Credit card usage - not enough

[Lainey]

Got a call from my bank yesterday. I haven't used my credit card since March, so they let me know that "sometimes" cards are cancelled if they aren't used in a year.
There's a zero balance on it, and I don't expect to use it except for an emergency. So, is this something new?

If that's their rules I expect I'll use it for something small and then pay it off right away. Seems like a waste but maybe it's also a security issue to make sure you're still an active customer. I sure don't want to apply for a new credit card with someone else now that I'm in retirement.

[Tybee]

It happened to my parents, who were not using theirs, then my brother started using it for airline tickets to visit them, as he is poa.
They cancelled it without any reason.
I figured it was probably too hard to figure out the patterns of use and a fraud risk as parents are very elderly.

[Float On]

I had a Target credit card that did that. I got it for a big discount on something and thought I'd use it if I needed more big items. Apparently I didn't use it enough so they cancelled me. With our bank debit cards we really have to stay on top of letting them know about travel plans and such. One use at some place we have haven't been to before and they get shut down. It's annoying as all get out. I've started using a credit card again instead of the debit card due to the hassle.

[iris lilies]

I had a Target credit card that did that. I got it for a big discount on something and thought I'd use it if I needed more big items. Apparently I didn't use it enough so they cancelled me. With our bank debit cards we really have to stay on top of letting them know about travel plans and such. One use at some place we have haven't been to before and they get shut down. It's annoying as all get out. I've started using a credit card again instead of the debit card due to the hassle.

not just debit cards. Last year I bought a computer at Best Buy and my credit card would not work, they wouldnt take the sale because I never go to Best Buy and do not buy electronics, so their security system flagged it as fraud and they blocked the sale.

Very very annoying. Fortunately my backup credit card worked.

[nswef]

Yes, we have one from the bank-it's a debit card but is used as a credit card. We must use it at least once every 2 or 3 months or there's a fee. so, I use it for gas and eating out- oddly the one time I used it for eating out it got hacked....got a phone call and a new card issued. It was the only time I had used it for at least a month. I pay cash at that diner now. I first thought the phone call was a scam, but I called the bank and they said an attempted charge was made. It frustrating.

[Teacher Terry]

We use ours once a while for that reason. We only use Cc’s on vacation. Tried to buy a refrigerator and card denied so called the company and they let me use it. They thought it was fraud.

[Miss Cellaneous]

I have friends who work retail who say that they are seeing a lot more credit cards being denied. It is usually due to suspected fraud. Usually, the customer just calls the 800 number on the back of the card, clears things up, and the sale goes through. Things that can trigger fraud alerts are a much larger than usual purchase or making a large purchase somewhere the customer hasn't been before.

I'd rather have a slight delay to clear things up than to have a fraudulent charge go through.

I think inactive accounts cost the banks money. They have extended a credit limit, but aren't making any money off it. So they'd rather close the inactive account and offer that credit limit to someone who will use it. The banks charge merchants a fee for every credit card purchase, and they also collect interest from many card holders.

[rosarugosa]

I've had a few cards cancelled due to inactivity. These are typically cards I got for the sign-on bonus and never used again.

[oldhat]

A few months ago Citibank canceled my card--one that I'd held for more than 30 years--completely out of the blue. I had been using other cards to rack up bonus points for quite some time, but if Citi had let me know they were going to cancel it, I probably would have used it just to prevent the (very minor) hit to my credit rating.

I called them, and was told that to get the card reinstated they'd have to do a credit check, which would also have caused a (very minor) hit to my rating. I told them no thanks--your loss.

Strange way to run a business. Even though I hadn't used the card for a while, I'm sure I generated plenty of profit for them during the 3 decades I did use it.

All of which reminds me--time to apply for another card and rack up some more points.

[mschrisgo2]

I can go for many weeks only buying groceries and gas every other week. I usually use my atm card for groceries so I can also get a minimal amount of cash at the same time. But then I have to be careful to switch off the 2 credit cards when I guy gas. I always go online within a day or two and transfer money to pay them off right away. Gas, groceries, odds and ends at Ace Hardware, but Ace doesn't accept cards of any kind for purchases less than $20, hence the cash. This simple and often frugal living is a process that requires conscious work!

[Gardnr]

If you're not using a card, they aren't making any money. Remember, they get a fee from every business transaction. You don't pay less for product with cash so why not use your card and pay off when you have a statement arrive? And no, I wouldn't pay it immediately, let the statement arrive.

If you're not using your card, you are a risk to them if someone hacks your account and they have a loss on top of the loss from your non-use.

[iris lilies]

For those of you who mentioned this, what is the problem with a ding in your credit rating? Won’t that work out after a while?

[Teacher Terry]

Il, sure it will.

[Yppej]

That call is a lot better than the one I got in my spendthrift days. "We're concerned that you're using so much of your credit line."

[dado potato]

I never had a call like that from my bank, US Bank, where I have had a zero balance on their VISA credit card for years.


I would go with the impulse to buy something on the card and pay it off when the statement comes.

[Lainey]

Sounds like it's common. I will probably buy something over the holidays and then pay it off in January just to keep it active.
Thanks.

[ToomuchStuff]

Years ago, I went into a Lowe's to look at washers, as my inherited one died. I was not planning on purchasing one that day, and they had a sale, along with 6 months free if you applied for their card, which I had no interest in. The salesman talked me into it and I walked out with the washer.
Something like 3 weeks later (less then a month), I got a call from Lowe's telling me my CC payment was late. I told them what happened and mentioned lawyer, and it magically was straightened out. I went into the store and paid that card off, and never used it. They eventually canceled.
My lawyer received something similar, and he put a nice letter together on his letterhead, and his debt was eliminated all together.

I had a CC that I received after having fraud on one. It sat for around 8 months, unactivated. I received a bill in the mail for some sort of electronic's insurance, and called the CC company. They tried to tell me I made the charge, until I asked them about the how on an unactivated card. That went away.

[bicyclist]

Usually I charge $100 to $200 on my credit card each month just to keep my account and accumulate funds towards a small rebate. I haven't had credit until recently and have not received threats to cancel the card from the bank. If I did, I would call them to remind them that I will take my checking account elsewhere. It's not nothing and my guess is that they will back off.

[Teacher Terry]

I have the dogs medication and food come to my home so they are reoccurring charges on my cards. I just ordered show tickets and put them on a different card to keep them active.