Barclay's going to close my account.

[Logan]

I just received notice that Barclay's is going to close my account due to inactivity. They're giving me 60 days to use the card.
Should I keep the card or let it go?
Logan

[LadyInTheRed]

If there is no annual fee, I'd use it occasionally and keep it. One factor in your credit rating is the age of your accounts.

[grizindabox]

LITR is correct. I pay a small monthly bill with my card every month and pif.

[tobee43]

you NEED that barclay's card. why? they are excellent as far as reestablishing your credit. they are a solid lender and bk friendly. i dumped all but three. they have been the best, them and cap one. USE it for groceries and put that money aside pay it off every month. we did that for the first year or two, now we have a high 4 figure line. it helped when we needed a car.

oh!!! something else. in a bit of time, and down the road, but soon, do not pay them off and leave little amounts due. again why? they want to see you make timely payments not pay it off. like lets say $100 and you take 4 months of $25 payments, perfect, a tiny bit of interest yes, but well worth it to raise your FICO score for certain. again, they WANT to see how you pay. if you pay off monthly, they don't like it as much. they are HOPING you use them more. it's their game, if you know it, and work it, it benefits you.

[Logan]

you NEED that barclay's card. why? they are excellent as far as reestablishing your credit. they are a solid lender and bk friendly. i dumped all but three. they have been the best, them and cap one. USE it for groceries and put that money aside pay it off every month. we did that for the first year or two, now we have a high 4 figure line. it helped when we needed a car.

oh!!! something else. in a bit of time, and down the road, but soon, do not pay them off and leave little amounts due. again why? they want to see you make timely payments not pay it off. like lets say $100 and you take 4 months of $25 payments, perfect, a tiny bit of interest yes, but well worth it to raise your FICO score for certain. again, they WANT to see how you pay. if you pay off monthly, they don't like it as much. they are HOPING you use them more. it's their game, if you know it, and work it, it benefits you.

I will NEVER pay a dime of interest to a credit card company again!!!!
I will most likely let this card go but thanks for the advice.
Logan

[TXskyblue]

I would charge a soda at a gas station or something small every 6 months just to keep it open.

[tobee43]

well logan i would rather pay $12 dollars in interest to get my scores up higher. they were not moving for almost a year, when i started to do that, they began to slowly creep up we are in the mid to high 700s now. i'm not talking about charging up to thousands i'm saying $100. even at 25% with in a 4 month span that is so little interest compared to the speed in which your credit report scores begin to move. i believe and saw it happen. when a banker friend said listen, they want to see how you pay, when you pay them off every single month they will keep your lines down and think they will never get a dime from you. after doing that for a year or so, our scores staring rising and our lines begin to increase regularly.

we also saw how important it was with the car loan we took out for about 42k back about 6 months ago. i paid it off last month and every month i paid down the principle. cap one gave me 5.1% that's high, but this type of dealership had no deals. since i paid it off in 5 months our scores went up by almost 30 points. yes. cap one got a little interest, but it is the ability to pay timely that they look at as well.

again, we use them rarely to begin with, however, for example i needed to order furniture for our other home before we got there. i have the cash, but put it on the card and i will take 3 months to pay it off timely. i also understand in our case it's been a few plus years for us.

the truth is we don't need them, i always put cash aside for any big purchase before it's made, but it's good when for some reason, down the road someone needs to look at those scores and they are stable.

logan, you are an exception to the rule about many things, like your mortgage. we, on the other hand were not as lucky. we a few months paid cash for another home. i don't want to say how much it cost, but it was a custom built 7 bedroom 5 bath home, i would have liked to have gotten a small 30k mortgage for some extras and i couldn't even do that, we ended up taking it out of our savings. yet, from what i remember you were able to get a convention loan, shoot i thought with 100% and the house from the start to finish was building even more equity, (which i really don't care about), i though i wouldn't have a problem. oh, i most certainly did! all the lenders said they no longer do any conventional loans, i think logan you must of gotten the last one in the country LOL!! i'm just relaying our experience in building back up our scores, it is just how it worked for us.

[Logan]

Tobee, since my BK I haven't paid a dime in interest to a cc and my scores are in the 700's. A year ago I closed on a mortgage with a 3.625 interest rate and can qualify for a car loan at great rates with no problems.
No credit card company will ever get a dime of interest from me ever again.

[tobee43]

Tobee, since my BK I haven't paid a dime in interest to a cc and my scores are in the 700's. A year ago I closed on a mortgage with a 3.625 interest rate and can qualify for a car loan at great rates with no problems.
No credit card company will ever get a dime of interest from me ever again.

i hear you logan, i just don't know how you got your mortgage! i have no mortgages or car payments. unless i have a cash back up i don't plan a large purchase.

i mean think about this, we have the cash for a second home, the first one paid off in 3 years, and i couldn't even get 30k???? when we are talking about a mid 6 figure amount here, what's up with that? i should have pms you to find out where you got yours

i'm frankly jealous of how quick you did it! but as i recall you were in some type of business giving you, maybe a few connections here and there with the mortgages right? we haven't paid much in interest, and what we have paid just helped pull our scores up. i mean, maybe it's our age and our income sources, i have no clue. but you are the first and only one i know that knocked this off. your ears must ring once in awhile when i talk about you

[iswmle]

Tobee, Logan has stated many times that his wife has excellent credit, I am sure her credit played a part in how he got his mortgage. I am also with Logan on this one: I have not paid a dime in interest since my BK, and will do all that I can to ensure I never do. My BK was in '10, and I waited close to a year before starting to rebuild. I checked one score the other day and it was 696... It is a slow move, but I am willing to do that above paying anything extra to the credit cards.

My husband has never paid a dime of interest, ever. His Transunion score (courtesy Barclay) was 758, and he is 26 years old. I think it would be higher if he had at least an auto loan on file.

I do get what you are saying, though, a girl at my job told me the same thing... But my BK was so traumatizing for me the idea of carrying a balance is enough to make me want to stop using any and all credit cards.

[tobee43]

iswmle, i get it, for us the cards were never the reason we filed bk. we had 200k worth or medical bills, that ONLY time we used them was after we had exhausted all other resources to pay to keep one of alive. besides that situation we never used them other than for occasion gas or food. i think before the illness we frankly never even used them to dine out. so for us, credit cards were never misused or max'ed out.

[Logan]

Tobee, Logan has stated many times that his wife has excellent credit, I am sure her credit played a part in how he got his mortgage. I am also with Logan on this one: I have not paid a dime in interest since my BK, and will do all that I can to ensure I never do. My BK was in '10, and I waited close to a year before starting to rebuild. I checked one score the other day and it was 696... It is a slow move, but I am willing to do that above paying anything extra to the credit cards.

My husband has never paid a dime of interest, ever. His Transunion score (courtesy Barclay) was 758, and he is 26 years old. I think it would be higher if he had at least an auto loan on file.

I do get what you are saying, though, a girl at my job told me the same thing... But my BK was so traumatizing for me the idea of carrying a balance is enough to make me want to stop using any and all credit cards.

My wife's credit had no influence on my mortgage approval-it doesn't work that way for conventional mortgages.
I was approved because I had reestablished credit, good income, good assets, no debt, and I was more than 4 years out of BK. I used to be a loan officer so I know how the process works.
I did obtain a HELOC immediately after closing and my wife's credit had influence with getting the best rate. I would have been approved without her but at higher rates since my score met the minimum criteria.
I have had help using my wifes good credit but that has been in more recent years. After my BK I was able to reestablish my credit quickly and my score bounced back quickly over 2 years. By the time I started piggybacking off my wife I was already in the low 700's for my FICO score. She's certainly helped me with a few points but really she just gets me any credit card I want.
If I didn't have my wife's credit I would probably keep the Barclayscard but given it has a low credit line (1k) and I have plenty of other cards I will let it close.
Logan

[iswmle]

If your credit is excellent enough post BK to qualify for a mortgage and you can get whatever credit card that you want using your wife's credit, then I see no point in keeping a rinky dink 1k cc.

[Logan]

If your credit is excellent enough post BK to qualify for a mortgage and you can get whatever credit card that you want using your wife's credit, then I see no point in keeping a rinky dink 1k cc.

I wouldn't call my credit excellent since I can't approved for many things but my FICO score is not what causes denials, limited credit lines or higher rates, it's my BK. Any of us could have an 800 FICO and still have touble getting credit due to the BK, I know you guys understand that but I think there are many who don't.

I agree with your above statement and plan on letting the account close.

Logan

[tobee43]

iswmle, i don't know about that. i have a score in the mid to high 700s. own this home, two cars free and clear, one we just purchased less than 6 months about. (i took the loan for 30k plus 12k down and paid it off right away), as well as other assets. we build a second home in the high 6 figures paying cash, just wanted a small 30k (for some fencing and landscaping) and was told by the lenders no conventional loans were available at ALL from them. now, i didn't go to any majors. we have a good steady income from ss and 2 pensions, full medical now, don't owe a dime to anyone. again, logan, i do believe you are an exception to the rule. when i just inquired, but did not apply to the majors not a ONE said they do anything other than government backed loans.

i didn't want to hassle so just to the 30k out of savings (ouch!)

so iswmle, i respectfully disagree with your statement, it simple is not true.

another interesting note: tsome of the places i applied to called me after the closing, and wrote AFTER that i was pre-approved. oh thanks!