credit card account closed without notification due to inactivity

[Anonymous]

Chase sent me a letter informing me that my card was being closed because I had not used it in 24 months.  I had paid off this account 3 years ago.  I have never been late with payments to any company and have worked hard to maintain a high credit score.  In order to make more money before the new rules for credit card companies take effect, Chase arbitrarily closed a 10year credit history without giving me any indication that this would occur. 

Because of losing this 10 year history and the associated credit line, my FICO score will be negatively affected by their actions.  I did nothing wrong.  Had they notified me of their intention to close this account, I would have known to break out that card and use it now and then.  Instead, the letter simply informed me that they had already closed the account.  I called them and tried to get them to reinstate the account and they refused.  So Chase will cause my credit score to worsen because they chose to close this account.  I am sure as a consequence of their action, my interest rates on other cards will go up, making it that much harder for me to pay things off or apply for credit if needed at a good interest rate.  I am furious!!  Is there anyone at Fair Isaac who can make sure my credit score does not suffer because of what Chase did??

[JoeBJay20]

You won't lose the account history, you'll still have that positive account history reporting for another 10 years from the date of closing.  That being said, in this economic environment, and even when things are great, it's not uncommon for creditors to CLD or flat out close CC accounts on the basis of inactivity.  This is why it's important to use cards that you have at least once every couple months, even if you PIF.  Do a search on here for backdoor numbers for Chase to find some other numbers you could call to potentially get your account reopened. 

As far as your score taking a hit, it would depend moreso on your overall utilization than the account closing. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you - Though I tried to get through to a supervisor at Chase when I called them to reinstate the account, I was told there was nothing anyone there could do to help me. 

I have found some back door phone numbers here and called them.  Because the account was inactive for 3 years they will not reinstate it under any circumstance.  They are completely uncooperative, but if you are saying that our scores won't take a hit because our overall utilization of all our credit accounts has been good, than I guess Chase can take a hike and lose a responsible customer.

I hope you are correct in this, since this type of situation is not listed under the "Actions that won't affect your score" section of this website.  If an account being closed due to inactivity will not negatively affect one's score, then myfico should say that on the website, and I can't find it anywhere.

[JoeBJay20]

Let me clarify what I said earlier.  Your scores may take a hit, depending on how the account closing affects your overall credit profile.  If you still have several other CCs reporting, then you should be ok.  Now if it was your only CC, then yes your scores would drop as your mix of credit would not be optimal.  As long as your total CC utilization remains low (generally 9% or less), then your scores shouldn't take much of a hit for the acccount closing.  For maximal scoring, you want all cards except one reporting a $0 balance, and the other one reporting a balance between 1-3% of your total utilization.