Not going to be using CC's for a year+

[oorhett]

My DS will not be using most of his credit cards for over a year and need advice to avoid closures. We have worked pretty hard to get his credit where it is mid 700's. He has a couple from NFCU, 1 apple, and 1 discover. His apple card he uses to pay for a $1 Spotify subscription and that is all he has been using it for the past 8 or so months every month they just give him a $1 credit and he never has a payment due. 

Would love some advice on how to make sure these cards don't get closed. 

Thanks!

[805orbust]

The simplest solution I can come up with is to put a small charge on each every 3-6 months and pay it a few days later. Of course I think you can probably go almost up to that year with no worry. It would depend if his planned non-use is for inability (deployed, sickness, etc) or strategy (modified spending habits, unemployment,  etc).  There's alot of good information here about timeframes for auto-closure. The search bar /Google are your friends. 🙂

[SouthJamaica]

---

@oorhett wrote:

My DS will not be using most of his credit cards for over a year and need advice to avoid closures. We have worked pretty hard to get his credit where it is mid 700's. He has a couple from NFCU, 1 apple, and 1 discover. His apple card he uses to pay for a $1 Spotify subscription and that is all he has been using it for the past 8 or so months every month they just give him a $1 credit and he never has a payment due. 

Would love some advice on how to make sure these cards don't get closed. 

Thanks!

---

The only way to keep a card from being closed is to use it now and then.

[AverageJoesCredit]

---

@oorhett wrote:

My DS will not be using most of his credit cards for over a year and need advice to avoid closures. We have worked pretty hard to get his credit where it is mid 700's. He has a couple from NFCU, 1 apple, and 1 discover. His apple card he uses to pay for a $1 Spotify subscription and that is all he has been using it for the past 8 or so months every month they just give him a $1 credit and he never has a payment due. 

Would love some advice on how to make sure these cards don't get closed. 

Thanks!

---

Even though he doesn't want to use them, you should put domekind of usage on them . What I would do is every 4 months buy lunch and let them report , make payment, this way at least he has some statements to show usage Even though lenders will know. If he doesn't have the money, lend it to him or make the payments for him, lenders won't care so long as they are paid, of course pay via his normal way of paying lol. Navy is pretty good on no usage, Discover not bad either though they have been more finicky this past year. A couple bucks here and there are worth keeping credit cards in good standing imo.

[SUPERSQUID]

My favorite to keep a card open is the dollar store, dollar tree. I just pick up a few items i need, a few bucks spent and presto chango cards alive for a bit longer

[longtimelurker]

If he has an Amazon account, an easy thing to do is an Amazon gift card reload.  Minimum is 50c, doing that every few months (and varying amounts a little) will keep most cards alive.  Can be done from anywhere with internet connections.

[Kforce]

---

@oorhett wrote:

My DS will not be using most of his credit cards for over a year and need advice to avoid closures. We have worked pretty hard to get his credit where it is mid 700's. He has a couple from NFCU, 1 apple, and 1 discover. His apple card he uses to pay for a $1 Spotify subscription and that is all he has been using it for the past 8 or so months every month they just give him a $1 credit and he never has a payment due. 

Would love some advice on how to make sure these cards don't get closed. 

---

Answers depend on more info than he is not planning on using his cards.

Does he still have the ability to use, login, see activity, and make payments.

If not what functions are being handed off to someone else

1)  Some spend should be put on each card every 3-4 months.

2)  Someone should be monitoring each account every month.

3)  Someone should be able to pay each account.

 * Cards are like cars they need use, maintenance. and cost something to have.

[Remedios]

He can also start by not abusing small balance write off.  That's normally tolerated untill it isn't. Spotify cannot be their only expense in life, so if apple card is going to be used for Spotify, they should add something else to it. 

Also, if they aren't going to be using or monitoring their cards, what happens if one of these days that $1.00 isn't written off? 

Surely a late payment isn't worth saving  $12 per year 

[Aim_High]

There's some great advice up-thread, @oorhett, with the monthly recurring charges and such. 

Not sure if he would be able to access the internet to pay, or if he could delegate it, but could he add you or another trusted party as (AU) to put some charges on the account and then pay it off for him?   From my experience, AUs can both both charge and make payments.  That might be another way to avoid a shutdown without those little recurring charges. 

[Kforce]

---

@Remedios wrote:

He can also start by not abusing small balance write off.  That's normally tolerated untill it isn't. Spotify cannot be their only expense in life, so if apple card is going to be used for Spotify, they should add something else to it. 

Also, if they aren't going to be using or monitoring their cards, what happens if one of these days that $1.00 isn't written off? 

Surely a late payment isn't worth saving  $12 per year 

---

I was thinking this but trying to be nice this week