Apologies to those local followers who couldn’t attend our last-minute WorldWanderlusting BBQ last night to celebrate good times, discuss our strategies, and dream about our next vacations and how we’re going to get there. The next time we put one together we’ll offer more advanced notice. [Want us to do a WorldWanderlusting seminar with you? Comment below and we’ll make it happen!]
One of the questions that came up was, “What do you say when you’re canceling a credit card? It felt really awkward, like breaking up with a girlfriend.” We all had a good laugh at Jared’s comment, (He was the one who did the guest post about taking his son to Columbia) but afterward I’ve given it a lot of thought. He’s totally right.
Taylor Swift is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER getting back together with you. (Photo Courtesy of sugarscape.com.)
Forgive my male perspective on this, but I’m sure you women can relate just as easily. Simply replace “girlfriend” with “boyfriend,” and you can laugh along with us. Here is a direct correlation between canceling a credit card and breaking up with your girlfriend:
| Breaking Up | Canceling the Credit Card |
| You got what you wanted from the relationship. You’ve already kissed her and now the thrill of trying to catch the prey is over. The magic is gone now and you’re moving on. | The sign on bonus from your Sapphire Preferred was so exciting when it arrived. Now that the bonus is over, your relationship with the card has completely fizzled. |
| Having the conversation with your “girlfriend” is going to be tough. You stew about it for days and finally decide to call her instead of seeing her face to face. You don’t want to hurt feelings. | You put it off for as long as you can. The customer service rep acts hurt when you tell them you want to cancel the card. They ask what it was that made the relationship go sour. |
| You struggle on the phone to explain how things just “aren’t the same anymore.” You’re sure to tell her that it isn’t her fault. She has been great, but the problem is your mother doesn’t want you to “seriously” date anyone before you turn 18. If it were your choice you’d plan on staying with her forever. | You explain to the CSR that it isn’t American Express’ fault. They had nothing to do with your decision to cancel the card. In fact, their service was great. The problem was that SPG moved 142 properties to higher tiers this year, while only moving down 35. This has seriously devalued the points that you’re working so hard to accrue. You’d be willing to keep the card and pay the annual fee if SPG wouldn’t constantly devalue the points. |
| In reality, you’re now really excited about this “new girl” in school. Your “ex” is a thing of the past. Now you’ve got your eyes set on the new chick in your biology class. She was looking really good the other day in that silver dress. | The silver Barclaycard Arrival is looking downright sexy. You’re not as enthusiastic about 1 point for every dollar you spend on the last card when you can get 40k for $440 in free travel after meeting the $1000 spending requirement. |
Canceling a credit card is a bit tough on your first experience. Once you get the hang of it you’ll be playin’ all the Customer Service Reps. Here are a few tips for making it as smooth as possible when canceling a credit card.
Don’t Blame The Issuer
This doesn’t work when canceling a bank-point card like BarclayCard Arrival, or a Chase Sapphire, but if you have a co-branded card like a United, Marriott, Delta, SPG, etc. this is a way to make it easier.
This happened to me when I went to cancel my SPG Amex just a month ago. The CSR asked me why I was canceling. I simply explained that SPG had increased the amount of points it required on over 120 of their properties. That devalued my chances of using the points that American Express was so willing to give me. The Customer Service was excellent and the card was great. The rep was speechless. He told me that he agreed with my decision to cancel the card. Imagine if it were that easy to sideline a needy girlfriend!
This is important because it sends the right message back to American Express. Hopefully when 1000 people call to cancel their cards they go back to SPG and say, “Come on, you guys are making us lose all of our customers. STOP DEVALUING YOUR POINTS.”
For Airline Cards: No Availability
This point is similar to the one listed above. The problem is finding availability on the airline partner. What CSR that has some points himself wouldn’t agree with you? When was the last time you looked at the Delta award tiers leaving your small town? They’re so dang stingy on usage – take the opportunity to complain about it.
It will tell Citi, Chase, or Amex that they’re doing fine. Tell them that you love earning the points and are excited about taking vacations. Go as far as to say that you’d pay double the annual fee if you could simply use the points on the lower level redemptions.
Other Totally Valid Reasons to Cancel a Credit Card
- You travel a lot, and the card you have doesn’t waive foreign transaction fees.
- Your Chase Marriott Card offers a free night for keeping the card every year. Your SPG doesn’t.
- Your card only offers 1 point per dollar(Delta, United, US Aiways, etc), but the _________ gives me two points per dollar.
Treat Them Nicely – You May Need Them Back
It’s important to keep in the good graces of all ex-girlfriends. You never know when you might get a hankering for 30,000 more Delta SkyMiles. That’s why it is important for the issuer to realize that you appreciate them, you just need a sweeter pot. Try not to blame them, or the annual fee. Redirect the blame at something over which they have less control – it’s a soft let down, just like you would do to a girlfriend you’re having to dump.
Please do a world wanderlusting seminar near me in San Antonio, Texan.
@Collin-This might be something we do in the future. If you’d stop having kids then we might have a place to stay if we came down to visit! 🙂
Hi Brad & Sheldon,
Let me preface this email in that my twin brother, Hans, and I are avid readers of your blog! Great site and info!
I know you’re busy guys with families, but I just helped my wife do an App-o-Rama, a little over a week ago, and just received the 4 cards that she applied for.
I must have made an error when applying for several cards, because the Barclay Arrival card came back in my name (and not my wife’s – even though it’s under her SS#). I went back and looked at the “Approved” email right after she applied and it says my name.
So basically it’s under her SS#, but I accidentally (or auto-fill) put my name on the card.
SO HERE’s THE QUESTION:
Is it worth correcting or will they cancel the card if she calls in to switch the name?
We don’t care that it’s in my name. In fact, I’ll probably use it more. Just want to know if there might be any problems to her credit report in the future, being that it was applied in my name, but with her SS#, etc. Nor do we want to lose the card and have to re-apply.
Worse thing, I guess, would be to keep it as-is and if they give us a problem in the future, just say we thought it was an extra card on the account, in my – her husband’s name.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks so much!
~Gens
@Gene-Thanks for your comment and question. It is always great to know that someone out there is reading and enjoying our material. We really enjoy sharing our stuff and hope that we can share our passion, which is travel, with you and everyone else. This whole process has opened my eyes to amazing possibilities and helped me to reach many places that were once dreams.
That is an interesting dilemma on the card there. I’ve never heard of that happening before. It would seem like they would question the social as it didn’t match the applicant name. Simply hilarious.
The biggest issue that I would see would be the potential of getting you the Arrival at a later date. The Arrival card is new enough that it hasn’t even been out for more than a year. It will be interesting to see if they allow double dipping on the bonus.
I don’t have any experience to share with you, but my recommendation would be to call and fix the card to her name, which would hopefully allow you to get the Arrival at a later date without a problem. Anyone else out there ran into this issue?
You could also do your free credit report from TransUnion to ensure that it pulled her credit, and that it shows up on her credit report. I would recommend you wait at least a month before doing this to be sure that it has completed an entire billing cycle that could be reported.
What other cards did you get?
I knew it pulled her credit because when we called into activate the card it accepted her last 4 of her social security number (I tried mine before hers).
The challenge is I plan on doing some Big spend on her new card (like $20k, for biz), but afraid that if we call in to correct it they’ll cancel her card, as opposed to just correct the problem, and send out a new card with her name, which would be fine. Or If we call in, after we’ve done some Big spend, Barclay might negate all the points.
She also applied for the Chase Sapphire, Starwood & Club Carlson.
I am fairly new to your site and I am so excited! I knew there must be a way for me to travel the way I wanted! I started a few months ago and have nearly 400,000 miles/points right now. In regards to cancelling credit cards, is there some reason I should hang on to them for the full year? Why not cancel as soon as I have met my obligation to earn the promised rewards? Thanks so much for spreading the good word of travel.
@Sarah. Thanks for Worldwandelusting with us.
Looks like you’ve been working really hard to get some major points. Nice work!
There are two reasons that I think you should keep the card for a year:
Hopefully that answers your questions.
I just want to say this blog and concept is incredible. Thank you
My biggest passion in life is to travel as much as I can. I drive my wife a little crazy talking about traveling all the time and always looking for the cheapest way to travel for our next trip.
When I told my wife about this blog and opportunity, she was reserved. I had to give it a try and started with a Chase Sapphire Preferred. (This card actually came with a bonus surprise I did not read about before I got it, If you add another authorized user to your account you receive an additional 5000 bonus points after their first purchase) We have just hit the $3000 in 3 months requirement(anxiously awaiting the 40,000 bonus points to hit) and the 5000 additional bonus have hit my account. My wife has warmed up to the process and surprised me with a email confirmation the other day that she has been accepted for her own chase Sapphire Preferred card. She also added me as an authorized user. We just got the cards in the mail two days ago and have already started the next journey towards the $3000 goal in 3 months and additional 45,000 bonus points. So between both of our cards we will have 96,000 points to use towards travel =$960 or $1152 if you book on chase’s website with the 20% bonus. That puts a smile on my face.
I have a follow up question to your blog about cancelling cards? For this specific Chase Sapphire Preferred card, what excuse do you use or recommend, since points are not really being devalued like other programs? Will they typically wave the annual fee for another year or offer more bonus points if you call on month 11? I also was curious to see if you have ended up cancelling most all the cards you have got after receiving your bonus points? I have two other rewards credit cards without annual fee’s that I have had for 10 years and will never get rid of them to keep my average credit history up. Thank you again. Shay
Shay-
Thanks so much for following and for sharing you passion! How exciting that you’re well on your way to $1200 in free travel. You can do some amazing things with 96k Ultimate Reward Points.
On your question about canceling cards – my wife and I have canceled 18/34. Most of them will eventually be canceled when they won’t waive the annual fee or when the ongoing annual bonus doesn’t merit keeping it. However, if there’s no annual fee, there’s no reason to close them. My favorite option is when the card company can transfer my account to a non-annual fee card.
With regard to the rest of your question, here are a few tips on canceling this specific card:
1. If you cancel any card that gives you Ultimate Rewards, the ultimate rewards points in the associated account will be lost.
2. However, you can transfer Ultimate rewards points between individual, business, and spouse accounts, so it’s possible to move the points to another account that has more time before any annual fee.
3. You can also move the points to another program in order to keep them.
4. It has been my experience in canceling Chase cards that they do not offer to waive annual fees and they don’t put up a fuss if you want to cancel.
5. Chase’s competitors on any Ultimate Rewards card are the other bank-points cards, so I think you want to see their program be more competitive against those other offers.
Thanks so much for sharing your passion. Please let us know if you’d like to write a guest post for you and we’ll give you a $30 gift card.
Best,
Brad
Thank You Brad,
Both my wife and I have a Chase Freedom card(no annual fee) which we have had for about 10 years each. When we go onto our chase accounts online it is convenient to see both our chase freedom and new chase sapphire account on the same log in account. My family and I really enjoy cruises so I will be planning a cruise for October or November sometime. If it works out I will be able to use both my wife’s and my points to book airfare and a cruise on the chase website with the 20% discount well before the annual fee is due and we would cancel the account. It’s good to know that If I couldn’t use the points before the annual fee is due, I can just transfer the sapphire ultimate rewards to my freedom ultimate rewards account and I would not loose any of those points after I cancel the sapphire card? One more question, when my wife’s sapphire card hits the bonus points requirements and hits her accounts, can we transfer individual points to the others account so we can book the whole family under one account at the same time?
I will let you know about a guest blog. My wife and I have taken advantage of hundreds of dollars of “free money” through Chase opportunities that is really easy for people to take advantage of.
Thank you
Shay