I've just recently started getting serious about my CC usage, and it's already feeling like a pain in the ass to have 7 cards. I've spent the past couple of months opening up 4 new cards that I plan to keep as my long-term setup for whenever I'm not churning, and I already have 3 no AF cards that I'm keeping open for credit purposes.
What's your strategy for making sure your old cards don't time-out and get closed by the bank? I know the bank is suppose to give warnings but I've heard stories of them not doing so, as well as them closing it at discretion rather than after a set X number of months.
As of now, I have very tiny $1-2 charges that automatically run through my old accounts every month, but I feel like I've already run out of tiny recurring charges I can set and forget. I also don't fancy the idea of having all of my cards turned on and running monthly charges, especially if I'm gonna be opening up at least a couple cards a year.
How do you guys keep track of making sure your old credit cards stay open?
byu/EmployeeFlimsy2796 inCreditCards
Posted by EmployeeFlimsy2796
3 Comments
I don’t. If I realize the only reason I’m keeping a card is for account history purposes, I close it. It will continue to age for 10 years after closure. By the time it falls off my reports, my other accounts will have aged a decade. Keeping too many open accounts is risky. Forget to check that auto pay went through on a single account you had a small subscription on, and now you’ve got a dirty file for seven years.
You only need one charge every 6 months to keep a card open. That’s like the shortest time frame that I’ve seen a card can be inactive before the card issuer sends you a letter to start using it before it gets shutdown. A lot of card issuers will be fine with 1 charge per year to keep a card open.
Just set a recurring reminder in your calendar to do one charge of any amount on each card that you aren’t using normally every 6 months and you will be fine.
I use Amazon’s Subscribe and Save. 15% off if you have 5 items shipped at once. Usually a “sign up bonus” that is more. I switch where it gets billed from time to time. You can even have certain items go to different cards. Depending on your needs, you could have monthly deliveries or every six months. I calculate the “SUB”, discount, and cash back on the card and call it a win. You can do less items at 5%. I also do a few subscriptions on Meta like your low charges. Mean kit goes elsewhere. Dr. copays, gas, dining, every day, Walmart all have their own cards. Plus PayPal. Managing it can be a pain but I have an at a glance category breakdown by looking at a dedicated card. That still leaves 4 “standard” cards.