Closing credit card account help please

kindofagilr

We are going to be paying off the balance of 3 credit cards this month and I was wondering how you go about closing the account?

Do you ring them or do you send them a letter?

And say when my bills come in cos I havent had them for this month yet, if I pay off the total amount showing on them, will there still be a little bit left next month to pay? interest or something?

Two of them havent been spent on in months, one is over its limit slightly

So am I right in thinking the 2 that havent been spent on and dont have any regular debits on them (like OH's LOTR subscription) wouldnt have anything else to pay but the one that is slightly over it limit will have cos it will have interest and charges?

redpete

If you have not been paying off the full amount every month then there will be some residual interest on the next statement, covering the period from the statement date to when you clear the amount.

They won't let you close the account until it has been completely paid off. I would ring the CC company when this has happened and ask them to close the account; they will tell you if you need to put the request in writing. You could also ask them what amount you would need to pay to cover any remaining interest and they will tell you tell you; pay this amount the same day and the account will then be cleared.

kindofagilr

Ok thank you very muhc, no we havent been paying off the full amount every month

cheerfulness4

Could I just tag a little question of my own onto this thread? We closed down a Yorkshire Bank credit card about 3 years ago but we still get statements come through every so often that say that nothing is owing (6p in credit actually) and that the credit limit is 0.

As we asked for the account to be closed, I can't understand why we still have this 'loose end.' We did phone them and they said it was closed but it doesn't seem to be completely closed or why would be still be getting statements periodically. Would anyone know?

izools

kindofagilr wrote: »

Ok thank you very muhc, no we havent been paying off the full amount every month

Be careful with the next statement then - lots of people get caught out by this; either thinking they've paid off the account, paid no more toward it, and finding their credit rating trashed later down the line, or being confused as to why there is an amount to pay on the bill following them clearing the full balance.

It will be interest for the period from the date your prior statement was produced, and the date on which full payment was received into the account.

You can call the card company to close the account just as soon as you've paid this "trailing interest".

Well done on clearing three cards! Much more to go?

kindofagilr

Thank you very much I still get paper bills so as soon as they are in we will pay off the trailing interest

Unfortunatly yes

Another card for £4800
And a loan for just shy of 17k

We are paying off a car at the same time as these cards so quite a big dent in our debt

There is light at the end of the tunnel however

[Deleted User]

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

Could I just tag a little question of my own onto this thread? We closed down a Yorkshire Bank credit card about 3 years ago but we still get statements come through every so often that say that nothing is owing (6p in credit actually) and that the credit limit is 0.

As we asked for the account to be closed, I can't understand why we still have this 'loose end.' We did phone them and they said it was closed but it doesn't seem to be completely closed or why would be still be getting statements periodically. Would anyone know?

It'll be the 6p credit keeping it alive. They can't close the account as the money would then be 'lost' should you ever reclaim it. So daft as it may seem, you'll need to ask them to send you the 6p.

So you'll have a nice embarrassing cheque to cash. Or bin.

cheerfulness4

Thank you ZX81. Will get that sorted and I'll leave the bank or bin dilemma to my husband - although he's getting quite canny with his pence these days and will probably splutter on his coffee at the thoughts of not banking it.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi, are you paying interest on your other cards? I have just paid off my MBNA card and was waiting for a zero balance statement before I closed it. MBNA rang me yesterday and offered me a 0% balance transfer for 9 months which I accepted.

Might be some use to you. If I was in the same situation again I might be tempted to ring them and ask what they could do for me!