Chase wants to close my Amazon Visa for inactivity (updated)

[mikey78]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mondo84 wrote:

Thanks for the quick responses.

In fact I made a mistake - this is not my Freedom Visa, it's my Amazon Visa. I mixed up the numbers. I will try to update the OP.

The only reason I haven't used my Amazon Visa is that I have had a gift card balance on my Amazon account for some time (in fact I used my Amazon Visa to buy those), and since I don't shop at Amazon too frequently I hadn't eaten up my GC balance yet.

I hope they understand. Now that I realize this is my Amazon Visa, closing this account WILL hurt my credit - it's 7 years old and my second oldest card.

Now I'm really worried realizing it's this card and not the Freedom one.

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As said above, it will continue to report for about 10 years, so probably won't hurt your credit, unless you have a balance and a major part of your credit limit is on this card.   That card isn't all that great (there are cards which give 5% on Amazon) so losing it won't be that terrible.   But if you want it, see if promising to use it will help, it does have 2% on drug stores I think, so that's a possible place to use it if you don't have a better card for that.

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yeah it'll still take a hit once the history drops off the report after 10 years

[ezdoesit]

I think if you have a good reason that you haven't used the card then maybe you should explain it to them.  IMHO is they wanted to close it they wouldn't have sent you a letter telling you two months from now they are closing it.  On top of that saying if you have any questions you can call them.

What I would do is tell them you would love for the card to remain open and that you would be glad to use it if xyz was the case.  Example lower interest rate, no af.  You never know what offer they might give you.

Don't keep the card if you are only worried about the account age like someone said it will still remain on your file for ten years.  By then your newer account would of age quite nice by then.

[Anonymous]

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@mikey78 wrote:

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yeah it'll still take a hit once the history drops off the report after 10 years

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Well, generally you would expect an individuals credit situation to be very different in 10 years, one card going away usually won't have that much impact (everything has aged by ten years anyway).   And, the scoring system may well change, for the better or worse.   But for most, the drop will be unimportant, for all it is discussed here.

[mondo84]

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@ezdoesit wrote:

I think if you have a good reason that you haven't used the card then maybe you should explain it to them.  IMHO is they wanted to close it they wouldn't have sent you a letter telling you two months from now they are closing it.  On top of that saying if you have any questions you can call them.

What I would do is tell them you would love for the card to remain open and that you would be glad to use it if xyz was the case.  Example lower interest rate, no af.  You never know what offer they might give you.

Don't keep the card if you are only worried about the account age like someone said it will still remain on your file for ten years.  By then your newer account would of age quite nice by then.

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That's an interesting perspective. They could have just closed the account, but instead they sent a letter with two months' notice (probably because I've always been in good standing). So maybe they're giving me a chance to keep the account open. Here's what the letter says:

"We're writing to let you know that your credit card account shown above is going to expire within the next two months. Since your credit card acount has not been used within the past two years, we will close it when it expires.

Here are some options for you to consider:

- If you would like to allow the account to close, no action is required.

- If you would like to keep this account open, please call us toll free at xxxxxxxxx and we will review your acount. For your convenience we are available ______. Using the card will not prevent the account from closing."

Then it mentions a few other things if the account closes, like rewards redemption.

I guess the way I'm looking at it is that I certainly don't want to tell them I wasn't using the card simply because I was using other ones. That would give them the impression I don't need this card. I genuinely do want to start using this card again for certain purchases (drugstore), but it might not be in my best interest to sound desperate. I won't really know where they stand until I call, and before I say anything I'll let the associate give me the impression of whether they want to keep me or whether they don't care about the account. Since I've been inactive they probably view it as a lack of opportunity for making any money off me, combined with me always paying on time.

Since I have a Freedom card (not used since June 2012) I'm concerned they may say, "Well, you'll still have a Chase card and you can transfer your limit over there." If they make such suggestions it means they're less inclined to keep the account open and I have to give them a good reason to do so. If they make me an offer for lower interest or something then it's quite easy.

Thanks again for all the discussion. This is helping me clear my head as I've been stressed about this since opening the letter earlier today.

[Anonymous]

It sounds to me that you are over-stressing!   Now that you have provided the text, it's clear they are willing to keep it open.  In the OP, you just quoted one bit: "Using the card will not prevent the account from closing" which sounds bad, but in context it just means "to keep it open, you need to talk to us".   I think you can be honest and say you were using other cards, but you will use this one now as you value it.

But, so long as you can transfer the CL to the Freedom, it's still no big deal.  Cards close all the time, and you can potentially get other better ones.  Sallie Mae gives 5% at Amazon on the first $750 per month.  US Bank Cash Plus gives 5% on the first $2000 per quarter.    Only if you spend a lot more is the uncapped Amazon card better.  So, I wouldn't expend a lot of effort in arguing with Chase.   Explain you would like to keep it open and you will use it.   If they want more, or are difficult, transfer the CL and let it close.  The card is simply not worth any aggravation.

[mondo84]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It sounds to me that you are over-stressing!   Now that you have provided the text, it's clear they are willing to keep it open.  In the OP, you just quoted one bit: "Using the card will not prevent the account from closing" which sounds bad, but in context it just means "to keep it open, you need to talk to us".   I think you can be honest and say you were using other cards, but you will use this one now as you value it.

But, so long as you can transfer the CL to the Freedom, it's still no big deal.  Cards close all the time, and you can potentially get other better ones.  Sallie Mae gives 5% at Amazon on the first $750 per month.  US Bank Cash Plus gives 5% on the first $2000 per quarter.    Only if you spend a lot more is the uncapped Amazon card better.  So, I wouldn't expend a lot of effort in arguing with Chase.   Explain you would like to keep it open and you will use it.   If they want more, or are difficult, transfer the CL and let it close.  The card is simply not worth any aggravation.

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Haha yea I think I stressed out too much at first. I just haven't dealt with such a thing before so it took me by surprise, but it's a good lesson to use cards every couple months to keep the accounts active. Advice duly noted.

And yea it's not so much the card perks itself (which are nice), but just keeping it open since it's nearly my oldest card. Hopefully it works out - I'll update you guys after I call on Monday.

Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

OK, but again, closing even your oldest card has no impact for about 10 years, and probably very little then.  To be clear, it will be included in the AAoA calculation EXACTLY as it were open, until it finally drops off in about 10 years.  By then, all your existing cards are 10 years older, you have some new cards, and there are so many variables that far ahead it makes no sense to focus on that one!

So long as you can transfer most of your CL, there will be no significant change.

[mondo84]

Most definitely! I understand.

[NewtoCredit80]

Transfer your Amazon card limit to Freedom card. You should use freedom card to benefit from 5% cb category in a quarter.

[goosedog]

You can try telling them you will use it, but even if you use it, what are you going to do, use it once and than let it sit for  another year? Why not use it to pay some bills and than pay off the card with the money you would have used it with anyways?  You need to give them a good reason why the card has sat for 2 years unused.