I’ve had accounts with a bank for almost 20 years: checking, savings, and credit card. They are my oldest accounts for my credit report. The problem is I don’t use the accounts anymore. The bank offers very low interest rates on savings and the credit card is non-competitive for churning, and they won’t let me change to a different card. The checking has ATM fee waivers, so I use the account as a pass through to get cash each month, and I charge $10/month to the CC just so they don’t shut it off. I haven’t used any other services from the bank in years, and my other accounts with a competitor offer much more in rewards and services. The bank has already threatened to cancel the credit card because I don’t use it, and I’m not sure how long they’ll let me keep these accounts alive.
Their customer service is meh, but trying to add my wife to the accounts or get any paperwork done is a complete nightmare. Like fill out 12 pages of paperwork and send scans of all kinds of documents, that my other bank never asked for kind of nightmare. This is the second time I’ve tried to add her to the accounts, as the first time they put her on as a POA and not a joint account holder. I’m really concerned the paperwork won’t get completed properly and I’ll have a mess for something I don’t really use.
Other than the potential credit hit for closing the oldest accounts, what other draw backs are there to closing these? I’m going to open new accounts with another bank because I like having two separate checking and savings in case of account compromise ( I work in cyber and see it as reasonable paranoia). Although I haven’t decided which new bank I’d choose.
For background. The other savings and checking accounts are about six years old, and I have multiple other credit cards I use other than the one I want to cancel. My credit scores are normally in the low 800’s. I do not own a home, and my only monthly payment is my car loan.
What am I missing here as a potential downside to closing all these accounts and starting over at a new bank? Thanks.