Have you tried calling the credit card company?

Recently, when we were buying a house, a credit card company reduced the limit on one of my husband's cards, hurting our credit score. He called the company and they raised the limit again.

Can't hurt to ask!

*disclaimer* after a fun 15K debt experience in my early 30s, I live a credit card free life! I have one for emergencies but I have never activated it.

i plan to call them today. hope all goes well

Amanda - I've never had a CC company close my account due to non use.

One of my CC companies keep raising my limit which makes me kind of nervous. I'm able to put my school tuition on the card though and we are looking to do some home improvement so I'm hoping to charge it on my credit card. If for some reason I can't, then I'll cut them a check.

I love my CCs, I get hundreds of dollars back every year and don't pay a dime in interest.

We've gotten some unrequested rate limits, too, up to somewhat obscene amounts. That only helps scores, because it ups your available limits, so I'm OK with it. The closing of the account for responsible use, though...that was irritating to me. It was one of our older accounts AND a closure of that kind goes on your credit report as "involuntary" unless you contest it. We'd used it 3 or 4 months before, but it wasn't something we used a lot because it had no associated rewards or benefits, unlike our other cards.

I didn't rely on the credit, but I did get a little irritable that my responsible use ended up mildly dinging my scores. I did try to call and get it reinstated, and they refused.

I have :)

Discover is my longest standing card which I haven't used in forever. I think I opened my Discover card about 15 years ago. They just sent me my 4th card because I haven't activated any of the previous 3, they are definitely pushy.

I agree it does suck when cards unnecessarily hurt your rating.

I've had the same thing happen to me some years ago with another card, i hadn't used it in like 3 months, and they closed it, and wouldn't let me contest the closure.

Oh, man, I had that experience. When my DH and I went overseas, we did call. But last winter he was on a trip to Hawaii, and I was home, and we both happened to charge something the same day. Whoops! They rejected my card (and the next time his) and cancelled them altogether. It was fairly easy to get it reinstated, but it meant calling every place I had automatic payments: utilities, gym, etc. What a hassle! The other hassle is working your way through their voicemail menu to figure out where you can get a real person to record the information.

Well you may not care what your credit score is but unless you ever plan to buy a house with cash, then you might want to care.

Something that hurt my credit score wasn't even a credit card but a medical bill that my insurance was supposed to pay for and while I was trying to work with the insurance and the medical billing company, the billing company sent it to collections. So I ended up paying for a medical bill that my insurance was supposed to pay and it sucked.

I personally like cash rewards cards and especially putting large purchases on them. Like we are about to do $10k in house upgrades and yeah 3% may not sound like much but its still 300 dollars that I'll get back. Same with my student tuition that my company pays for but after the class is over so I charge the tuition to the card, pay out of my savings account (which is only getting 2% right now annual) and then get paid for later. So that is another $10k/year or so.

Yes, you do still have fraud/contested charge protection. You don't have the trip insurance/car rental insurance benefits, at least at my bank. And again, it doesn't solve the whole "auto-debit large amount that sometimes doesn't get refunded properly" issue.

I'm not saying credit cards are necessary for everyone, but they do serve a purpose in some circumstances, and I can understand being annoyed that they are cancelled. They're also useful if you've transferred the majority of your emergency savings to a higher-bearing account without debit card access.

Raising you credit limits does not increase your score. It can hurt you because you then have more revolving credit, which is considered potential debt because it is unsecured.

And, yes you do have chargeback protection with your bankcard, but I don't carry my bankcard, because if my card is compromised, I would rather they steel the credit card company money rather than my money in my account, because then checks and such could bounce or could cause a ton of issues. I use my credit card only and pay the balance monthly.

i do get what little trip insurance the airline offers, but i think that i'm more upset about the idea of it all. I contacted the bank and the rep said that he's spent a few weeks dealing with many customers with the exact same complaint-reducing cards by as much as 75%. my only advantage is that I my balance was 35% of the card (some economists reccomend having a balance on the card, and with my past history, I didn't want another cc to close from underneath me because I generally fly once a year). They just weren't making enough money off of me.

I must agree. I realize how hard it can be, but as someone who once got into CC debt, ( and worked like crazy to pay it off ) I will never go back to using a CC Let em close my CC, let my credit rating go to zero, I won't bat an eyelash.

Actually, credit card companies DO make money when you pay your balance in full. They make 2-4% of the amount you charged, depending on the card.

We put all our monthly expenses on one card and pay it in full every month, too. We use the reward cash we get for doing that for our Christmas fund. We've been debt for several years now, and I refuse to ever go into debt again. Just not worth it.

Bac0s - well, then I can't explain why they closed it. Maybe not making enough money off of me? I don't charge large things as a rule, just the odd gas or grocery run to keep the cards open.