Visa closed an account Whether to fight it

[Tomew2000]

I had a returned payment from Visa due to inputting in my routing number.    A few months later, I went to make an extra payment, which bounced due to the same reason.  I called immediately, and was told it wasn’t a problem since the minimum was already paid.   Today I got a notice that my account had been closed due to two returned payments. 

   I called to protest.  The customer service rep said that he could see the payments and would put in a request to reinstate.  However, they needed a hard pull.   Ive had too many of those over the past few months, and wanted to think about that first

    My question is, which is worse on your credit? A hard pull? Or a closed account?   The simulators seem split on the subject. I’m just concerned that Amex sees that and lowers my limit 

[Appleman]

Who was the Visa issued from? For some lenders 2 returns for any reason will get you shut down.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't think that "Visa" is responsible for anything here, but rather the issuer of your Visa.

[Tomew2000]

It’s a Citibank visa

[Physh1]

What is worse really depends on your credit profile & how much that Citi card dings your total available credit. A well maintained & healthy credit report would likely see a hard pull do practially nothing. If that Citi card is a substantial chunk of your total available credit than closing it will hurt (even more if your utilization spikes) much more than an inquiry. If the card has almost nothing compared to total available credit & won't impact utilization than it's likely a wash between the 2.

In the future I would suggest just pushing payments from your bank...def helps reduce the risk of this to nearly 0.

[Tomew2000]

Maybe there’s a more pertinent question, if anyone knows.  Is a cancelled credit card a red flag similar to a late payment? 

[Anonymous]

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@Tomew2000 wrote:

Maybe there’s a more pertinent question, if anyone knows.  Is a cancelled credit card a red flag similar to a late payment? 

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No.  Late payments harm your score by a lot.  Accounts closed by the issuer do not not (in themselves) harm your score by even one point, though there could by a secondary damaging effect.  E.g. as another contributor mentioned, you might have two cards: a Citi with a credit limit of 20k and a balance of $10, and a Chase with a limit of 1k and a balance of $750.  When the Citi closes your utilization goes from 4% to 75%.

Can you tell us how many credit cards you have, what the credit limit and balance are on the Citi, and what your total debt and total credit limit are on all your cards?

Also, is the Citi your oldest card?  If so, what is its age and what is the age of your next oldest card?

[Tomew2000]

It’s only 8 months old.  I’ve got cards dating back to ‘85    Probably 7 in all.   This card didn’t represent even 5% of my total

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would take the hard pull and try to keep it open. The main reason being that I would prefer not to have "Account closed by creditor" on the report. Other accounts or potential future lenders may see that and be spooked.

[FinStar]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Personally, I would take the hard pull and try to keep it open. The main reason being that I would prefer not to have "Account closed by creditor" on the report. Other accounts or potential future lenders may see that and be spooked.

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Hardly.  Why would they be spooked?  The instance here is a single account, not 10+ closed at the same time by the same or multiple lenders.  I've had a few accounts with such a notation when lenders close shop or the product is discontinued abruptly.  No issues have ever surfaced at all even on manual reviews.  *shrug*