@Anonymous wrote:
This makes me so angry. I had a HSBC credit card - paid off the balance in April. Havent used it as I am working on paying off credit cards. I have never paid late, never paid below the min, excellent history with them. I get a letter today and they closed my account because I have not used it and they cannot reactivate it. The only way to get the account open is to reapply for a new card. Riduculous. I told the CSR that was not acceptable because they were going to lower my credit score. It messes up my utilization percentage, it was one of my older cards with history, and it was closed by them - not by me. By applying for a new card, it looks like I am trying to get more credit, will have a card with no history, etc. I just cannot believe that HSBC would do that - you get punished for being responsible. Needless to say, I threw a fit - and now they are going to look at my account to see if they can do a manual reactivation (whatever that means) but I wont be surprised if I get a denial letter in 5-7 days. The CSR did make a note that I was saving the card for emergencies and that is why I wasnt using it. I could surely spend 10 bucks a month on it and pay it off. If I would have realized this, I would have used it for small things. Now, I am worried about my other cards (3 dept store, I credit card) that have zero balances. Do you really have to use your card each month or every other month so that the company doesnt cancel it? Is there anyway to prevent this?
Welcome to the forums, and I'm sorry it was under such exasperating circumstances!
HSBC has become infamous for this twitchiness. If they give it back to you, look for a small recurring bill that you can put on it each month, especially one that you would be paying anyway (water bill, charity, newspaper subscription, etc.)
For your other cards, speaking
in general, you can let department cards ride a while. Once every six months to a year should keep them happy. For a credit card, at least once every three months is safer, and as you found with HSBC, even that might not be enough. You might want to call and ask them if they have some automatic shutdown after a certain interval.
I applaud those who keep their balances at $0. I do, too. But I do use my cards for things that I would otherwise have paid cash for: gas, groceries, prescriptions, etc. I think of my CC's as really slow debit cards and pay them off frequently, as in several times a month. This seems to work out best all around, plus I'm getting my rewards from the cards.
It's getting to be a strange world out there in credit land, that's for sure. Good luck with HSBC, those stinkers.
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007