monkeywrencher

I'm fairly new to this game and have been wondering. If you get reward miles, then book a ticket with those miles immediately is there any risk that if you close the card which gave you the bonus that the ticket will be canceled?

In my case I signed up for the US Air one purchase deal then redeemed basically all of the miles on a ticket immediately. I don't care about the few miles left in my account but will US Air honor my ticket if I left the CC open for like 90 days?

LetsGoToo

Why don't you just leave the credit card account open? Why the rush to close it?

monkeywrencher

I'll consider that, but I have my reasons for wanting to close the card, and that's not the question I asked. Does anyone know whether the ticket would be cancelled under these circumstances?

FriscoHeavy

No, the ticket will not be cancelled.

FriscoHeavy

I always close my cards 6 months after opening them (the cards I get strictly for sign up bonuses). No need to have them laying around or forgetting about them. My credit is already sky high and i have about 8 cards I've had for a long time that I leave open to maintain my high FICO score.

I get them, meet the spend requirement and then mail a letter requesting the card be closed 6 months after I open it.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Some credit-card issuers try to "claw back" bonus miles if the account is closed in less than six months. Whether those issuers can charge you for the miles already used if you close the card too soon is something that I do not know. (Check the terms and conditions of the bonus offer.)

I doubt that the ticket itself could be canceled.

Segments

As you are not willing to provide relevant information to your original question, I'll guess that your "reasons" are fraudulent or illegal.

Under those circumstances, yes, US and Barclay may claw back the miles or charge you the cash fare. The charges may be pursued retroactively if the fraud is not discovered until after the flight.

monkeywrencher

Frankly I don't see how you can fraudulently close an account at all since fraud requires intentionally making a false statement. You can fraudulently open an account, but I don't see anyway that telling a card issuer I don't want your card anymore close my account could possibly meet that definition. Since you've decided to call me out please explain how this could possibly be fraudulent.

Now my reasons for closing the account are completely irrelevant to the question but I'm refinancing my home, the underwriter says I have too much available credit, and that I need to close some accounts, this one is first on the chopping block because it is new (AAoA), I don't use it, and US Air sucks.

friedablass

As mentioned by the previous poster, since you are not providing all relevant info it makes people guess as to what your intentions are. Being that you've been lurking here for about a year and half, you should have realized that people here are happy to help but would like to be provided with the pertinent info before doing so.

In most cases miles already used can usually not be clawed back, as previously mentioned.

monkeywrencher

It really is not relevant to the question I asked but I did respond with my reasoning. If you disagree and believe this is relevant please explain because I don't see how it makes a difference.

LetsGoToo

Have you tried pushing back with the underwriter on this? I've had similar requests it regards to my business and when I push back a little, the request is dropped a lot of the time.

Calipso

I hope you enjoy the blacklist.

keloutwest

A better solution to your problem might be to ask several of your existing CC companies to lower your limit, which will lower available credit. This may solve your problem without requiring you to close the account. Following your refi, you can ask for those limits to be increased again.

friedablass

Sorry, I was posting from my phone so it took me a bit longer and didn't see your post until after I had completed and posted mine.

The idea of the previous poster to have your credit limit lowered instead of closing the card(s) is a good one and probably wouldn't have been suggested hadn't you provided the additional info. Closing cards so soon can definitely put you at risk of being blacklisted.

jeanie

I closed a US Air account after about 5 months. I have to admit that the instance of closing the account in less than 6 months did not occur to me at the time. Barclays did not remove the 40k bonus miles. I just checked and they are still in my Dividend Miles account.

In my situation, I had 3 Barclays cards, and I had to move credit around to get the third one. Barclays is different than the other banks, and it is harder to get new cards.

So my strategy was to close both of my existing US Air card accounts so that my NFL card is the only account open with Barclays. I am waiting a month since closing the accounts, and hope to get approved for a 3rd US Air card on Monday. I don't think that Barclays would have given me instant approval for 4 open cards at one time. I want to do everything possible to avoid the reconsideration line. We'll see how that works... LOL