Wish I lived in a country that actual consumer protection laws- because this should absolutely be illegal.

anything i can do

In an ideal world where true common sense was the order of the day, customers would never be charged a fee for not using a credit card. How ridiculous! But it is what it is ..

Why our so-called elected “representatives” in Washington, DC even allow this kind of unfair practice by banks against the citizenry in the first place is just beyond me.

Of the remaining cards that were still open (around 20), I quickly went out and used them. When I would use some of the cards a second time, the card would be declined. When I contacted the credit card regarding why a purchase was declined, I was told that the account had been closed due to inactivity. When I pointed out that I had just recently used the card, all they would say is that the account is now closed and that I would have to reapply. So using the card does not necessarily mean that it will not be closed. In fact, a Citi rep told me that they required 5% of the available credit to be charged to the card for it to remain active. On a 20K card, that means they required a balance of $1000 to be on the card. Things are really completely out of control at this point. Where it all ends up, nobody knows.

The biggest problem with the credit card companies is that they don’t have the same respect for their customers as other customer-service reliant industries.

If a restaurant stopped serving you in the middle of dinner, you’d curse them, get up, walk out, and never return.

But if a credit card issuer cancels your card without notice, you try to figure out a way to keep your card, because of the personal ramifications to your credit score and the loss of the line of credit.

They have too much control over our well-being and not enough respect for us as customers, so we’re like lamb lining up for the slaughter.

Thanks for the reminder with this one, I’ll have to develop a system to keep my credit cards active, but that could be tough for some of us that have a dozen credit cards.

Chase is A) a giant, unfriendly corporate bank, and B) just a giant SNAFU. They have my boss’s mortgage, and they’ve just billed her twice for the mortgage payment for the second month in a row. They haven’t yet credited her back the second payment from last month!

Credit card companies usually send offers every 2 weeks, Discover used to be insane sending me courtesy checks every 6-8 days trying to intice me to use them and spend their money, but they can’t drop a letter in the mail letting you know that the account has been closed? Odd.

In the past I dread closing cards because their retention tactics can be so annoying. So I look forward to closing some of my cards with ease. (I’ve put off closing about 3 cards with dread – if I luck out they may close them for me).

& anyway, I’ve been a homeowner for 10 years. My credit cards, old and unused, have little effect on my FICO. I get the feeling my mortgage makes up 90% of the FICO score. (I closed my first cards and erased my first 10 years of credit history and still had a FICO over 800). So yeah, I would certainly be concerned if you are in the process of improving your credit. But if you’ve had a mortgage for a few years, and a good score, it hardly makes a difference. You know, it depends on many factors. But I think most people with good scores tend to over-react in this situation.

If I have the account, it should be open for my use at any time I choose, regardless of how long it’s been, as long as my account and credit are in good standing. It’s the closing of accounts without notice that is something we should all be standing up against!

If you haven’t used the card in a year… you’re not really a customer.

/sigh