier to no-AF cards since the lender is reaping some revenue from the card without swipes.
Moving the limit to another Chase card is easy with them if you have another one to move it to. For me, they allowed me to move 100% of the limit as long as there was no activity within the previous six months.
No one has answered your product change question yet. Yes, they do, but the specific details depends on the card family you're moving from or to. With a Freedom Flex card, you can PC to a Freedom Unlimited or to a Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve. You can't PC to a cobranded card such as a Marriott, Hyatt, Southwest, or United.
@Aim_High Thank you for all the good information. I am leaning at this point of apping for Affinity FCU Cash rewards with 5% at Amazon and bookstores. I would close Chase Freedom if I decide to this. Doing this would provide an additional 5% catagory that the other cards do not have year round.