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Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. SHARE: Westend61/Getty Images April 11, 2022 Checkmark Bankrate logo How is this page expert verified? At Bankrate, we take the accuracy of our content seriously. "Expert verified" means that our Financial Review Board thoroughly evaluated the article for accuracy and clarity. The Review Board comprises a panel of financial experts whose objective is to ensure that our content is always objective and balanced. Their reviews hold us accountable for publishing high-quality and trustworthy content. Poonkulali Thangavelu is a senior writer and columnist at CreditCards.com and Bankrate, addressing debt and credit card-related legal and regulatory issues. Cathleen's stories on design, travel and business have appeared in dozens of publications including the Washington Post, Town & Country, Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Fodor’s Travel, Departures and The Writer. Mariah Ackary is a personal finance editor who joined the Bankrate team in 2019, excited by the opportunity to help people make good financial decisions. Send your questions to Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate, we have a mission to demystify the credit cards industry — regardless or where you are in your journey — and make it one you can navigate with confidence. Our team is full of a diverse range of experts from credit card pros to data analysts and, most importantly, people who shop for credit cards just like you. With this combination of expertise and perspectives, we keep close tabs on the credit card industry year-round to: Meet you wherever you are in your credit card journey to guide your information search and help you understand your options. Consistently provide up-to-date, reliable market information so you're well-equipped to make confident decisions. Reduce industry jargon so you get the clearest form of information possible, so you can make the right decision for you. At Bankrate, we focus on the points consumers care about most: rewards, welcome offers and bonuses, APR, and overall customer experience. Any issuers discussed on our site are vetted based on the value they provide to consumers at each of these levels. At each step of the way, we fact-check ourselves to prioritize accuracy so we can continue to be here for your every next. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
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Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Credit cardholders look to their cards as a convenient and ready source of financing. You might be surprised to learn a credit card issuer can close your account without notification for a variety of reasons. Reader Susan, for one, writes that her credit card was canceled with no notification. She says, “My husband died in April. I thought we were co-account holders on the card. My husband was deaf and I always managed the card. Well, eight months later they canceled my card and didn’t notify me. I always pay off my balance every month as a rule, which is what I always did. I know there were charges on the card. I can’t talk to anyone that will tell me anything. I had several hundred miles on the card. What can I do?” Banks don t need to notify about credit card account closings
The requires your card issuer to notify you of certain significant changes to the terms of your card account. For instance, it must notify you at least 45 days in advance before raising some fees and also before raising your card interest rate. However, if your is based on an index, such as the prime rate, and the index goes up, your issuer does not have to notify you that your interest rate will go up too. The issuer also doesn’t have to give you advance notice when your and your interest rate goes up as a result. (You should have already been aware of that from the terms of the promotional offer.) Issuers also don’t have to notify you in advance if they decide to close your credit card account. Reasons for an issuer to close a card account
If you are not on board with any change that your card issuer notifies you about in the , it could go ahead and close your account. If you violated the terms of your card agreement in some fashion, that could also cause the bank to shut down your account. Another cause could be that you haven’t used your credit card in a while. Card issuers would then not be making any money off you and they would prefer to extend credit to someone else who makes them money. Issuers also tend to review your financial situation from time to time. They could look into your creditworthiness and decide whether to continue doing business with you. They could consider input such as the number of late payments on your account, if you have any liens against you, how many new credit accounts you have, and if you have overextended yourself. If they find your financial situation has deteriorated since they first approved you for their card, they could well decide to cancel it. Talk to your card issuer
Whatever the reason, if you did not like this surprise and want to hold on to your card, your best bet is to negotiate with the issuer. Tell your bank representative that you want to continue using your card and see what they can do for you. Susan, it must have been an unpleasant experience to have your credit card shut down, curtailing your finances, following the loss of your husband. If you are a joint account holder on your card with your ex-husband, your issuer cannot close the account or modify its terms just on account of his death. However, it might want to see if you continue to qualify for the card on your own strength to decide whether to continue to extend credit to you. As for the you have on the card, whether you can retain them after a card’s closing depends on what type of miles these are. If they’re made out by your card issuer itself, most likely you will not have access to them following a card’s closing. However, if the miles are issued by another entity, such as an airline, in a tie-up with the issuer, you will likely be able to hold on to those miles since they will post with the airline itself and not the issuer. The bottom line
A card issuer can close your credit card without advance notification. If you haven’t been using your card or if you violated the terms of your card account, that could lead the issuer to close it. It can periodically review your account and in case you appear less creditworthy than when you opened the account, that could be another cause for an issuer to close your account. In any event, if you want to hold on to the account, you should negotiate with the issuer. Susan, I hope you can make a good case to keep your account. Contact me at with your credit card-related questions. SHARE: Poonkulali Thangavelu is a senior writer and columnist at CreditCards.com and Bankrate, addressing debt and credit card-related legal and regulatory issues. Cathleen's stories on design, travel and business have appeared in dozens of publications including the Washington Post, Town & Country, Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Fodor’s Travel, Departures and The Writer. Mariah Ackary is a personal finance editor who joined the Bankrate team in 2019, excited by the opportunity to help people make good financial decisions. Send your questions to Related Articles