Closed-yet-open accounts

[FrysGIRL]

I have a HSBC BestBuy credit card and I first opened it in Dec 2005. I have made three late payments on this account. Because of this deliquency, they have "closed" my account to new activity. Although it stated on my credit report that the account is open, once I pay off the balance there will be no way for me to add any charges onto the card unless I open up a new account. (customer service confirmed this for me)

I've read that it is best to keep even accounts open for the history, but once I pay the balance off and it stops reporting should I continue to keep the account open? Since I can't add any more transactions, the only way to continue receiving benefits from it is to keep the balance very low and just pay the financing every month. It doesn't show that I have a credit limit so it won't hurt my utilization.

I had a Firestone account and it was "closed" as well although the account showed as active. I paid the balance in full and it has since stopped reporting onto my report. I have the card and since I can't add on to it, it's neither helping nor hurting me. This account also doesn't show that I have a credit limit.

Ideally, I want to start over. I just opened up a new credit card when I had closed an older account and intend on keeping it open and active for years to come. Should I just get rid of these "closed yet open" accounts if I have intentions of replacing them?

[Anonymous]

I have a feeling that once the balance is paid on the account, the account will report as closed.  Its good that it is not doing so now as any balance would be reflected in your debt to credit ratio.  Just pay it off.  Once you do so ask for recon if they refused, consider it a lesson learned.

Message Edited by Brammy on 12-23-2007 08:47 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

Interesting that your Firestone stopped reporting --generally accounts report for 10 years after they're closed, good, bad or in-between, and any baddies fall off 7 years after they occurred, leaving a minimum of 3 more years of clean history. With luck, this will happen with your BB card as well.

I know that you didn't do this, but as a general FYI, it's dangerous to GW derogatories off of closed accounts. It seems that more and more often, creditors are simply closing out the entire TL, so that you lose all the good history as well as the one or two baddies.

[Anonymous]

If the BB card does not display the CL- pay it off it is not helping you-

Write it off and move on.