Washington Mutual CANCELED my Credit Card due to NOT using it!!
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
United States
December 4, 2008 12:56am CST
i got a letter telling me that my Ebay Washington Mutual card hadnt been used in 12 months (well duh im trying to be debt free here) and since that has happened i must not WANT my card and that they canceled it as of nov 15th!! What the heck?!?! shouldnt they have sent me a letter saying "hey use it or lose it" or something??!?!?! im so pissed because i have paid off my cards and i have them for emergencies and i have used a few off and on but they had like points and etc and since that one didnt i hadnt used it in a year.. i have never heard of people just canceling it!! and after they gave me checks to use with it! i could have used them and then i would be paying bounced fees everywhere!! is this some new weird move because of the economy or something?
3 people like this
15 responses
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
4 Dec 08
Well, you are the customer! There is nothing in the TOS that says you must use the card to keep it!
Make noise! Complaint about it! Make sure they reinstate your card and compenstate you for the anguish they caused for cancelling your card!
Now you have one card less to worry about! What are you going to do with that extra time that you have put aside for worrying about the annual payments of the card?!?
Call their customer service and give them a good piece of your mind!!!
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
i dont think it had an annual fee believe it or not lol.. i just wanted it as a back up in case something horrible happens.. and yeah im gonna have him yell at them and see if that works
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
im gonna have my hubby call and see if he can get the card back.. i mean they never gave us any notice and we got a bill the month before and there was no note on it (it was for zero but still)
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
4 Dec 08
Don't feel bad...my Mom found a bank statement showing she's been paying monthly fee's on a credit card...THAT SHE CANCELLED!! Yup, she'd called them and cancelled it and they didn't cancel the card and were still taking the fee's out for it...she called them again and rather than cancel it they offered to send her a new card. She told them no, to cancel it and a few days later she got the new card. 
[b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~
**STAND STRONG AND TRUST IN GOD**[/b]
[b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~
**STAND STRONG AND TRUST IN GOD**[/b]1 person likes this
@Little_Stormy (6883)
• United States
4 Dec 08
ROFL!! don't ya love it when customer services REALLY listen to ya?
1 person likes this
@Paula1966 (1102)
• United States
4 Dec 08
Have her call back and ask for a supervisor. Don't even talk to the agent, just keep asking for a supervisor until they give you one. Then have her relay what you told us about the conversation, and that she wants the supervisor's badge number AND that of the customer service rep. Have her threaten that, if need be, she will take it up to the office of the president of the company. Trust me, no one workind in customer churn wants to get reported to the president of their company. Let me know if you need any tips on being the upset customer - I've worked with enough of them at my job. :)
1 person likes this
@lvaldean (1612)
• United States
5 Dec 08
Yep, three cards cancelled due to inactivity in the past 5 weeks. The real bad thing about this one is that it will show on your credit report as Closed by Credit Grantor and it will reduce your overall available credit. Both of these will potentially lower your credit score by anywhere from 2 to 10 points.
1 person likes this
@lvaldean (1612)
• United States
6 Dec 08
The affect that it has on your credit score will really depend upon a number of other factors. But it will have an affect, don't believe them they are liars. Either they are liars because they are too stupid to understand the way credit scores are calculated or they simply think you are too stupid to understand them.
Either way they are liars. I hate liars.
GE Bank right now, from what I hard are the worst of them out there.
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
6 Dec 08
its crazy!! he tried to call them and just get it turned back on but they said no and to reapply!! they swore it wont show bad on his credit but thats them saying that lol
@savak03 (6684)
• United States
4 Dec 08
I'll bet if you asked them for another credit card they would give it to you without any trouble. They don't make any money if you are not using the card and this way they got your attention. If you get another card from them they assume you will use it so the same thing don't happen again. A good way to keep a card active and still stay out of debt is to use it for just one thing like gas for your car and pay the balance in full each month before the interest takes effect. That would really drive them crazy.
2 people like this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
yeah that was what i was doing with the credit cards i used.. i would use them then pay them off.. im gonna have him call and see if he can get it back.. it had a high limit on it and with the world being crazy i would like it for emergencies
@Paula1966 (1102)
• United States
4 Dec 08
I had the same thing happen with my HSBC card... and I think it had been less than a year since we had used it. This happened to us early on in the economic downturn, and we theorized the same thing you have - it has something to do with the economy. What worries me (some) is that my friends at work said by them cancelling it due to inactivity, my already-shaky credit rating will likely go DOWN! :(
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
so it will hurt your credit score?? because it didnt say one way or another if it would and i figured it at least didnt have a balance due on it so it wouldnt hurt too much but ugh.. we are working to get our scores back up.. dont need this crap
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
4 Dec 08
That happened to my MIL too. She had a credit card through Firestone with a really high limit that she had paid off about a year ago and didn't need it, so she didn't' sue to. She went to go use the account and the clerk found it in their system. No one realized that is had a zero available balance until she tried to pay!
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
we had almost used this card the other day because i was thinking about how we needed to do something with it lol.. it would have been very embarrassing if we had and it got declined
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
4 Dec 08
I have an MBNA card and I keep getting those check things in the mail to use instead of cash. I have not used it and they have not cancelled it yet. I also have a citicard that I cut up and every year I get a loan offering, they have not canceled that yet. The other two cards I have, I use and pay off the balance every month. I have no idea why they would cancel your credit card. It seems rather strange. Maybe you should apply for another card and use it once a month and pay off the balance.
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
im wondering if its because they got bought out by chase and that that might matter..
@LittleMel (8742)
• Canada
5 Dec 08
that is kind of strange but it could be that they wanted you to use it
they earn from interest so if you don't use it they really don't earn anything from it
but the thing is, they don't lose anything either
instead you will still be paying annual fee (usually these cards have it)
aside from that I have no idea how cancelling this card would benefit them
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
i dont think it had an annual fee but like you said what was the harm in it for them to leave it?!?!
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
you would think they would at least see if i was gonna use it for xmas shopping first though.. that and with the world being crazy i could need it for emergencies and used it a ton.. oh well its irritating.. if i had gotten a heads up i wouldnt be so irritated but i was thinking about using it for activity purposes the other day AFTER the date they canceled it and that would have been horrible to have the store reject it and give me a heart attack
@relundad (2310)
• United States
4 Dec 08
This is common practice. But you need to check and see if they cancelled the card or closed the account. There is a difference. Also the credit card companies can go in a randomly check your credit and if you credit situation has changed, you may no longer be an ideal candidate for them. In these cases they will also lower your credit limit, cancel card or close account without notice. If your credit has not changed you can call them and they will gladly re-open.
I have many credit cards but I am also debt free. I will you my cards on occassion just for activity purposes and so that I don't have to carry cash. I will pay them in full prior to billing. That way they some activity and my credit has activity.
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
well nothing had changed to where his credit would be bad if anything it had improved before they did this and they closed the account
@chantalgiardina (2523)
• United States
4 Dec 08
im only 20 so ive never had a credit card..applied for one, but never been approved. but im sorry to hear of that..but i agree with you.. they could have atleast told you they were going to cancel it
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
5 Dec 08
whats stupid is they sent me a statement saying i owed nothing in october for it to be due in nov 10th then closed my account on nov 15th and never said anything to me on the statement or anything
@mariposaman (2959)
• Canada
5 Dec 08
I would check your credit rating to make sure it has not torpedoed your rating. I would also yell at them, what are they going to do cancel your card? I had one cancelled a long time ago because I did not pay for a couple of months, not because of not using it.
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
6 Dec 08
my hubby called to yell at them and try to get the card back but they refused and said it was in writing some where they could cancel it any time they felt like it and so since we hadnt used it in 12 months they took it upon themselves to cancel the account and not tell us till a MONTH afterwards..
@nadooa247 (1096)
• United States
6 Dec 08
That IS odd that's the first time i heard of that happening. Well be grateful that you DIDN'T use their checks! Just am curious how would they canceling the card effect your credit rating? Will it have any effect? Since you didn't use it and they don't offer you any incentive program (points) then they did you a favor i believe. Because if you DID use it during the holiday season or their checks you would have been royally screwed.
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
7 Dec 08
well some one above said it will show as creditor closing the account which usually goes along with "people didnt pay me so i closed it" type thing but even if you close accounts it can hurt your score.. other wise i would have gotten rid of a card of mine already but its stupid to me as long as its in perfect standing it shouldnt matter
