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LaToya's Credit / Debt Blog

By LaToya Irby, About.com Guide to Credit / Debt

These Days Credit Cards Are Use 'Em or Lose 'Em

Thursday July 2, 2009

Long gone are the days you could keep a credit card in your wallet and never use it. Now, if you don't use a credit card, you face the risk of having it closed by the issuer. If you want to keep your credit cards open because closing them would hurt your credit score, use them every two or three months. Charge a small purchase, then pay the balance in full when the statement comes.

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Comments

January 22, 2009 at 3:50 pm
(1) Penny says:

I have a credit score of 830…and just received a letter from a credit card company that closed my account since I haven’t used it for “awhile” I had a credit limit of $10,000 on that card and have always used my credit responsibly.

Any chance that the company will restore the account if I promise to charge more often so MY CREDIT RATING won’t be harmed by their actions????

January 23, 2009 at 11:12 pm
(2) Belinda P. says:

My credit isn’t that great (in fact, its not good at all), but I got three different credit cards online at http://www.PlasticApproval.com. Since I had three new cards, I only activated one because I didnt need the others right away. The credit card company cancelled the two non-active cards, and when I finally needed them, I had to go back and re-apply. I got the cards again, and this time I activated them immediately.

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