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There are a few reasons I would never cancel a credit card. I wouldn’t cancel a card:
- With no annual fee. There’s not much point, and eventually these old accounts will improve the average age of my credit accounts which will help my credit score. Plus presumably the card offers at least one benefit that has some value to me.
- With a renewal bonus more valuable than the annual fee. Several cards offer bonus points or free hotel nights every year you pay the annual fee. When that bonus is more than the annual fee, why cancel?
- With some killer benefit. If you love having Priority Pass Lounge access for you and guests, you will never want to cancel the Sapphire Reserve.
- On which I put a lot of bonused spending. If you rack up a lot of purchases on social media sites and search engines, you’ll never want to cancel your Ink Business Preferred on which you earn 3x points.
The following cards check those boxes.
- Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card with 85,000 bonus points after spending $2,500 in the first 90 days (50,000 of which are triggered after your first purchased)
- Hyatt Credit Card with 40,000 bonus Hyatt points after spending $2,000 in the first three months
- Chase Freedom with 15,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards after spending $500 in the first three months
Club Carlson Card
I initially got the Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card for its 85,000 bonus points. Just meeting the minimum spending requirement is close to 10 free nights at Radissons.
But the original bonus points are not a reason to hold the card year after year while paying a $75 annual fee. If I cancelled my card, the points would still be safe in my Club Carlson account.
The one big reason to hold the card? An automatic 40,000 point anniversary bonus every year when you pay the $75 annual fee. That’s like buying points for 0.19 cents each, something I am more than happy to do.
Unless this changes, I will keep this card open for a long time.
Hyatt Card
I initially got the Hyatt card for its two free nights at Hyatt’s worldwide. I was able to use the benefit at the Park Hyatt in Chicago and Andaz Maui at Wailea.
The sign up bonus has changed since I opened the Hyatt card. Instead of two free nights anywhere you will now earn 40,000 Hyatt points for spending $2,000 on the card within three months of account opening. This change was good and bad: Good in that points are more flexible and can be used for more free nights at lower tier Hyatts than two free night certificates could be, and bad in that it’s harder to get outsized value with a defined amount of points.
Anyways, the anniversary benefit of the card has remained the same.
I keep the card because its $75 annual fee is worth paying for:
- One free night a Category 1-4 Hyatt every year as an anniversary bonus.
- Hyatt Platinum status for as long as I hold the card.
I can get $75+ of value out of the free night, and the Platinum status on every stay (1-3 stays a year) is worth another little bit.
This one is more of a marginal hold than the Club Carlson card, but I am confident that I get my $75 worth each year.
Chase Freedom
I got the Chase Freedom because every quarter you can earn 5x Ultimate Rewards on $1,500 of spending in a rotating category. That can be 30,000 Ultimate Rewards per year from max-ing out each category.
Freedom’s Ultimate Rewards are worth 1 cent each in statement credits, but I also have an Ink Plus, so I transfer my Freedom’s Ultimate Rewards there. Once in my Ink Plus account, the Ultimate Rewards magically become transferable to airlines like United and Singapore. Here’s the full process. You can do the same if you have a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred.
I keep the Freedom because it has no annual fee, meaning there is no cost to take advantage of the 5x rotating categories.
Eventually if this card gets very old, maybe it can provide a nice boost to my credit score because it will increase the average age of my accounts.
Bottom Line
Keeping accounts open longterm is good for the health of your credit score as one of the influential factors is age of accounts. It’s also good for your relationship with a bank to have longstanding accounts and can improve your bargaining power (as a loyal customer) when trying to open new cards or extract a retention bonus on another card from the same bank.
Even without those overarching positives, I’d still keep these cards for the reasons listed above.
Are there some cards you will never cancel? Why?
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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You forgot the Chase INK cards if they can get them ..
INKer for life or a better deal …
I’ve often had more than one Ink open at a time, so I’ve cancelled Inks because there is no need to keep 2+ open.
Ink has good bonus spending, but it has an annual fee (with no annual bonus), and no other real benefit unless you have other UR points you need to transfer there…
That said, I’m keeping mine because the bonus I get on my cell/cable bill payments more than covers the fee. 🙂 But it’s not a no-brainer for me.. I could get 2% cash on those bills elsewhere with no fee.
(whoops, responded to a 2-year-old post)
Of all the credit cards out there, you pick the hyatt card to never cancel? Nothing special about the card after year 1.
Category 4 hotels are pretty terrible…very few good ones. Platinum status is marginally beneficial.
“Of all the credit cards out there”? No, of all the credit cards I have.
I am very confident I get $75 per year out of the Category 4 hotel night and Platinum status.
Yup! I used free night on a Hyatt near Pittsburgh Steelers stadium, which cost $550 during gameday! free night ($75 annual fee) >>> $550 ! Also, can be useful if flying to Hong Kong and staying at Hyatt Regency HK since it’s usually over $250 a night.
One that I keep is not available anymore. It is the presidential plus world MasterCard from Chase. It provides United club access for me and 3 guests domestically and 1 Guest internationally at all united clubs and all Star alliance Gold club’s worldwide. More importantly, it provides flexible premier points for my monthly spend. I own a business, and run a pretty high dollar amount through this card annually. Therefore I keep at least gold and often platinum status every year some years with only a few paid domestic flight segments. This gives me greater access to a word space, and about 60% rate of upgrades on both paid tickets and award tickets. Not to mention occasional companion upgrades. Annual fee is steep at 375, but before getting this card about five years ago, I had been paying for United club member for years. So for me it is a no-brainer because I actually use so many of the benefits.
Great!
I’ve got the Presidential Plus also. I’m about to cross over into the Million Miler club early next year. I (and my wife) will be Gold for life at that point.
I’ll probably cancel the card then because I’m not sure I want to pay a huge annual fee for United Club access. Most of the airport amenities have gotten so good, the packed clubs with meager food offerings aren’t that appealing anymore.
I’d compare the benefits you get from spending on the UA card to spending on another card, especially one with transferable points. Even if you want the flex PQM, you might be able to meet the minimum spend for that on the UA card and then move spend over to a transferable points card. (If you want United miles, you could use one of the Chase Sapphire products, whose Ultimate Rewards points transfer to United miles in addition to other points programs.) Just a suggestion.
What about the IHG credit card. it’s not as good as Club Carlson, but I would say it is better than the Hyatt card. Each year you get 1 free night at any IHG hotel (hello Intercontinental) plus 10% points rebate on any redemptions. It also come with platinum status which usually isn’t worth much, but I have occasionally got an upgrade or free breakfast because of it. All-in-all these features are worth way more than the $49 annual fee.
Great card to keep. I just have never gotten it.
You wouldn’t churn the Hyatt card every two years?
I haven’t. Though I haven’t quite had the card two years yet.
I just applied for the Hyatt Card by your link hope I get it or win the GiveAway.. Hotel rooms in far away places cost money why ?
Poor me
The Chase Freedom is on my list but I am going to hold out for a better bonus offer for opening. I want it since there is no annual fee and I will not cancel it to increase the average account age. I am keeping an eye on the CITI Thank You preferred for the same reason, however I just opened the CITI Prestige so another CITI card will have to wait.
The Freedom bonus usually tops out at 20k. (Marketed as $200.)
Can you churn either of the IHG or the Hyatt cards?
Got them both last January and just cancelled both, to avoid the annual fee, not realizing you get an annual bonus 🙁
Would love their “initial bonuses” again, in the future.
Has anyone gotten these twice? If so, how long did you wait?
Rachel
Call them back up and ask if you can have the cards back . I got a card then I figured out I couldn’t spend the min. wisely so I canceled it . 3 weeks later I figured out I could pay my tax bill with a 1.6% fee so called up and was nice they sent a new replacement card out same everything .
Nice people when you do what they want ..
Do you suggest to reinstall both (Hyatt and IHG) or just the Hyatt?
If so, when should I cancel, in order to get the”initial bonus” again? (Received them both, last February 2014)…
Rachel
Both if you want the annual bonus call them up and ASK to re it OR wait ? months to get a new one . I mucked up the annual fee on a different card and Chase TOAD me they won’t refund the $95 annual fee BUT will cancel the card and will transfer $95 to another no fee Chase Card !!!!!!!!!
Nuts !!!!!!!!!
Thank God I live in a Cave ..
You can churn Chase cards, such as tbe Hyatt card 24 months from when you received the bonus (not when you got the card).
As JP said, seems you can churn Chase Hyatt every 24 months now, two free nights at any Hyatt worldwide would seem to trump the yearly cat 4 room, in fact with the right timing could have both I imagine?
Kindly, can you explain how to have “both” bonuses and when you think one should close the acct, in order to get them both?
Rachel
Simple try and get the cards back if you want to get the annual points OR wait ? months to get the sign up deal which may not come back ..I’ll take the yearly points and fee for the next 20 years.
Let’s see Rad Blu Nice, France $12 beers on the roof and a view of airport and harbor ..
Cave is cheaper but ..
Rachel, you must wait 24 months after you receive the bonus from Chase, for example for the Hyatt card after you receive the two free nights in your Hyatt account you would wait 24 months before reapplying. However you would have to close the first Chase Hyatt card before reapplying, also you have to wait some period of time, no one knows exactly how long, between closing the first and reapplying for the second.
In the meantime, if you had the first Hyatt card for 24 months, you should have gotten an annual free night at category 4 or below. This will post to your Hyatt account at each anniversary. So, after 24 months has passed, and you receive the cat 4 free night, then you could close card #1, wait some time, maybe a couple of weeks, but no one seems to know exactly how long, reapply for card #2, receive the two free nights anywhere for card #2 and still have the cat 4 free night.
This at least is the theory, I have not done it, but it seems possible, I want to try it.
Do you find the Club Carlson points easy to use? I did some preliminary research from their website and it seems:
1) Club Carlson has very few hotels in big city centers where people would want to go
2) Those in city centers cost at least 50K per night and perhaps more
Here are all the properties on a map. Definitely check to see if they offer a good value on your upcoming trip before getting the card: http://www.clubcarlson.com/destinations/
Thinking the same thing about Club Carlson (especially in Boston). Would love to hear the response….
Here are all the properties on a map. Definitely check to see if they offer a good value on your upcoming trip before getting the card: http://www.clubcarlson.com/destinations/
Barclay Arrival.. it’s the “catch-all” for my spending that isn’t going anywhere else.
In the past two years I’ve used my free Hyatt night in both Santa Barbara and San Francisco. The rack rates for both hotels were close to $300, the booking.com rates were $183 and $199 respectively. Like a lot of points fanatics, one of my problems is the lifetime of my credit, so not only does the Hyatt Card allow me to bump the number higher, but I also saved $232 after factoring in the card costs. I travel a lot and made a horrible mistake by missing my Club Carlson renewal payment; while I was able to get them to waive the fee, they told me that no points would be awarded this year. Bummer! I did manage to talk them into a courtesy 10,000 points while realizing it was a rookie mistake to not to have make that an automatic payment as I do with almost all of my other cards.