I question the accuracy of this statement. If closed accounts stay on your report for 10 years, and are still used in the equation, then there is no immediate effect on your score due to avg age. And closing either an old or new card will have the same effect on the usage/limit ratio.

[...] Credit Card Issuer Closed My Account [...]

BUT, I am getting so fed up with the games these companies are playing that sometimes I am tempted to just cut them all up.

I just keep reminding myself that my mission is to get as much benefit from the accounts as possible, while paying them as little interest as possible.

I have had this card for about five or six years and it is my longest open credit card on file. If Wachovia deactivates the card, will this impact my score somewhat? I am assuming so. Also, with the newly issued card, would this show history from my longest open card or not? Thanks in advance!

I did this with my Citizens card I posted about earlier and they did reopen! Just got the letter from them today!

[...] response to a recent article on credit cards closing accounts, a Frugal Dad reader (we’ll call him John) submitted the following scenario and question.  I [...]

If you can, just get another credit card somewhere else — I would suggest a Citibank Platinum Visa card. I’ve got one and they have given me great rates as well as great balance transfer terms. There are websites around where you can “shop” for credit cards by terms, rewards, transfer rates, etc.

I called Citizens and the rep was very rude and said there was nothing they could do, it was closed. After reading posts here about getting advanced notice of account changes, I called back and got another rep who put in a request for review, took my financial info, and assured me that this would be an internal review, not an inquiry like a new application.

I know the goal is Cash only and that is what I have been trying to do by keeping my score up so I could get good offers and pay down old debt from my younger careless years. What ticks me off is that I worked for Citizens for many years and thought they were the best!!

I hope they can reopen my account without and if so I will use it for gas or to pay utilities just to keep it active. Once my other debt is gone, they can go ahead and close away!

I am not house hunting now but considering refinancing so I cant afford a hit to my credit!

Glad I found this site. Its good reading!

Considering that the FICO scoring system has so little to do with your average account life span and debt to limit ratio, I would not guess that is a HUGE CONSPIRACY by the credit card companies. I think it is more of a case of them wanting to lower their own risk factor and overall lines of debt so they can cut their bottom line and continue operating in this time of recession. Credit card companies must borrow money to cover your line of credit with them. If, for instance, you had a card for 5 years and never used it, why should the company continue to have that open line of debt hanging over their own heads? If they must cut out those people who don’t use their cards anyway, so be it. It is business after all. Let me know how it goes when you run your own business and give away all your profits to those who you think deserve it. Please keep a record of how long you stay in business that way.

On a similar note, FICO is simply a scoring system as designed by Fair Isaac Corporation. Many banks and credit card companies use it and others don’t. They may have created their own scoring method. Fair Isaac has also created the FICO’09 system (can’t recall exactly what it is called at the moment) which will revamp the way your credit score is calculated. Of course, moving to the new scoring method is voluntary and many banks have chosen to stick with the older system. The FICO score is simply a way of assessing risk and translating it to a number we can all understand.

I doubt any of this will sink in, but I have tried nonetheless.