How offen should I use my credit cards to keep them active.

[fdrfan54]

Any advice would be helpful?

[Adkins]

Depends on the card, some issuers never close due to inactivity. A safe guideline is once each quarter, every four months. Some people do every six months. 

[BronzeTrader]

To me, once a year would be adequate.  I've never had any card closed due to inactivity.  My Discover was inactive for 5 years.  But I did get the Welle Fargo card close my only card at the peak of the 2008 financial crisis.

[fdrfan54]

Here's the cards I have by the way.  Newegg Card $1200| Amazon Card $200| Walmart Card $400

[AverageJoesCredit]

Having Sync cards i wouldnt go a year without use, been a couple recent threads of people getting cld after only 6 months of no use. In my opinion, id go every couple of months at least. 3 cards shouldnt be hard to rotate.

[Kforce]

Most data points say that the conservative institutions want to see 3-5 dollars, every 3-4 months. Many institutions are happy with every 6-9 months, and some people have reported 10 years, no spend and a card not closed. To be "Safe" a little spend every 3-4 months should keep the card alive. A second consideration for some, is that small spend can lead to a reduced credit limits.

[Gmood1]

Lender dependent for sure. I've went several years without using my Capital One in the past. While FNBO sent me a letter recently, notifying me a year had passed with no activity on one of two of my accounts with them. They requested me to charge something in order to keep it active. I used it to re-charge my Amazon gift card for 50 cents. I'll do that every six months or so to keep it active. Until I decide to let them close it. Tried to move the limit a year ago. They wouldn't let me, so in the SD it went.

[Anonymous]

Why do you have them if you're not gonna use them? Just curious 

[Gmood1]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Why do you have them if you're not gonna use them? Just curious 

---

Most of them do get used ImaPirate. The only reason I still have that particular FNBO card is the hopes that the cl can be moved to the more useful FNBO card I obtained later. 

Some CC's lenders will offer you candy to use their cards.  Especially around this time of the year.

I've gotten so many offers to use some of these lenders this year..it made my head spin! Lol

I'm talking promotional rates to spend bonuses to REAL pre-approved personal loans. If I didn't have their cards or bank accounts with them. I'd never see or have those choices, whether I used them or not. As the saying goes, it's better to have and not need than need and not have.

[wasCB14]

The quickest closure for inactivity I've heard of is Barclaycard sometimes closing no-AF cards after six months of inactivity.

It's also good to occasionally ask whether a card is really worth keeping.

@Kforce wrote:

Most data points say that the conservative institutions want to see 3-5 dollars, every 3-4 months. Many institutions are happy with every 6-9 months, and some people have reported 10 years, no spend and a card not closed. To be "Safe" a little spend every 3-4 months should keep the card alive. A second consideration for some, is that small spend can lead to a reduced credit limits.

 Links? I've never heard that $3 would be good while $1 would be insufficient.