Close CCs...A preemptive strike

[RedLight]

OK, I have read several things regarding closing CCs prior to the bk7. I guess my question is whether or not they will all close on me. I have 9 major CCs, they are all Citi, Chase, or Amex. My 3 Citi cards have ZERO balances, but I have a total of $43,000 in available credit through them. If my atty doesn't report them, will they still find out and close? I will never use them, just figure it would kick my credit rebuilding back up. What have you guys experienced?

[Minnymouth]

Normally, when you file bankruptcy all credit card companies close out your accounts automatically.....

[RedLight]

See, that is what I was thinking. My thought was, they are going to close them anyway, so why not take this into my own hands and just close out the ones with zero balances. I just didn't want to close them all out and have to start the process over again if I didn't have to. Wishful thinking I guess.

[stressin]

My accounts all started to close as I became delinquent. I had three Chase cards--all were closed once I was more than 30 days late, I believe. Same with Amex--got delinquent on one, both accounts were closed. Of course, I didn't have any with a zero balance, so I'm not sure how that works.

[liz417]

Me too...once I delinquent 30 days on both Chase and Amex, they closed the accounts. I do have a card (Home Depot) with a zero balance, I included it in my paperwork as required, so I'll let you know if it's closed too.

[Cali]

So far, knock on wood, all my zero balance cards are still open.

[RedLight]

Well I just closed the Citi card with the limit of only 5,000. I am going to cancel my BOA Amex as I know that will close. We have two Amex Blue cards that will be included in the bk, so goodbye AMEX.

Anyone know about Capital One? Will they close on me. I have a small limit card with them and it has a Zero balance.

[justplaintired]

Our discover card with zero balance was closed a week or so ago, this was after being delinquent on our other cards by almost 6 months. Didn't bother me though, I knew they would close it eventually. All the others will soon follow. I just let them do the closing, didn't seem like it would matter anyway, I already knew I wouldn't use them even if they left them open.

[Frogge]

So, do you think it's better to close them on your own (the zero balance cards) or let them close?

[Cali]

It's always better to have close by you than by the one giving the credit.

[BK2008]

I've got a few that have survived so far, the ones that had balances obviously were closed as their balances were part of the BK.

I have one that sent me a letter 'closed', but is still reporting as open and satisfactory paid. I;ll leave that alone, it was only a Macy's.

[JRScott]

It is unusual for any major credit card to survive bankruptcy even if the balance is 0. Closing them before the bankruptcy is another ding on the credit report so to help rebuild credit it might be best to wait and just have it part of the bankruptcy.

[MomIcantFindmy]

Me too...once I delinquent 30 days on both Chase and Amex, they closed the accounts. I do have a card (Home Depot) with a zero balance, I included it in my paperwork as required, so I'll let you know if it's closed too.

We had a Home Depot with a $0 balance and perfect history. They closed us after they found out about the bankruptcy.

[mgmadara]

Our Lowe's card survived our bankruptcy and so did my Lane Bryant card. Both had 0 balances when filing.

[RedLight]

It is unusual for any major credit card to survive bankruptcy even if the balance is 0. Closing them before the bankruptcy is another ding on the credit report so to help rebuild credit it might be best to wait and just have it part of the bankruptcy.

Would closing the card prior to the bk create a more detrimental effect on your credit score than having the issuer close it after the bk? I am not sure that it would. My guess is that my $23,000 limit Citi card with a Zero balance will close.