How long does it take to cancel a credit card?

lilac_lady

I sent a letter asking to cancel my Halifax credit card 3 weeks ago - no reply as yet. How long will this take? Will I be referred to a sales retention line before they let me cancel?

mountainofdebt

it seems to take ages to get a response from credit card companies to respond to letters either cancelling cards or reducing limits. I have known it to take up to 2 months so don't be too surprised if you hear nothing for a while!

I really don't know why perhaps they need more staff doing back ground stuff.

On my credit cards I simply phone up but getting hubby to do that is a nightmare hence why I just get him to sign letters asking for credit cards to be cancelled or limits reduced.

We've never had anyone call us up begging us to stay but there again my reasons for going/reducing my limit has always been that I want to get out of debt as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

corrig24

I had the same problem last year, I sent in a letter, got no response after a few weeks I rang them, spoke to a person, she said i would need to put it in writting, which i stated I had done, so I took her e-mail address and sent her a scaned copy of the letter and sent the original by post. Never got a letter back to advise me that they were closing the account, had to ring again to confirm that it was closed. GGGGGGGGrrrrrhhhh. But they had. Ring them. It takes about 2 months from the day you request it to be shut. (Awaiting outstanding charges/transactions):mad:

poppy_f1

i've been waiting 2 weeks since calling and requesting my IF card be cancelled

YorkshireBoy

poppy_f1 wrote:

i've been waiting 2 weeks since calling and requesting my IF card be cancelled

Make yourself comfortable! It took them the best part of 3 months to notify the CRA's the account was 'settled' when I closed my IF card earlier this year.

pfpf

why not just phone them?

i did this 2 weeks ago on about 8 old cards i had(spring cleaning)4 were alreadt closed as i suspected, 3 closed instantly and i have had letters from all 7 confirming closed.

the last one, Virgin gave me a great BT offer, so 9k in the stooze pot


you never know they may offer you a "deal" to stay.

frugglewump

Every time I've closed a card I've been told there will be a 30day delay to allow any final transactions to be processed.

poppy_f1

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Make yourself comfortable! It took them the best part of 3 months to notify the CRA's the account was 'settled' when I closed my IF card earlier this year.

im not that fussed how long it takes to be honest im not planning on using the card anyway

nomoneytoday

Amex have taken 2 years and my account still isn't closed.
If they want to waste 20p a month posting blank statements that's their problem...

loulou58

I phoned up Halifax card services and closed my account over the telephone, i didnt need to put it in writing. Maybe my advisor was having a good day!

humfer

loulou58 wrote:

I phoned up Halifax card services and closed my account over the telephone, i didnt need to put it in writing. Maybe my advisor was having a good day!

Just make sure they confirm it in writing. Some card companies tend to leave accounts open just 'incase' they ever want to be used. This happened to me with Barclaycard..