Two Credit Card Accounts Closed and Shredded!

Those who have been following this blog know that a few weeks ago I began looking for a card that offered a year of 0% interest on balance transfers.  I applied for two cards and was rejected both times.  I did finally get the offer I wanted from I card I already owned and moved the balances.

Today, I received a letter from one of the banks that rejected my application and it stated that I was turned down because I “have sufficient balances on (my) revolving credit lines and have sufficient debt relative to (my) income”.

I guess they don’t think I need any more available credit even though most of it is paid off.  I know I have too many accounts and have decided to close some of them.

Today I decided I wanted to close two accounts.  I’m not too concerned about my FICO score, but I’d rather have a good credit score than a bad one.  With this is mind, I decided I don’t want to cancel my old cards that show my length of credit history and I don’t want to cancel the accounts that still have high credit limits so my debt to credit ratio will still look good.

The first to go was a credit card to Lowes.  It is the newest account I have.  I got it right about the time I finally decided to quit using credit cards, so it has never been used.  It also has the lowest credit limit of all my accounts.

The second card is a Visa and it has the second lowest credit limit.

Before I called, I expected to be on hold for a long time and then I expected to have to explain why I wanted to cancel the accounts.  I was sure they would try to persuade me to stay.  When I made the call to Lowes, I didn’t even talk to a person.  The automated phone system has “Close Account” as one of the options.  It just asks you if you are sure you want to close the account.  When I said “yes” it asked if I wanted to receive a letter stating the account was closed.  I again responded with a “yes”.  It’s always good to have things in writing.

When I called the bank that provides the Visa card, the man on the phone did ask why I was closing the account.  I just said I had no plans to use it any more and he said “I can understand that” and told me they would be sending me a letter stating the account was closed.

I had them both closed within five minutes and I was then on my way to my shredder with cards in hand.