How do you destroy a credit card?
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6 years ago
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6 years agoRelated Discussions
Credit Scores and Open Credit Cards
Comments (3)DH & I also have several cards with no balance on them. We will be applying for a mortgage soon, so I asked my banker this question. He told me to cancel the majority of the cards, but to keep either a couple with fairly low limits or one card with a pretty decent limit. He said that banks like to see someone have $30,000-$40,000 worth open credit on cards (depending on your income). He says that lets them know that you have a source of available money that you can access quickly. He said they don't like to see huge amounts of open credit because that shows the potential for a problem. We pulled our own credit reports & they said that the amount of unused credit we have may actually be hurting our score. We have only a tiny fraction owed but a lot of open credit. Another thing my banker & the credit report mentioned was the ratio of how much you owe to the amount of open credit. Example: If you owe $5,000 & have two cards with a total credit limit of $20,000, cancelling one card that has a $10,000 limit can actually hurt you. Instead of having a balance that equals one quarter of your available credit, you will now owe an amt. equal to half of your available credit. If you want to cancel, make sure you write a letter to the credit card company & keep it & proof that you mailed it on file. Make sure to request that they note in your file that the card was cancelled at your request. Having a lender cancel your card can hurt your credit score. If you won't be applying for a loan any time soon, you can just leave them & they will drop off of your credit report after a few years....See More* Have You Ever Gotten Your Credit Card Account Numbers Stolen? *
Comments (14)I had a bunch of credit cards opened in my name some years ago. I had rental property and had a Centruy 21 agent manage it for me. Apparently, since the mortgage statement went to that office, so did a bunch of those free offers for credit cards. The receptionist opened the accounts got the cards, and just kept paying the minimum payments on the cards. It went on for over a year and was only discovered when she went away on her honeymoon and my agent started opening the mail with my name on it--a bunch of Visa bills with over $20,000 total charges! This girl had charged her whole wedding and honeymoon in my name! The hardest part was cancelling the cards--when I called Visa they wouldn't believe I was me because the girl had given them _her_ mother's maiden name, information of course that I could not supply! It was pretty stupid, really, she thought she would never be caught, said she every intention of paying off the cards eventually. Stupid criminal. Stupid credit card companies. We all paid for that one. And yes, I do check my credit report now!...See Morecancel your credit card before you die!
Comments (8)I'm settling my mom's estate now. Obviously, in the original post here, there should have been no charges, since the account was 0 when the woman died, but the executor DOES have the responsibility of notifying anyone who has a financial interest. And it's pretty obvious that the credit card company needs to take a serious look at their practices and make a few revisions. But debts don't die with the person. Every will I've ever read includes the statement that the executor/executrix is charged with the responsibility of paying off all debts as quickly as possible, so it's perfectly reasonable for any creditor to ask for--and expect--to be paid what they are entitled to. Maybe I'm out of step here--but I've been calling everyone I can think of to find out if my mom OWED them any money when she died, and as soon as I find an unpaid bill, they get a check immediately. It's only been about 4 months, but it looks as if I've tracked down all the bills she owes--I don't see how it could take much longer, if the executor is on the ball. And at my accountant's urging I'll be disbursing to my brother and sisters this weekend. But don't get me started on jury duty--now THAT questionaire, I filled out with her new address (XXX Cemetary). I posted about that a few weeks ago. I did get a lovely letter back from the assignment judge, though--he's someone my family has known for over 50 years, and it was nice to touch base with him, even if it was over mom's inability to report to serve....See MoreWhen did credit cards start doing this?
Comments (44)While it is true that credit ceilings are based on income and opening new cards requires income verification, credit scores themselves have little or nothing to do with income. One thing to remember when closing cards is to try to always keep the oldest and keep it active by occasional use. My own credit score took a hit when I payed off my vehicle. I pay them off early. I was still in the very good/excellent numbers but still a 24 point hit just for paying off a loan. That's the account diversity part. But it is inching back up and now I am in a good time of closing or opening new credit again and not having hard inquiries affect me much if at all. Another thing to watch for is cards that "upgrade" you to rewards cards and such. Some do it automatically, others have an opt out feature. For example some stores will upgrade you to a store card to a combined use anywhere Retailer/Mastercard for rewards. Often these upgrades are reported as new accounts creating a hard inquiry on you record....See MoreUser
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