M & S Card

James_N

Having paid off a largish balance quite quickly, I then asked to cancel the card. What followed was unexpected: instead of one quick call to them to confirm a nil balance, I had to accept a call back from a "dedicated team" who wanted to "interview" me. They received little joy, other than a repeated request to close the account. The truth is that I regard an unused card with a large facility as a complete liability - would you agree and what were M & S calling about - is it just a vague attempt to dissuade you from cancelling - I have not been a "good customer" (i.e. paying out lots of interest), just used a promo transfer offer and paid it off early when i could.

serena90

Hi James,
I think they just wanted to try everything they could to persuade you to stay with them. I closed down my Barclaycard earlier this year (just didn't need it anymore),and after reading comments on these forums, expected to get something of the same in the way of phone calls,etc, pleading with me to stay. I pre-empted this by making my request for account closure in writing. At the end of my letter I stated very clearly that I had made my decision and that I was NOT going to enter into any telephone conversations on the matter, they were NOT to contact me by telephone or e-mail(unless they really needed to on a specific point regarding the mechanics of account closure), and that I did not want to receive any more marketing mail from them(in the final months of the account they had been sending some sort of rubbish almost weekly).

To give them their due, they accepted this, and I didn't get bothered. It did take them three weeks to send me a letter confirming that the account was closed and that my requests had been noted, but it was all done without any bother.

Basically then, when closing down a credit card account, I would do so in writing, telling them at the same time that you don't want to discuss it. If they're desperate for a reason, simply write that the card 'no longer suits my needs', and leave it at that.

Hope that helps!