Lawrence "The Dreamer" Chen's Blog

Had been putting off closing the card for a couple of years now.... I only used it once in the last year, and pretty lightly in the preceding years, ever since I got responsible with the my use of credit.

Especially since it used to be a FirstUSA card, with an affinity to an organization that it no longer has with (and I am no longer a member of). And, even more so now that it is a Chase Visa...and I'm happy with my Chase Mastercard (and it handles almost all of my needs and has a nice reward program).

So, I called the 1-800 number for 24-hour customer service on the back today....and found that I couldn't call it from my home number (out of the calling area?) So, I had to call it from my cell phone. Then after being on hold for a while, I got an agent and canceled. They didn't give me the hassle that I had gotten when I had canceled other cards in the past. I didn't mention that the reason I don't need it anymore is that I have a Chase Mastercard....didn't have to.

Though I did use it earlier this year, when my Mastercard information had been stolen and used for fraudulent charges, and I had to redirect an online purchase I had made to go to a different card....since I hadn't gotten the info for the new Mastercard yet.

It might be disturbing that this is the second time this has happened with my Chase Mastercard (and I can't recall the last time it has happened with any other card, though I seem to recall that it has happened once before...but the only other incident that is sharp in my mind involved a Visa check card...and I never got any of that money back. And, I didn't know then that I might have been able to use it as a deduction from my taxes....).

But, for now I'm going to stay with Chase for my Mastercard....though co-workers have been suggesting that I go with Citi (and none are the one that left to go work for Citi).