We want to close one of our credit cards and I want to make sure we do it right. I want to make sure it shows up as "closed at customer's request" as opposed to "closed by creditor".

Does anyone have advice for the proper way to go about this?

I can get 1 copy of my credit report each year here in Georgia for free so I want to close the card and then get my report to check to make sure it was done correctly.

When you call them and go through the verification process, make sure you ASK them to send you a copy of the cancellation note. And KEEP it in your files and give them a couple weeks. Order another report (even if you have to pay $$) and check it. If it didn't say you close it, send it to the Expedian, etc. (call for an address to mail it to) ~ and they'll take care of it.

ETA: Whenever you call and close the account, they must state it was closed at customer's request. But you just never know... wait till others chime in on their advice :)

We just closed a bunch of them. I called the CC and told them we didn't need it anymore. Be prepared, they will promise you the moon in order to keep your business. ;) We have a CC reporting service that alerts us to any change in our credit report, so we knew almost immediately that the closures went through. They all said closed by customer.

Tara

We just closed a bunch of them. I called the CC and told them we didn't need it anymore. Be prepared, they will promise you the moon in order to keep your business. ;) We have a CC reporting service that alerts us to any change in our credit report, so we knew almost immediately that the closures went through. They all said closed by customer.

Tara

tara...what is the cc reporting service that you have? tia

We use Equifax. It's a great service - I get an email message as soon as anything changes, and I can set up parameters for alerts. Like if a certain card balance increases by a certain dollar amount or a percentage, it will alert me. Some of our CCs are only for emergencies, so if there is ANY activity on those, I want to know right away. I find it really helpful. I think it's equifax.com. They have several levels of service depending on how much you want to pay and what services you want.

Tara

thanks. i think i might check into that.

we had to send letters in writing. when we bought the house a few years ago, we had several cards that were pd off, and that we had supposedly closed over the phone-- none showed as closed on the report however. The bank told us the only way to guarantee that ti actually happened was to send a letter.
hth!
heather

double check-DH & I have been getting 2 reports free per year here in GA.

The bank told us the only way to guarantee that ti actually happened was to send a letter.
hth!
heather

I've always put it in writing too. I just send letters to the customer service department requesting that they close my account. They've all shown up correctly on my credit report.

double check-DH & I have been getting 2 reports free per year here in GA.

ok..i'll check that. i'm sure if you get 2 i can get 2 as well.

How do you get a free copy of your credit report? I am curious to see mine because I recently applied for a mrtgage and somewhere in the documents where it listed my credit score it said the reason for my score was too many inquiries and insufficient credit history - and I have had a credit card for about 15 years with excellent payment history!