I got a letter in the mail from Chase the other day, and it really surprised me. The letter said that I hadn’t used my credit card in a few years, so they had cancelled the account. Now, I know that a lot of card issuers are cutting back on credit lines and terminating dormant accounts. But what pisses me off is that Chase did so without any prior warning.

All they had to do was send me a letter or email saying something like this: “You haven’t used your card in a while, so please make at least one purchase in the next 60 days, or we’ll be forced to cancel it.” Simple, direct and actionable. For people like me, who had the account open for a long time but rarely used it, this would have been an impetus to use the Chase card more often. After all, keeping accounts open for a long time is good for your credit score. But as it stands, Chase gave no prior notice, and turned a neutral customer into someone who will probably never sign up for their products and services again.