Is this normal?

[Anonymous]

I had a balance of around 300 on my WF secured. I have better credit (well, slightly) and now have discover secured, so no reason to pay WF an AF.

So I wrote them asking to close my credit account.

I then get a 30 day late notice on all 3 reports!

My stupidity, I didn't realize payments still had to be made on the balance as every month, I thought like collections, the balance would have to be paid in full, which I was going to do.

Well...not only is WF not allowing this, they said they would still charge interest, even when the account was closed.

Since this was a secured card, I thought I could just close the account, cash the deposit in on the balance, and be done.

Well...WF said it takes THIRTY TO SIXTY DAYS to do this. 

[BGoneDebt]

Yes, this is normal.

The balance on deposit for a secured card cannot be offset as payment (unless it is in collections, then they won't refund your deposit up to the total amount owed.

If you look at the original agreement for the card when you sent in your deposit, it generally has a disclaimer about the deposit not being refunded until 30-60 days after the account is closed.

Pay the bill, send a GW letter to WF and ask them if they would delete the late pament notification from your credit reports.

Good luck

[RBFool]

You should of kept the card open for 2 years since you're trying to raise your credit scores. What I'd do if I were you: Tell them that you changed your mind and would like to keep the card open. If that's not possible then the above post is your best bet.

I'd say eat the AF for at least 2 years (you already paid it once) and build up your profile with a few cards VS just the 1 discover.