Halifax Clarity CC - dormancy warning

NoodleDoodleMan

Letter from Halifax yesterday - I've not used my card for sometime (no foreign holidays) and it will be cancelled if not used by 25th April, or I can contact the bank to indicate my intention to keep it active.

Just a wee heads up for others in the same position.

zagfles

MSE did an article on this and other "travel" cards:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/12/got-a-travel-credit-card-that-you-haven-t-used-for-a-while--chec/

dr_adidas01

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Letter from Halifax yesterday - I've not used my card for sometime (no foreign holidays) and it will be cancelled if not used by 25th April, or I can contact the bank to indicate my intention to keep it active.

Just a wee heads up for others in the same position.

I’ve been using mine from time to time to avoid this from happening. 

As has been suggest on this forum many times it’s a good idea to occasionally use cards that way you avoid them becoming dormant or from having them closed. 

born_again

Simple answer use card for shopping & pay it off in full each month.

Ebe_Scrooge

To be fair, this is true of pretty much all credit cards.  It costs the card company money in order to maintain your account and offer a credit facility to you.  If they're not getting any income (primarily from the merchant fees they charge, it doesn't really matter whether or not you pay interest) then it's not really surprising they'll close the account.

SiliconChip

While I haven't had this problem I did experience an issue with Barclaycard where the DD had been cancelled because I hadn't used the card for over a year. I now have one main reward card that I use for most purchases and keep the others on a regular rotation for small purchases so that they're used every 2-3 months at a minimum.

born_again

DD will expire after 13 months if not used.

Nebulous2

That article says it will be cancelled after 24 months. My one says my last bill was June 2021, so I must have bought something then.

It isn't onerous to use it once in two years.

cymruchris

Book a foreign holiday with it  

(Or at least a bag of carrots once every couple of months from your local supermarket)

I had one card that went dormant after only 3 months non-use - so probably better to use them a bit more often in general to keep things ticking over.

NoodleDoodleMan

born_again said:

Simple answer use card for shopping & pay it off in full each month.

Even simpler is to make a routine item purchase each month and settle when statement balance is due.

Need to convince myself that I still "need" this card now - there are alternative credit and debit cards which tick the boxes.