Today, I get home from work and find a letter in my mailbox from HSBC. Apparently, I used to have a MasterCard with them.
The letter goes on to state that my account has been closed, due to inactivity. The letter states "we close accounts that are inactive to protect our cardholders from potential fraud" - okay, fair enough. I could swallow this, however I've used this card in March of '07, paid it, and not used it since. Some may say, well this is a long time. I agree, BUT, I do have other credit cards which I haven't used in at least that long, and they are still open.
I believe the reason they closed this account, goes back to a phone call I had with a representative, asking them to either lower my interest rate, or provide a higher credit line (or both) - you know, incentive to use this card. They declined, and I told them that if they couldn't do anything with this card, then I would call back in January to cancel. Sort of a scare tactic, but in all honesty, I don't really need the card. Apparently, they beat me to the punch.
I called the number on the letter, let them know that in my opinion it was unprofessional how they closed my account without trying to first find out why this card wasn't being used, and if there was anything they could to to entice me to use the card. Also, how it could have left me in an embarassing situation had I decided to use that card one day and found it it had been cancelled.
The representative ultimately asked me if I wanted to reactivate the card, and I agreed, so she pushed a button, and said she would have a response for me instantly - guess what?? no response. I now have to wait for a letter from the company in 7-10 business days to hear whether my original account has been reinstated.
At this point, I am so frustrated with HSBC, that I really don't care if it's reinstated, but wanted to ask how this affects my FICO score? I PIF every month on all my cards, so I don't have a big UTIL%, and no baddies for the past three years. Also, how long will this positive TL show in credit history. Is it 7 or 10 years.
Oh yeah, the next piece of mail I opened after the HSBC was one from Discover More. Not a pre-approval, but should I app for this and forget HSBC? Your thoughts?
