closing credit card accounts

I have a number of accounts I no longer use. I would like to close them. Is there a standard form for closing all cards or do I have to trawl through all the t&c's to find each card issuers method?

Reply to
mark
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some will let you close on the phone, others ask for a written letter from you. I'd have a quick ring around, 75% will probably close there and then.

Reply to
Robin Peters

My experience is that the companies dont like it and do what they can to discourage it so be prepared to persevere in some cases.

Reply to
tarquinlinbin

I challenge anyone to sucessfully cancel a "&More" credit card! It must rank harder than cancelling a subscripton to readers digest.

Reply to
Adrian Boliston

Being my old paranoid self I would send a letter in registered post to the credit card company, enclosing a standard letter detailing the balance (ensure it is zero or in credit) and the card itself cut into half.

Reply to
T S Skoglund

"Adrian Boliston" wrote

Don't need to do anything - simply stop using it!!

I just recently received a letter from M&S stating ""You haven't used your &MORE card for some time so you may not wish to remain a cardholder ... if you have not used your &MORE card or contacted us by dd/mm/yyyy, your account will automatically be closed...!"

"Adrian Boliston" wrote

I did that a number of years ago. No problem at all!

Reply to
Tim

Apparently you then need to check back 6 months later to ensure they have actually closed it.

Reply to
John Smith

I sent the card back (in bits), and the credit card cheques (in bits), with a letter saying I wish to cancel my credit agreement under the terms of the consumer credit act (or whatever it is).

cd

Reply to
criticaldensity

I closed an Egg account recently by using their "secure" messaging facility.

Reply to
Steve Pearce

In message , Steve Pearce writes

Egg is one of two I'm keeping :)

Reply to
mark

I hadn't used mine (OK it wasn't an &More card when I got it) for two years, in fact I don't think that I went to the shop to validate it, expecting that they would take the hint and not send me a new one. But they did, a few months ago. And then this week I got some other letter asking me if I wanted X added to my card, so I thought "enough" and rang up (getting a nice call centre in India) and asked for it to be cancelled.

Will wait to see if I get another one in 18 months time :-(

My parents were asking for over a year for this, circa 1968

tim

Reply to
tim (moved to sweden)

Just out of curiosity, do they ever ask why you want to cancel the account when you contact them, and do they use any pressure tactics to get you to stay?

Simon

Reply to
Simon Ough

In message , Simon Ough writes

I rang up msdw tonight to start the ball rolling. After being directed to the correct department I was told it could be done there and then over the phone and a letter to that effect would be sent within a week. We shall see. A certain amount of pressure and much offering of 0% transfers and 1.9% percent purchases were made. They were a little concerned that I had 2 msdw gold cards as it was policy not to issue two to the same person. I replied that it was hardly my fault and could they close 'both please' :) Nobody asked for cut up cards & cheques; which is just as well as these cards and cheques were shredded about a year ago. I only barely remembered the password. I am anticipating problems with some of the other cards as I probably cant remember the passwords to them all and several account I have shredded the cards. I can see it now:

'We cant cancel unless you send us the cards cut up.' OK send me some new cards and ill cut them up and send them back to you' 'OK what are the first second and last letters of your password?' :)

If anyone is interested I shall post details as I proceed. I will be following up all these calls with letters of course.

Reply to
mark

At 09:54:05 on 04/05/2005, Tim delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Which, of course, means that the credit limit is included in any decision regarding future credit applications.

Reply to
Alex

At 21:57:05 on 04/05/2005, Simon Ough delighted uk.finance by announcing:

MBNA asked me why. I said I no longer required it. He asked me why again. So I told him that the interest free period was over. No further questions.

Reply to
Alex

Does it? Other credit applications ask you how much you owe, not how much you can borrow, don't they?

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

At 14:02:56 on 05/05/2005, Ronald Raygun delighted uk.finance by announcing:

And then they go off and check your credit file which shows both.

Reply to
Alex

Fine, but that doesn't mean they'll automatically assume you will max it out. Unfortunately the credit file only shows (I think) whether you've been in arrears in any month, in terms of having made at least the minimum payment, and not whether the full balance has been paid each month. So, I suppose if they were taking a pessimistic line, especially if there are other indicators to suggest you might let debt get out of control, then they could well count not only your actual but also your potential borrowing. I wouldn't have thought they did so automatically, though.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

At 15:30:30 on 05/05/2005, Ronald Raygun delighted uk.finance by announcing:

They will take it into account.

If you have 3 cards with £10k limit each, plus a £20k loan and they think you're worth risking a total of £55k then they're unlikely to offer you a limit higher than £5k. Whether they do this automatically or whether the credit score you receive means your application is referred to credit management before a decision is taken is another matter.

I believe this is true. IIRC it used to show whether you were a full payer or not.

Reply to
Alex

On my Experian report last year it showed the relevant credit limits, the outstanding balances on some but not all accounts (even though we clear them all each month) and the payment profile for the past 6-8 months - they used a numbering scheme to showing late payments etc. Mine were all rows of zeros of course!

If a lender were to make use of all that data that could get a much clearer picture of the borrower - I suspect they don't all use it (well I know John Lewis don't).

Reply to
Wireless Reader

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