Chase may close your card after it’s been inactive for a year. I’ve read about this in the past, but never bumped into it myself until now. I have a Freedom card that hasn’t gotten any use for a year as none of the quarterly categories have worked for me recently. Chase sent me a snailmail letter informing me that the account will close when the card expires next month.
The letter was sent in the mail just over a year since the last active statement. The letter states further that my using the card will not avoid the card cancelling, but they suggest I call in to explore possibilities if I want to keep it open.
Calling in was super easy. I just informed the rep that I wanted to keep the card open, and she processed that immediately without any questions or comments.
Sounds to me like if your card is not set to expire soon, this issue won’t arise; that’s probably why I never bumped into it before. Further, I’d guess that any card that has an annual fee will not have this issue. Overall it’s a pretty niche thing, but worth knowing about. You can preemptively avoid this issue by ensuring your card remains active with a small charge on the card, e.g. $1 Amazon gift card or $.50 Amazon reload.
I recall reading about card accounts that were closed with no notice. That may be the case with other issuers, but in Chase’s case they gave me notice with the letter which made it easy enough to deal with.
And, yes, I promptly went to buying $1 Amazon gift cards on various inactive cards. 🙂
