No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
How often and how much to keep my cards active?
Every 3 months? .99 cents?
For the following banks and cards
and anyone know if In California do issuers notice us before closing cards?
Thank you for all the support team!
Have the Following:
CashBack Cards Goals: Citi Rewards+
Status: Doing my Homework before I App
Note to Self: Focus on the Abundance of Love and you shall have more!
Every 3 months is fine.
I let most of mine go 12-18 months though and don't have issues with them.
When you start hitting 2 years they start doing funny things like warning CLD's and closures. Although, some cards can go 5+ years and still be fine.
Chase will eventually not renew the card if you go a couple of years w/o using it
BOa - not sure - tend to use it every other month
Amex - not sure - use at least one of them monthly
USB - I have 1 I haven't used in about 18 months now and it's still sitting there with the limit intact but, I do use the other one I have with them
Cap1 - not sure
I typically try to use mine every 6 months to keep them open.
If you use Amazon frequently, a good idea is to simply reload your Amazon balance. Throw a few bucks on there that you would normally spend anyway, but I've heard you can reload as small as $0.50 to keep the account open.
Lenders can be unpredictable with this stuff, so I would say to put a charge on them AT LEAST every 2-3 months. Actually, I would say to close them all if you don’t use them lol. But if you don’t want to do that, every couple months would be good.
@MyFault wrote:
Why would you close a CC, unless it has negative expected value? Especially when a lot of people on here have CC's that aren't used daily but have benefits we use a few times per year or annually. Or are trying to build up their total available credit to keep util down..
I would just lock them, and you have nothing to worry about, if theft is a concern. Unlock and use them every 3-6 months, then relock.
I find it easier to close a card when I decide I"m no longer wanting to use it. Removes it from my mind, no longer have to worry about fraud on it or anything. There's nothing wrong with the argument about SDing the account instead, but I think people get overly worried about closing accounts. When you have 6 or 8 or 10 accounts, closing a couple that you barely use is unlikely to do much of anything to your score at all, unless your utilization skyrockets. Some people just feel better with getting them closed and out of the way. It's true keeping them open doesn't cost you anything if no AF (thus no negative value), but sometimes you just want it out of the way completely.
As far as activity I would say once every 3 months. 6 months is the longest I would push it. Many banks won't actually close your account until a longer period, but if you want to make sure it stays open I would put a charge on it at least in the 3-6 month range. Like the above poster though, if I find I'm forcing use on a card just to keep it open, I would just close it.
@TyRacing wrote:How often and how much to keep my cards active?
Every 3 months? .99 cents?
For the following banks and cards
- Bofa cash rewards
- Chase Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Amazon Prime Visa
- Amex BCE
- USB Cash +
- Cap1 Savor1
and anyone know if In California do issuers notice us before closing cards?
Thank you for all the support team!
All excellent advice provided OP.
I’m kind of different though. I have a recurring something on all my cards except one and autopay setup on them. Hulu, NYT, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Comcast, utilities. For Macy’s I purchase something annually. This way, I don’t have to remember whether it’s time to charge something or not.
I think I read on here—can’t remember who said it—that they take all their cards out and make a purchase on their birthday. I kind of like this idea, especially if you’re SD many cards.
Use the card every 3 months is a sure bet. 6 months is good too. Once you cross a year, things can start to happen with some issuers.
As for how, there are many ways. You could rotate the cards, using one each month for a small charge or two, then paying it off. You could put a recurring charge on it like Netflix or the gym, and set up autopay to PIF it. You could put reminders in your phone's calendar to use a particular card for lunch or a soda.
If you never use a card regularly... only putting the one small charge on it, maybe ask yourself why you still have that card. Is it just to pad AAoA/utilization? Maybe you could PC the card to something more useful. I figure you have cards you use regularly due to rewards and SUBs.
As for me, I just closed a 14 year old card because it didn't have a rewards system I wanted, and opened a new card (CFU). Maybe not the best idea for AAoA and scores, but it puts me in a better position for rewards, plus I gain a bonus and 0% for 15 months. I'm not a card jockey, I'm good with having just 2-3 cards. But I also have a 20 year old card and good scores.