I've also had cards closed for inactivity. As mentioned, the timeframe varies, so use of any card you want to keep at least once every six months to a year is a good technique. Be forewarned that with some lenders, charging only a pack of gum twice a year if you have a $5K or higher limit may still result in a credit limit decrease.
Why do they do this? For one, some lenders may close inactive accounts to limit their potential lending exposure or to free up funds to lend to other consumers. Banks have to maintain proper ratios between assets and potential liabilities.
Also, an inactive account may be unmonitored and more subject to fraud, raising the lender's risk. No activity may indicate the consumer is incapacitated, incarcerated, or deceased.
All that said, I have an exception to note. I've had some cards with lenders whom I have active banking accounts with go inactive for much longer than two years without closure. There are some consumers who apply for a credit card with their bank for "emergencies" and don't use it regularly, so it seems that makes them more willing to make exceptions. My suspicion about the difference in this circumstance is that the banking activity is a form of contact with consumer which helps fulfill due diligence for the FI under "dormant account laws." So I'd be less worried about a card with a bank where I do other business. (For example, my USAA "Rate Advantage" Visa has low rate-no rewards but I have banking accounts and insurance with USAA. That card has not gotten much use over the past several years. Same for a low-APR low-Rewards program credit card I have with a local credit union that gets a lot of my banking actitivity.)
It's so YMMV I wouldn't even try to give timelines.
Barclays was non-trivially aggressive for an example posted up thread but I went something like 15 months and no issue from the old Sallie account which they kept for some reason in my case.
Not only do banks sometimes keep a card around if you have a relationship, Amex seems pretty good at that too if you have any activity on your cards at all. Right or wrong on average I spend maybe $30/month with Amex over the last 6-7 years... I literally have one card with them opened 1/1/13 that hasn't been swiped since 2014 and is still open.
End of the day if you want the card use it. I put a few recurring things on my oldest tradelines but the rest? Meh. I am really surprised nobody has closed my some of my accounts for inactivity yet honestly especially with COVID running around.
I have one of those absurdly sized credit card holders tucked in with some critical documents. Not gonna lie, not exactly proud of that when I was looking at it the other day, junk tradelines for me now are apparently more than retail cards at places I never shop at.
Funny how my opinion on those have changed over time, guess I am pretty and borderline snobbish now at least in this one area of my life.
@fleetsm wrote:Happened to me too. 3 accounts closed without warning biggest one being the room place with 13klimit. All accounts were i good standing at 0 balance. At this point I don't need any furniture or clothes so I'll just leave them closed for now. Bummer that they're doing this.
That is a prime reason I migrated away from retail cards in general. Retail cards tend to get closed more easily than bank cards and you may not even know until you try to use it again. I found that annoying if it was with a store where I only occassionally shopped. If I want to take advantage of special in-store financing on furniture or something like that again, I'll apply for a new card, pay it off, then close it. But that will be the exception rather than the rule for me.
Does checking the online portal to a CC count as activity, so no charges every few months would be required to keep a CC active?
I know that CapOne sent a notice (last year I believe) that stated they needed their emails looked at occassionally or they could close your CC. I personally check all CC's at least weekly, but typically every day or two even if they are in the SD (maybe I'm too paranoid of unauthorized charges by my socks or undies...).
Just curious if actually using the CC is required to keep the account active, or could accessing the online portal be deemed as enough "usage" for some of the issuers to keep the account open.
Agreeing w/jedi master @Aim_High , retail cards have been the quickest to be closed for inactivity, as I foolishly allowed by my Sears and JCPenney accounts to go inactive and close, which would have been my oldest accounts (25+ years).
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Chase didn't close what is now my oldest account, after SD'ing it for 10 Years! While going through a Dave Ramsay-ish period of my life when I was rebuilding and swore off credit card use, I had a Providian card which turned into a WA Mutual which turned into a Chase something then a Chase Slate, and is now my Freedom card. I only started using it in December and hadn't touched that account for literally 10 years. No prior banking relationship (which I now have established).
Same goes for my Chase United Explorer, which was a Mileage Plus card, I didnt touch it for about 8 years, only paying the $65 annual fee, which is what I think kept it alive. Started using it when I established a banking relationship this past December.
Dodged a huge bullet on both of my Chase accounts, which are far and away my oldest accounts, that could have easily been closed!
