How to Close a Credit Card Account

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Matt McKillen. I'm with Innovative Financial Group. A question posed to me today, what's the proper way to actually close a credit card account? Well, what I generally do is when I get that bill in and I want to make the final payment on it, and I can see my balance; usually, the bill only shows the minimum payment. I always phone in to the credit card company to get an actual payoff, which means not only the balance that's due but the interest that is due in full to pay it off. And you usually have to get a date quoted at least ten days to to fourteen days in advance, cause' you have to take time for that check to be mailed in from the post office. So, what I do is when I get that verbal amount I will write the check out for that amount, and I will also give them a formal letter requesting that that they close the account, do not because they won't. They'll keep the account open with a zero balance. So, I always send a letter in with that final payment that basically states that I'm requesting that they close the account for good, and just to mail me a final statement with a zero balance. That's probably the best way for you to handle an actual closure of a credit card, because if you try and do it over the phone, if you just mail in a payment without calling them to get a final payoff balance what's going to happen is they're going to continue to rebill you for maybe small amounts of interest that were due at the time of the payoff. Again, my name is Matt McKillen, and I am with Innovative Financial Group."