How do you close old accts. out???
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| Mon, 07-18-2005 - 3:06pm |
Hi,
I found out i could get a free credit report at annualcreditreport.com. I checked it for mistakes and lo and behold there was one. I paid off a discover card a few years ago and they are saying that i had a 30 day late payment which is not true. I was able to dispute it right then and there, it has been sitting like that for a few years! Hopefully they will get it straightened out.
My question is, i have several open credit card accounts sitting there with no balance and i want to close them. I am prepared for them to give me a very hard time as i know the credit representatives are trained to do anything not to let you close an act. , and i don't even have the cards anymore, have since cut them up. If i don't have the exp. date and the CVN number how will i close them when they ask me for that info? On the credit report for some of the cards it doens' t even show the full card number.
Shannon

I would send them a certified letter, return receipt. Include your full name, address, and the four digits of the account number they included, or I would call the creditor and try to get the information. I would not include you SSN.
Maybe someone else has better information,
Shannon
Shannon
You should know that closing old accounts can hurt your credit score, as having long standing accounts helps your score. There is no harm to leaving them open. Most companies will internally put any dormant accounts on hold, so even if you had the card you'd need to call up and be 'reapproved' before they would activate the account again. As long as the account history is accurate, and the balance shows zero I personally would just leave it as it is.
However, to close the account it should be a matter of calling up the company and giving them your social security number (that is what they use to report it to the credit bureau, and if they can't look it up that way fax them a copy of your credit report, and if that doesn't work you can dispute the account through the credit bureau stating the account info is correct but it should be listed as 'closed'). If you call the company and the account has been inactive for a long time, they might encourage you to keep it open but I doubt they will refuse to close it, and if they do just ask for a supervisor.