How to cancel a credit card

Credit cardholders must follow the process prescribed by the issuer to cancel a card. Deactivating it and leaving unpaid dues does not imply that it has been cancelled. Once the card has been cancelled, the cardholder must check his Cibil credit report to ensure that the closure of the card has been updated in his credit history. Only the primary cardholder can cancel a card.

Clear dues

The first step is to clear all the outstanding dues. The bank will not accept the credit card cancellation request if the customer has not cleared the dues, including all fees and charges.

Request

The cardholder should inform the bank by calling up customer care and placing a cancellation request.

Note details

For future reference, the cardholder must note down details, such as request confirmation number, date of cancellation request and name of the customer care executive who took the request.

Follow it up

After placing the request, the cardholder should follow it up with an e-mail or written communication, quoting the request details. He may need to follow up with the bank till it sends an acknowledgement. If this is not done, the renewal fee may become due.

Discard
Once the bank sends a cancellation acknowledgement and, if the card holder’s credit history in Cibil, reflects that the account has been closed, he should cut the card and discard it.

Points to note
> The cardholder must keep a record of payment of credit card dues.

> If the card is cancelled in the middle of a billing cycle, the exact amount due should be confirmed with the bank before placing a cancellation request.

(Courtesy Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL). Contributions by Girija Gadre, Arti Bhargava and Labdhi Mehta)