Does Making a Small Purchase and Immediate Payment Prevent Credit Card Closure for Inactivity

[BR]

If I make a $25 purchase on my credit card and pay it off right away, will that prevent my credit card company from closing the card due to inactivity? Or does the payment need to be reported to the credit bureaus first to count as activity?

I don't want to mess up my utilization/AZEO but i also dont want the CCs to be closed for inactivity.

[GZG]

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@BR wrote:

If I make a $25 purchase on my credit card and pay it off right away, will that prevent my credit card company from closing the card due to inactivity? Or does the payment need to be reported to the credit bureaus first to count as activity?

I don't want to mess up my utilization/AZEO but i also dont want the CCs to be closed for inactivity.

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one purchase every 6 months should be good enough for pretty much every CC out there to prevent closures for inactivity.

no, the balance shouldn't have to report, just using the card once will keep it active on their end because there will be both purchase and payment activity.

doesn't even need to be $25, even $1 at the grocery store would be fine. 

[coldworld]

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@BR wrote:

If I make a $25 purchase on my credit card and pay it off right away, will that prevent my credit card company from closing the card due to inactivity? Or does the payment need to be reported to the credit bureaus first to count as activity?

I don't want to mess up my utilization/AZEO but i also dont want the CCs to be closed for inactivity.

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You just need to use the card. Paying before or after the statement date does not matter. 

[ptatohed]

I just dusted off my citi DC, Savor, and AARP to make some small purchases.  Back into the file cab.  No need to immediately pay it off.  I still have those cards set to auto pay in full so I am doing nothing further.  

[Kforce]

All above posters are correct.

Any charge or payment is considered a transaction.

You can push $5 dollars as a payment with no balance, charge and pay same day,

or charge and pay later. 

The limit of how small is often from the purchase side.

Many stores, and on-line businesses have a minimum transaction amount

My phone service has  $5, as an example.

As to how often spend needs to be put on a card.

Have a credit union card that had no use for more than 20 years.

Some on the forum have had a card closed with as few as 4-5

months of non use.

I have set my personal payment plan as $5  every 3 months.

Pay $5 on each of my 3  keep alive cards then log into

my CU's billpay and pay each card minutes from making the charge. 

Have been doing this for more than 8 years. 

One of the many things learned on this forum.

PS:  Still have that CU card above, it just gets $5 every 3,

and is now 27+ years old.

[Anonymous]

Just a caveat that these things are (potentially) dynamic.   Capital One surprised some of us a few years back by CLDing not for no usage but for not significant usage, one of the first to show that your  credit limit may need to be justified by your spend.

So it's at least possible that some bank or CU may wake up and decide that $1 every six months doesn't justify the cost of the account.

[Kforce]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just a caveat that these things are (potentially) dynamic.   

Capital One surprised some of us a few years back by CLDing not for no usage

but for not significant usage, one of the first to show that your  credit limit may

need to be justified by your spend.

So it's at least possible that some bank or CU may wake up and decide

that $1 every six months doesn't justify the cost of the account.

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This is true, however this forum will likely be the first to have such a report.

It has many, many envelop pushers with CL's and also many with dozens

of extra sock drawer cards.

To date a few dollars and every 3-4 months has been golden.

Yes it could change any day, so a safe recommendation

 is at least $5000 every month       

Personally I think max CL's should be about 2x your monthly income as a max.

Maybe the savings could be switched to better rewards instead of CL's   

[CorpCrMgr1]

Yes, all commenting are correct. I put a monthly charge of my streaming services on different cards. Now and then I'll air them out for a tank of gas or a lunch. Using the CC every month forces me to bring up my cards. This way I can look for any issues.  All are set up on auto pay.