When to Cancel a United Credit Card?
 

With the recent announcement, the United credit cards are no longer useful. I currently have the MileagePlus Explorer card, and I am going to cancel it soon. Up until now, it's been useful for getting a PQD waiver if I somehow happen to fall short in any given year, however, this is going away, and the 1000 PQP (max) it earns is not enough to be remotely interesting. However, I have some questions about canceling United credit cards.

1. If I cancel the card now, does the AF get prorated? I've seen some posts about that, but they were from 2 years ago. Does anyone have recent experience with this?

2. If I cancel the card just after the AF comes due, will the AF be refunded? If so, how many days do I have after the AF hits to cancel and still get refunded?

3. What happens to the two United Club passes dropped into one's account at the account anniversary, if one does (1) or (2), if they are still unused at the time of cancellation?

I suspect you can find that info on the “back” of your monthly statement. In my experience with other cards/banks you have 30 days after the fee posts or the statement with the fee closes to call and cancel.

Thank you! Yep, I just checked, here is what I found:
Okay, so that answers (1) and (2). What about (3)?

Reports are the passes are deactivated

How convenient that my AF hits every year right in the middle of my trip to Hawaii. Just gotta make sure I use up those passes before I cancel!

I can confirm that the club passes are deactivated. My wife canceled her card and our daughter tried to use a pass but when the agent in the United Club scanned it, she was denied entry, even though there was still 4 months of validity. I called a Chase CC agent to ask why it was not valid and the response was 'because the CC was canceled'.

Personally, I'd postpone cancelling any of the UA discontinued credit cards until the dust settles since you'll never be able to get those particular cards back.

When I cancelled my Explorer earlier this year the passes remained and were used by SWIM (I have membership). Interesting to see folks having different experiences.

I have the long discontinued Select VISA. It lets you earn up to 5k EQM for $5000 in UA spend, and years ago when I was a struggling 1K this was very valuable to me to top off my balance. I originally intended to cancel it after the award pricing change earlier this year, since I really just kept it in the unlikely event that I would ever aim for UA status due to a change in travel patterns. I would have cancelled it years ago if not for the annual 5k RDM in exchange for the $95 AF. But... I forgot to call in time, and so it still is in my sock drawer.

This change now makes me evaluate once again. For a “mere” $72k in annual spend I could earn 3000 PQP. That would reduce my 1K requirements from 18k to “just” 15k PQP. The $72k might be achievable if I shifted all my credit card spend to the Select card, but it would be costly since there are other cards that have better earnings. So it doesn’t strike me as worthwhile keeping this card “just in case”. I’ll keep an eye on the RDM valuation for international awards, but I have a to-do item scheduled for next May to call Chase and downgrade to the NAF UA card.

I had the signature visa that was $140 and had 5000 PQM and an annual companion free ticket coupon. It took me 3 years after losing UA G status to finally call and cancel it! To keep the Chase credit, I switched it to a free United “travel bank” card that I rarely use. Good for an emergency 8k if needed. No idea yet how to use that travel bank...

See https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...pt-2017-a.html
It is 1.5% (2% for UA purchases) credit for future flight purchases (and a few other benefits). Select the credit during purchase on United.com

Moved my UA signature visa to the sock drawer yesterday and moved all the programmed charges (cable bill ...) to my AMEX. 1K is now impossible for me and I'll become a 2MM flyer in January. No reason to keep this card. I'll be shopping for a Visa with better benefits before I cancel the UA card.

united explorer card vs silver status
 

I got a United explorer card a few years ago to get slightly earlier boarding and a free checked bag when I did not have any elite status. I am thinking of cancelling the card because I now have at least silver status which I think gives me the same boarding group and a free checked bag. Are there any other benefits in having the credit card (other than 2 lounge passes) that I am missing?

Thanks!

From the perspective of United Airlines, the cancelation rate for these credit cards should provide some interesting and early feedback on the recent program changes. Similarly people removing the auto renew feature on their UC subscription should let them know how the drop in service combined with the increase in membership is viewed by some.

PQD waiver for requalification. I went the first 3 years after PQD was introduced by actually meeting the PQD requirements, and the last 2 years, I signed up for the card and qualified with the waiver.