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I just received a piece of mail from Sears Mastercard saying that unless I use it for a transaction before 7/31, the account will be closed due to inactivity. That's fine with me. According to them I haven't used it in 41 months. Frankly I thought it was longer than that. Anyway, is this one of those things where I should be proactive and close the account myself asking that a notation be made that it was closed by customer request? Or is it okay to just them close it due to inactivity. I'm not really concerned about my credit rating as I just checked Credit Karma and it's 828.
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charge something small, then pay it off.
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Surprisingly, closing an account can (and often does) have a negative impact on your credit score. This has NEVER made any sense to me but, in the last six months, I've seen my credit score fluctuate FORTY points in a month with NO real changes on my part. Of course, there's NO "real person" at any of the three major credit reporting "services" who I can actually speak with and get a cogent explanation. :dunno: :oldfogey: :villagers:
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You've thought about it too much already. Just let it close.
>This has NEVER made any sense to me but, in the last six months, I've seen my credit score fluctuate FORTY points in a month with NO real changes on my part.
Either your credit score is sufficient to get a good interest rate or its not. Don't pay too much attention to that stupid little number.
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I recently fixed my biggest credit issue - lack of revolving credit. How can they trust me without a long term loan?
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.....they won't last too much longer......so wait.....
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I reject your reality and substitute my own!
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"Either your credit score is sufficient to get a good interest rate or its not."
What is this "interest rate" you speak of?
I'm one of those dinosaurs that either pay cash outright or, pay the FULL balance on any and all credit cards I have. If I charge $10k (or more) I pay $10K (or more). Keeps things simple (although the Toyota dealer was surprised when I paid cash for my new Prius Four Touring).
PS: I do have a loan on my RV that I'm still paying off. My tax guy told me NOT to pay it off in full early (and that bugs me a bit).
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Thanks for the replies. I don't need it which is why it hasn't been used in 3+ years, and I don't really want it. I'm happy to be rid of another piece of plastic. For that reason alone I'm not about to use it just to keep it active. My concern was whether it made a difference if I let them close it due to inactivity or I close it because I no longer want it.
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Part of your credit score is based on utilization of available credit. Sometimes, if you cancel a credit card, your total available credit will go down, therefore if you have outstanding balances, it will impact the amount of available credit you’re using.
Ironically, even if you pay your credit card bill off every month, this can still affect it, because once the bill generates, it is determined how much of your available credit you’re using. For instance, if you were to book a cruise, and you only had a $10,000 limit, and the cruise was $4000, you would be using 40% of your available credit. Even if you pay it off once you get the bill. It did have her at 40% for that short time.
Depending on the credit limit of the card you think about closing, it can negatively affect you. If it’s a car that has no fee, just use it twice a year, and be done with it. Set up some sort of auto pay.
