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I'm going to stop using my Visa and apply for an AMEX.

I want the Visa account to remain open to keep my revolving credit usage % low. While I understand opening a new card will temporarily reduce my score, it will pay off in the long run.

If I don't use the Visa for a long enough period will they close my account?

Edit: This is not because I'm concerned that I'm using the card and paying in full, rather I will not be using the card at all.

Fueled By Coffee
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  • Related: Automatic transaction on credit card to stay active – Ben Miller Mar 08 '17 at 18:08
  • I would recommend have small automatic payments set up on your Visa to keep it active. For example, my iTunes account is on my Visa and it gets charged 99 cents every so often to keep it open. – Michael Mar 08 '17 at 19:31
  • Similar to @MichaelC.'s suggestion, I just have a single small recurring monthly charge on one card just to make sure it's used every month. Make sure autopay is on and "set it and forget it." – Kevin Mar 08 '17 at 20:03
  • One point which may make a difference is whether you have a yearly maintenance fee on the card or not. Your past history with them as well as any other accounts held with the same institution probably both have an influence. – jcaron Mar 08 '17 at 23:11
  • In particular, don't bank on it. We told a card provider to close an account, cut up the cards and were surprised to see new cards arrive several years later. With electronic billing we stopped logging in after the last transaction was paid off and had no communication in between. But if they want to close it they will. – Chris H Mar 09 '17 at 08:50
  • Possible duplicate of Will a credit card issuer cancel an account if it never incurs interest? – Bob Tway Mar 09 '17 at 12:15
  • "If I don't use the Visa for a long enough period will they close my account?" In a way it's very much reasonable to close unused accounts. After all they have fixed costs attached. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. – NoDataDumpNoContribution Mar 09 '17 at 14:31
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    @MattThrower I don't think this is a precise duplicate of that question, because that question is asking about interest, while this question is asking about activity. It's a subtle difference, but reasonable to keep both questions in my opinion. – NL - Apologize to Monica Mar 09 '17 at 15:55
  • AmEx closed an account of mine while I was actively using it a few years ago. – warren Mar 09 '17 at 18:33
  • In my anecdotal experience, they probably won't bother to close your account for inactivity, but they may decline to automatically send you a new card when your current card expires. On the other hand, if there is an annual fee for the card, they will happily renew it for you automatically until you give instructions to close the account. – 200_success Mar 09 '17 at 18:44
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    American Express is not universally accepted the way Visa is, so it's likely that you will end up still having to use the Visa at some point. – 200_success Mar 09 '17 at 18:46
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit, this question sparked my curiosity so, yesterday I read 4 different cardmember agreements from 4 different banks, none spoke to inactivity, all indicated your account can be closed unilaterally for any reason. – quid Mar 10 '17 at 19:44
  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – GS - Apologise to Monica Mar 11 '17 at 07:17

5 Answers5

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Please realize that your issuer can close the account for any number of reasons.

Inactivity is one, as having a credit line open costs them money and if you never charge anything, the company doesn't get any transaction fees from vendors nor does the company get to charge you any interest. An occasional charge is likely to keep your card from being closed automatically, but it is not a guarantee.

Another reason they may close the account is that you have other bad marks show up on your credit score, or their criteria for offering you the card change so you no longer match their target demographic.

I have a credit card issued by my credit union that I have not used for a couple of years. They will not close the card account because my other accounts are still very profitable for them. If I were not an otherwise profitable customer, I wouldn't be surprised if they closed my credit card account.

If you are serious about keeping the account open, you should probably have more than a trivial amount of usage.

Taylor D. Edmiston
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NL - Apologize to Monica
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    How does having it open cost them money? – Mason Wheeler Mar 08 '17 at 21:12
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    @MasonWheeler replacement cards, paper statements, reporting to credit bureaus, regulatory reporting, lots of inactive users would also cause the balance sheet to look less attractive. I'm not even scratching the surface of tangible and intangible costs of having one or more open credit lines with users that are not bringing in revenue. – NL - Apologize to Monica Mar 08 '17 at 21:15
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    @MasonWheeler Operating costs. On the margin your account accounts for some portion of their overall operating budget, while this may be small it's still larger than 0. If you're making them $0 through transaction fees and/or finance charges, you're technically costing them money – Fueled By Coffee Mar 08 '17 at 21:16
  • @NathanL I don't get any paper statements from any of my banks. Replacement cards is only every 8 years if you don't use it. Everything else costs essentially $0 for every incremental user after the first because it is all software. I doubt the yearly cost of keeping an unused account like that exceeds the probability that a customer will start using the card again and start making money. – Philip Mar 09 '17 at 02:52
  • @Philip essentially zero is far enough different from zero that you're still costing them pennies a year if you're not making any transactions. – Leliel Mar 09 '17 at 03:24
  • @Leliel yes, but what is the probability that you will start using your card again and start making them dollars a year in profit? :) It only needs to be > 1% to be worth it (using our totally made up pennies vs dollars a year figures). – Philip Mar 09 '17 at 04:12
  • @Philip evidently not high enough, or as you say, they wouldn't do it. Also, it's not just one card, it's potentially thousands. If you can buy another database server now, or spend a bit to clean out 50K plus dead accounts, and put off the cost of the server a few months, interest on the cost of the server is greater than cost of killing those accounts – Leliel Mar 09 '17 at 04:38
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    To everyone asking why an Open, Inactive account costs the company money: It is a liability. That card can be hacked, cloned, and it may generate chargebacks and all sorts of trouble. So it impacts the operational risk of the company. If it is a bank adhering to the basel accords, that means setting money aside to compensate that risk. Sometimes it is not just profit/cost comparison as for a small business. it is WAY more complex. – Mindwin Remember Monica Mar 09 '17 at 13:51
  • Based on the varied experiences here (my own being with Bank of America, Chase, and AMEX cards that I have had for 10+ years with no activity), I am starting to think that perhaps overall credit score impacts a companies desire to retain or cancel an inactive account. – Surest Texas Mar 11 '17 at 15:55
  • @SurestTexas that's covered in my third paragraph, but you should also consider that your experiences though long and varied, are anecdotal. – NL - Apologize to Monica Mar 11 '17 at 16:32
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There is no universal answer here. Some card issuers will. Some that will close the account will warn you first. For my "sock drawer" cards I'll try to take each out semi-annually to make a single transaction, then put it back in the drawer.

I've heard you should charge something quarterly, I've never had one closed with semi-annual charges.

quid
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The answer is maybe. I had a Chase card without a purchase in over 4 years get canceled out of the blue, without so much as a notification telling me it was at risk for cancelation. They told me they typically close accounts after 24 months of inactivity (not including card fees) but let mine go for longer because I have several other credit cards, savings and checking accounts with them. I would recommend spending at least once per year on the card.

Random Joe
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Assuming the question is "will they close it for inactivity (alone)".. the answer is "Nope"

... unequivocally.

Update: < My answer is geared to credit Cards issues by companies that deal in credit, not merchandise (i.e. store cards, retailer cards, etc). Retailers (like Amazon, etc), want to sell goods and are in the credit card business to generate sales. Banks and credit companies (about whom I am referring) make their money primarily on interest and secondarily on service charges (either point of use charged to the vendor that accepts payment, or fees charged to the user).>

The only major issuer I will say that it might be possible is Discover, because I never kept a Discover card. I also don't keep department store cards, which might possibly do this; but I do doubt it in either of those cases too. My answer is based on Having 2 AMEX cards (Optima and Blue) and multiple other Visa/MC's that I NEVER use... and most of these I have not for over 10+ years.

Since I am also presuming that you are also not talking about an account that charges a yearly or other maintenance fee..

Why would they keep the account open with the overhead (statements and other mailings,etc)?

Because you MIGHT use it. You MIGHT not be able to pay it off each month. Because you MIGHT end up paying thousands in interest over many years. The pennies they pay for maintaining your account and sending you new cards with chip technology, etc.. are all worth the gamble of getting recouped from you! This is why sales people waste their time with lots of people who will not buy their product, even though it costs them time and money to prospect.. because they MIGHT buy.

Naturally, there are a multitude of reasons for canceling a card; but inactivity is not one. I have no less than 10+ "inactive" cards, one that has a balance, and two I use "infrequently". I really would not mind if they closed all those accounts.. but they won't ;)

So enjoy your AMEX knowing that your Visa will be there when you need/want it.. The bank that issues your Visa is banking on it! (presuming you don't foul up financially)

Cheers!

Surest Texas
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    I have had both an Amazon visa issued through chase and a Paypal Master card threaten to close my account for non usage. These were Zero balance cards I hadn't used in a year or two. Many Many card issuers will close your account for non usage. – 8bitwide Mar 08 '17 at 22:37
  • @8bitwide I'm sure there is more to the story... and I suppose I could add online credit schema's to my list of "untrieds" since I only deal with actual brick and mortar banks whose business it is to provide credit (versus a retailer like amazon or paypal who just wants sales). I would say they are more similar to departement store cards (even if Visa is the engine running their credit). – Surest Texas Mar 08 '17 at 22:41
  • So, yes, I can see a retailer like Amazon closing an accout for that reason. However, I do not believe that is the OP's situation. My understanding is that he is dealing with companies who deal primarily in credit, not merchandise/ – Surest Texas Mar 08 '17 at 22:42
  • @8bitwide I happen to have two Chase cards in particular that are part of that portfolio of inactive cards... they still send me nice cash advance checks with no interest for 18 months offers to use should I ever desire. They send them every month hoping I will use them. I'm sure the difference is that yours originates from Amazon, who is more interested in sales than interest charges. – Surest Texas Mar 08 '17 at 22:53
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    All true, but "around here" anyway, when you apply for a loan the bank considers your potential indebtedness to be the sum of the limits of all the cards you have, whether you use them or not, because you might use them. Your credit-worthiness is higher if you cancel cards that you are never going to use. Having 10+ inactive cards seems not just pointless to me, but risky. If any (but not all) were stolen, would you even notice before the bill arrived? – MickeyfAgain_BeforeExitOfSO Mar 09 '17 at 03:26
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    I would caution against absolutes when your very next sentence rolls back your certainty. – quid Mar 09 '17 at 22:02
  • A relative had a citibank credit card closed. While obviously no one outside of citibank knows exactly why they closed it, the relative hadn't used the card for 2 years, has a great credit score, never had chargebacks, etc., so I tend to believe citibank when they said it was due to inactivity. – blm Mar 14 '17 at 18:16
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The workaround solution is to simply avoid having an exactly zero balance on your account. Thus for inactive credit cards that I want to keep around for emergency use, I always leave a small positive balance on the card.

The credit card company reserves the right to cancel my card at any time, but a positive balance would force them to send me a check for the privilege of doing so. A positive balance avoids making the account appear inactive and makes it cheaper for them to simply leave the account open.

James McGuigan
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