Two credit cards closed within a week

[JuCarr492]

Last week I got an email that my Target Redcard was closed due to inactivity and this week I got an email that my Discount Tire card was closed. Both have been paid off over a year.  Never late on either.  CL on target was 1k and on Discount tire 800.  Not a huge thing for DT..but still.  I was getting close to needing new tires on my car in a few months.  Had Redcard since 2006.  Used it a whole lot back in the day when I had 3 kids to buy supplies and clothes for.  Now it was last used over a year ago probably for christmas or something.  I guess my credit will take a hit now?  I have about 3 more cards that are paid off and I'm sure they aren't far behind closing them either.  No lates on those either.  I've just been really concentrating on paying off the cards I still have with balances on them from.  

[hdporter]

Any credit line not in use is at risk for closure.  General wisdom is to make at least a modest charge once a year to any card you wish to retain.  Many advise doing so at least once every 6 mo to "play it safe".

[Kat58]

44 minutes ago, hdporter said:

Any credit line not in use is at risk for closure.  General wisdom is to make at least a modest charge once a year to any card you wish to retain.  Many advise doing so at least once every 6 mo to "play it safe".

+1

 

[cashnocredit]

1 hour ago, JuCarr492 said:

Last week I got an email that my Target Redcard was closed due to inactivity and this week I got an email that my Discount Tire card was closed. Both have been paid off over a year.  Never late on either.  CL on target was 1k and on Discount tire 800.  Not a huge thing for DT..but still.  I was getting close to needing new tires on my car in a few months.  Had Redcard since 2006.  Used it a whole lot back in the day when I had 3 kids to buy supplies and clothes for.  Now it was last used over a year ago probably for christmas or something.  I guess my credit will take a hit now?  I have about 3 more cards that are paid off and I'm sure they aren't far behind closing them either.  No lates on those either.  I've just been really concentrating on paying off the cards I still have with balances on them from.  

Happening more these days as banks become more risk averse.

 

As an aside, if you have some cards with balances you are paying off gradually and others with zero balance, it's best to put the normal monthly spending that you will pif on the ones without balances. This reduces the total interest you pay because the cards you pif don't charge you interest (with rare exceptions).

[hegemony]

tire card is no big loss, but is the target closure the same one as this: https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?/topic/622865-target-closed-both-our-redcards/&tab=comments#comment-5812070

[centex]

Discount was probably a SUCKrony card...there was a big thread within the past few weeks about the way they were clawing lines that were sitting unused.  They are the bank equivalent of an over-extended consumer who is worried about the 'rona and is clawing as much as they can to minimize what has to be set aside for reserves. 

[Burgerwars]

Use it or lose it. With my bank cards (Visa/MasterCard) I use them about once every three months to be safe. Making purchases counts as activity. Making payments may not. Use store cards at least once a year. The Target store card is issued by TD Bank, so I would have used that one more often.

[mendelssohn]

1 hour ago, Burgerwars said:

Use it or lose it. With my bank cards (Visa/MasterCard) I use them about once every three months to be safe. Making purchases counts as activity. Making payments may not. Use store cards at least once a year. The Target store card is issued by TD Bank, so I would have used that one more often.

Maybe buying a pencil now and then? 😁

 

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I haven't been here in a while. 

 

[StarkRaven$]

4 hours ago, Burgerwars said:

Use it or lose it. With my bank cards (Visa/MasterCard) I use them about once every three months to be safe. Making purchases counts as activity. Making payments may not. Use store cards at least once a year. The Target store card is issued by TD Bank, so I would have used that one more often.

Another reason why I don't want anymore cc's. I use all four of my only cc's every month.

[Burgerwars]

5 hours ago, mendelssohn said:

Maybe buying a pencil now and then? 😁

 

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I haven't been here in a while. 

 

I forgot about that. Forgetful me. It doesn't matter the size of the purchase, just that the card is used. I have enough pencils, so I've been loading my egift card balance on Amazon, an itty-bit at a time.

[StarkRaven$]

With some of these Synchrony cards i.e. Mattress Firm and Discount Tires you're obviously not going to use them very often. At what point do they close an account in good standing for lack of usage? One year, two years? I mean if you buy a $2500 mattress you should be set for years hopefully before having to buy another. Same thing with tires. Does Synchrony expect you to go to Discount Tires and buy a tire gauge once every six months to keep it open? Or go to Mattress Firm and buy a sheets every six months? Just seems crazy. I hate store cards.

[centex]

9 hours ago, StarkRaven$ said:

With some of these Synchrony cards i.e. Mattress Firm and Discount Tires you're obviously not going to use them very often. At what point do they close an account in good standing for lack of usage? One year, two years? I mean if you buy a $2500 mattress you should be set for years hopefully before having to buy another. Same thing with tires. Does Synchrony expect you to go to Discount Tires and buy a tire gauge once every six months to keep it open? Or go to Mattress Firm and buy a sheets every six months? Just seems crazy. I hate store cards.

RE: bolded.  YES! They do.

 

As to Discount...they know many people have more than one vehicle AND that Discount keeps sending emails enticing people to buy some crappy wheels.  There are also some, like me (although without a Discount card), that go through tires frequently enough that SOMETHING is being replaced at least twice a year.  Two of my cars are doing good if I get 12-15K miles out of the back tires...lots of driving combined with an aggressive yet soft compound (and 400 RWHP) will do that.  But with five cars...the UPS guy HATES me but the Discount installers LOVE me...

 

As to Mattress Firm...who knows. 

[hdporter]

9 hours ago, StarkRaven$ said:

With some of these Synchrony cards i.e. Mattress Firm and Discount Tires you're obviously not going to use them very often. At what point do they close an account in good standing for lack of usage? One year, two years? I mean if you buy a $2500 mattress you should be set for years hopefully before having to buy another. Same thing with tires. Does Synchrony expect you to go to Discount Tires and buy a tire gauge once every six months to keep it open? Or go to Mattress Firm and buy a sheets every six months? Just seems crazy. I hate store cards.

 

It's fair to say that Synchrony (or most any other issuer, for that matter) doesn't obsess over our credit scores.  "Average age" isn't on their radar.  So, from their perspective, it's likely that they see nothing amiss in closing an inactive account, even if it means that someone has to re-apply once they are interested in a new purchase from a co-branded retailer.

 

Those of us who've been "credit impaired" at some point tend to want to do what we can to "tip the scale" going forward.  So we bristle at an unanticipated account closure and engage in behavior that's a tad over the edge in the interest of keeping accounts open.

[centex]

Side note with Discount...back in the days when they were a GEMB-issued card, it could also be used at Exxon and Mobil stations.  Did that benefit carry over with the move to the SUCKrony systems?  If so, then that is an extremely easy way to maintain activity on those cards...too late for OP, but something to check for other cardholders wondering how to get activity. 

 

 

[TheVig]

I run a pencil purchase thru my SD visa's and mastercard's about every 3 months. Same for the Lowe's and HD cards.

 

Co-worker of mine has a store card from some mattress store. About once every 6 months he goes to the store and buys something like the cheapest pillow or similar. Gives the pillow away to the homeless.

[cv91915]

I used to keep activity on my Express (Comenity) card by ordering enough pairs of jeans to get free shipping, and then I'd return them at a retail store.

 

Sometimes this would result in a rounding error on the sales tax between their online system and their retail POS terminal, and I'd eventually get a check back from Comenity for $0.01.

 

One of these $0.01 refunds went missing long enough to show up on the California Secretary of State's unclaimed property web site, and when I recovered the money I used it to reduce the principal on our mortgage.

[Burgerwars]

16 hours ago, StarkRaven$ said:

With some of these Synchrony cards i.e. Mattress Firm and Discount Tires you're obviously not going to use them very often. At what point do they close an account in good standing for lack of usage? One year, two years? I mean if you buy a $2500 mattress you should be set for years hopefully before having to buy another. Same thing with tires. Does Synchrony expect you to go to Discount Tires and buy a tire gauge once every six months to keep it open? Or go to Mattress Firm and buy a sheets every six months? Just seems crazy. I hate store cards.

I think you still need to make an occasional purchase as Synchrony might not see any difference between Mattress Firm or a store card. See if you can buy a $1 gift certificate online for Mattress firm. Doing that, resets the clock. I have zillions of store cards that have closed on me from non-use. I don't really care. The bank cards are easy to keep open. A pencil, a cheeseburger, or some photocopies at FedEx Office, keeps them open.

Edited August 5, 2020 by Burgerwars

[StarkRaven$]

8 hours ago, Burgerwars said:

I think you still need to make an occasional purchase as Synchrony might not see any difference between Mattress Firm or a store card. See if you can buy a $1 gift certificate online for Mattress firm. Doing that, resets the clock. I have zillions of store cards that have closed on me from non-use. I don't really care. The bank cards are easy to keep open. A pencil, a cheeseburger, or some photocopies at FedEx Office, keeps them open.

Just curious about cc's like CareCredit or even Discount Tire; is the no interest rate for say 6-months only for when you first open the account or does the deferred % happen again if you put another charge on the cards say a year later?

[hdporter]

1 hour ago, StarkRaven$ said:

Just curious about cc's like CareCredit or even Discount Tire; is the no interest rate for say 6-months only for when you first open the account or does the deferred % happen again if you put another charge on the cards say a year later?

 

In the case of CareCredit, promotional finance terms are specifically extended at the point of purchase.  The card, itself, doesn't feature promotional rate terms.  (I presume that retailers/providers offering promo rate CareCredit terms subsidize those promotions.)

[centex]

10 hours ago, StarkRaven$ said:

Just curious about cc's like CareCredit or even Discount Tire; is the no interest rate for say 6-months only for when you first open the account or does the deferred % happen again if you put another charge on the cards say a year later?

Discount runs deals on a regular basis that involve deferred interest if you use the card, so it is not unique to the opening of the account.  But in the absence of a specific promotion, one should not presume such deferred interest or payment plan is in place.  It is likely much like the PayPal BuyerCredit (or the absorbed Bill Me Later) where offers were sometimes there and sometimes not...and when they existed, there were occasionally spend minimums that existed.  PPBC always cracks me up when they offer a six-month deferred on a $30 ebay purchase...

[cv91915]

I put dinner at DFW tonight on my Amex Blue Sky.

 

I opened this card in November of 2014, and I still haven't accumulated 500 points.  

 

At the time I was working on a plan to open/close as many of the least desirable Amices as possible to pad my AAoA with 1995 TLs.  

 

Then D* died, and I got stuck with this thing.  

[PotO]

On 8/5/2020 at 5:59 AM, centex said:

Discount was probably a SUCKrony card...there was a big thread within the past few weeks about the way they were clawing lines that were sitting unused.  They are the bank equivalent of an over-extended consumer who is worried about the 'rona and is clawing as much as they can to minimize what has to be set aside for reserves. 

I love Stinkrony.  Those people are sooooooo stupid that I got them to reinstate the cards that they recently closed.  🤣

[RehabbingANDBlabbing]

I have a Synchrony Home card that was formerly a Mattress Firm card with a $25k credit line. The card is 5 years old and a seasoned TL, but it is definitely a card that is hard to put spend on. You can really only use it at certain home improvement retailers (where I don't spend any money because I am a renter) and online at ABT Electronics. I have been tempted to close it for a while just so I don't have to deal with it anymore, but I still have not repaired my credit entirely, so I feel like my Experian score (the only bureau I haven't fixed yet) will go down if I close this card.

[StarkRaven$]

1 hour ago, RehabbingANDBlabbing said:

I have a Synchrony Home card that was formerly a Mattress Firm card with a $25k credit line. The card is 5 years old and a seasoned TL, but it is definitely a card that is hard to put spend on. You can really only use it at certain home improvement retailers (where I don't spend any money because I am a renter) and online at ABT Electronics. I have been tempted to close it for a while just so I don't have to deal with it anymore, but I still have not repaired my credit entirely, so I feel like my Experian score (the only bureau I haven't fixed yet) will go down if I close this card.

Is this card helping your AAOA? If so it may be wise to visit a store and just buy a mattress scented air freshener or pillow.

[JunkBuyersWorstNightmare]

On 8/5/2020 at 11:11 AM, centex said:

Side note with Discount...back in the days when they were a GEMB-issued card, it could also be used at Exxon and Mobil stations.  Did that benefit carry over with the move to the SUCKrony systems?  If so, then that is an extremely easy way to maintain activity on those cards...too late for OP, but something to check for other cardholders wondering how to get activity. 

 

 

Exxon/Mobil accounts have been issued by Citicorp since at least 2013.