want to close a terrible CC

Anonymous · ‎04-27-2007

hello

i have this ASPIRE cc with a amazing 29.99 APR and a online fee of 5.00 and a annual fee of 150

will closing it drop my score ? it is a payed off acct as of today..

tia

(just curious)

mike

Anonymous · ‎04-28-2007

It may drop your score in the short term however there is no reason to pay such ridiculous fees. Do you have other open revolving credit? If not try the household bank website or capital one before closing this one. What's your payment history like with this card? Household's Orchard card is good for rebuilding credit though it does have an annual fee I believe it maxes out at 69.00 there is also no fee for online payments. The drawback to C1 is that as of now they don't report credit limits.

I hope you can get from under the Aspire card. They along with First Premiere and Centenial are tops on my NO list.

HTH

Neblett · ‎04-28-2007

As long as it's paid off you have EVERY right to close a card with such ridiculous fees.

I tried to close a CC account that was killing me, but because it still had a balance, they wouldn't let me, and kept charging me fees so that a $300 credit limit card ended up with a $700 balance by the time it charged off. I was stupid and acted like a "Credit Crusader" and stood by my morals and got blasted with fees.

And FYI, even if you do close the card, they can still charge you fees until the balance is at zero or it gets charged-off.

Anonymous · ‎04-28-2007

Don't get me wrong that is an awful cc, and one of the cards I have as a rebuilder card. I think I had it for almost two years. I'll have to double check my int rate but my annual fee began like you at 150.00 and then the second year it went to 100.00. I never missed a payment and I got cli on a regular basis. I'm thinking about doing what brammy said and waiting until the anniversary date and tell them I am closing the account and see if I can get them to waive or reduce the annual fee for another year of credit hx. Unless you have better options.

Anonymous · ‎04-28-2007

Credit cards are an incredibly competitive market, but no one's going to do anything for you if you don't ask.

Call them and tell them you are getting tons of offers in the mail for cards with much better terms (lower APR, no online fee, lower or no annual fee). Be ready to quote some of these terms. Politely ask if they can match those terms, Tell them you like their card (gag!) and you've paid it off and would like to keep it, but you don't have any incentive to do so with such crappy (errr, "unfavorable") terms.

Then, no matter what they say, ask if they can do more. If not, politely ask to speak to a supervisor. Tell the supervisor that the CSR was very helpful, but you wonder if they can look at your account again. Tell the same story. If they offer to reduce something, ask if they can reduce it even more.

All it takes is a phone call. If you strike out totally, you have lost nothing and then can decide what to do next. Good luck and let us know what happens!

Anonymous · ‎04-28-2007

@Anonymous wrote:
Then, no matter what they say, ask if they can do more. If not, politely ask to speak to a supervisor. Tell the supervisor that the CSR was very helpful, but you wonder if they can look at your account again. Tell the same story. If they offer to reduce something, ask if they can reduce it even more.
All it takes is a phone call. If you strike out totally, you have lost nothing and then can decide what to do next. Good luck and let us know what happens!

Touche. They probably don't want to lose your business, so they may be willing to eliminate or at least lower some of those fees. If not, PIF and cancel.

Anonymous · ‎04-28-2007

LadyFICO wrote:
Don't get me wrong that is an awful cc, and one of the cards I have as a rebuilder card. I think I had it for almost two years. I'll have to double check my int rate but my annual fee began like you at 150.00 and then the second year it went to 100.00. I never missed a payment and I got cli on a regular basis. I'm thinking about doing what brammy said and waiting until the anniversary date and tell them I am closing the account and see if I can get them to waive or reduce the annual fee for another year of credit hx. Unless you have better options.

Funny you mentioned that LadyF. I was in Best Buy and applied for their card and the credit limit I got wasn't enough for the purchase I needed to make so they offered me the store card with a 8k limit. I took it and then after getting home and reading the T&Cs I realized that the MC sometimes charges an annual fee. I only applied for the promotional financing. I wasn't notified at the time of approval but I gave them a call and inquired about the annual fee issue.

To my surprise, I was issued a card with an annual fee and a low limit (more than likely due to the new cards I've opened lately). Not that I blamed them. Any way I said thanks but no thanks and asked that the card be closed immediately. I was immediately transferred to a 'relationship manager' and asked why I wanted to close the card. I told here in no uncertain terms that 'I don't do' annual fees and the limit sucked anyway. I went on to explain that I had no need for additional credit anyway, I was just trying to take advantage of the promo financing (larger purchase than I generally make) but that card didn't give me the limit I needed so close it.

I have another HSBC card with a 7.5K limit and was approved at 500.00. It took them all of two minutes to make it a no annual fee card and raise the limit to 2k. I guess they could see from the report that I have LOTS of avail credit but I choose which cards I use based on the benefit for said purchase.

I always reccomend having back up cards with low utilization before playing the 'Take this card and shove it' game. Actually I really DID want to close it cause I have no real use for it. Just didn't know the store card had a higher approval limit and better benefits. Not that I plan on revolving the balance after 6 mos anyway.

drmom · ‎04-28-2007

i had a terrible cc too--a good 'starter card', but with a low limit and a MONTHLY fee. within a number of months i was well on my way to better cards with no crazy fees. since the card was limited/had a monthly fee, i happily closed the account once it was PIF. my credit score took a small temporary hit (they mean it when they say that your credit score might decrease if you close an account)...but in the long run i don't have any monthly fees [annoying!] and i gave up an account that wasn't doing anything positive for me

so, i guess in the long run you have to do what you think is best--good luck!

yoreljm · ‎04-28-2007

mtfam5 wrote:
hello

i have this ASPIRE cc with a amazing 29.99 APR and a online fee of 5.00 and a annual fee of 150
will closing it drop my score ? it is a payed off acct as of today..

tia
(just curious)
mike

In 11 months, I shall be closing my two accounts with annual fees, whether it decreases my score or not. Well, unless they decide to remove the annual fees.

Nick777 · ‎05-04-2007

You might want to apply for another card before you close it, if you decide to...that way you can benefit from the higher score you'll have (assuming that the terrible CC has a long account history and zero balance)