My big credit card cancelling spree
January 8, 2008
I’ve done the App-o-rama thing a couple of times now, but have never actually gone and canceled the cards that sprang from those efforts before. Annual fees were starting to roll in, so I had to bite the bullet and get it done. I’ve been procrastinating for at least five or six weeks … something else was always more important. And as with most chores, it really wasn’t so bad once I got to it. I was even pleasantly surprised a couple of times.
American Express Gold Business ($125 annual fee): four minutes. The annual fee charge will be removed and I don’t have to pay and wait for a refund. That would have been a waste of time.
Result: cancelled, good.
United Mileage Plus Platinum Business ($75 annual fee): five minutes. The CSR offered to change to a no-annual-fee, high rewards card. I dunno why I kept it. I had a weak moment? But really, no skin off my nose. I’ll just call and cancel later if the paperwork looks like a waste of time.
Result: kept it, good.
American Express Starwood Business ($45 annual fee): five minutes. They wanted to change it to another card like the Chase folks did, but I held firm this time. Poor Todd, he sounded so disappointed.
Result: cancelled, good.
CitiBusiness AAdvantage MC ($75 annual fee): ten minutes. I was offered an additional 2500 miles to keep the card for a while longer. The miles will be mine to keep whether or not I ended up canceling anyway, it’ll keep my AA miles active for another 18 months, and get 37 days grace period after the annual fee is billed to cancel and receive a full refund. The only downsides would be missing the cancellation window, and not receiving the miles in time.
Result: kept it, good. Not so good if I have to cancel to save my money before the miles come in.
CitiBusiness Platinum Select MC (no annual fee): seven minutes. I was offered 3000 bonus miles (or $25 cash, credited to the statement when I asked if that was his best offer) to keep the account open. Again, it’s already a fee-free card, so this is just bonus miles with no risk.
Result: kept it, good.
Citi Simplicity MC (no annual fee): fifteen minutes. The non-business card call took a lot longer to accomplish approximately the same things as the business card calls. I just wanted to move this credit line to a card that I’m keeping, and close this account. To do those two things, in that order, she said it would take 7-10 business days. Instead, she offered to consolidate the accounts which accomplishes the exact same thing, and could be done immediately. I have no idea what the difference is, except getting what I want now, and getting it in two weeks. Now, please! 🙂
Result: closed, mediocre.
Citi Diamond Preferred (no annual fee): seven minutes. I intended to just close this account as well, because I have too many cards. I was offered an additional point per dollar spent on regular purchases for twelve months. That’s not bad, the only way I get two points per dollar is from my CitiBusiness PremierPass, and that’s only because I have a backlog of flight points earned from the Vietnam trip and a couple other short flights. I may promote this to replace the PremierPass card and avoid the annual fees on that one!
Result: kept it, good.
Not bad for a little under an hour’s work, wouldn’t you say? 2500 miles, 3000 bonus points, and a replacement card for a 2% reward card.
Nice! I may need to call a few of my credit card companies!
Not bad at all!!!!
Wow, I really should get on asking about my 2 credit cards but they’re already no fee and the rewards are pretty decent….
I could not have that many cards to keep track of. There is a high chance I would forget one. I am so relived my credit debt has been consolidated.
I am terrible at that sort of thing and would end up with tons of annual fees getting charged because I forgot to cancel in time. You are very organized.